Shaking shame

Melyn Chow / Frascati Producties in coproductie met CAMPO
Tue 17 Oct ’23 - Thu 26 Oct ’23
In a landscape of shaking bodies, boundaries blur between the sensual, sexual and everyday life.
Tue 17 Oct ’23
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Thu 26 Oct ’23

Shaking shame is an intimate performance that probes the connections between shame, pleasure and liberation. Together with four other performers, Melyn Chow builds a landscape of shaking bodies. Wild and holy, joyful and dangerous. Can physical discomfort and desire through the body regain a place as a creative force for transformation?  

Feeding off the audience’s gaze, the performers strive to transform shame into a liberating, powerful movement. Inspired by the words of Audre Lorde’s essay Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power, the boundaries between the sensual, sexual and everyday life blur in an evocative experience of the erotic as strength.

After the 'mime porn' video installation I happen to be doing this for you (2023) (Melyn Chow & Kim Zeevalk / Frascati Producties, 2023), Shaking shame is Melyn Chows second performance at Frascati Producties. The work is a continuation of Melyn’s performance of the same title, made at AHK in 2022.

"We have been raised to fear the yes within ourselves, our deepest cravings.

But, once recognized, those which do not enhance our future lose their power and can be altered. The fear of our desires keeps them suspect and indiscriminately powerful, for to suppress any truth is to give it strength beyond endurance." Audre Lorde

  • Premier: Wed 18 October 20:00
  • Tue 24 October: Camera present for videoregistration
  • Wed 25 october: in collaboration with Subbacultcha

About the maker

Melyn Chow (she/her) was born and raised in Singapore and works in the field of mime, physical theatre, contemporary dance and performance. She received her BA in mime at the Amsterdam School of the Arts (NL) and holds a diploma in dance at the LASALLE College of the Arts (SG). 

Melyn works within mime, contemporary dance and performance, carrying out research into the ‘female gaze’, sensuality versus shame and the erotic as a source of power. Her research often begins from the body in relation to movement, space and image.

Shaking Shame will be Melyn's second work at Frascati producties. The first one being the 'mime porn' video installation I happen to be doing this for you, created together with Kim Zeevalk, early in 2023. 

concept & direction Melyn Chow in collaboration with performers Melyn Chow, Estela Canal Parejo, Rita Bifulco, Sjaid Foncé, Ashley Ho performers 2021/2022 edition Laura Boser, Elliot Dehaspe, Tashi Iwaoka light design Minna Tiikkainen sound design Maoyi Qiu dramaturgy Renée Copraij mentor en adviseur Floor van Leeuwen scenography Lena van Drie voice and space holder Leela May Stokholm gratitude and love to Audre Lorde, Sarah Ringoet, Jela Nieuwstraten, Merette van Hijfte, Jing Hong Okorn-Kuo, Marijn de Langen, Kim Zeevalk, Mime Opleiding