Melyn Chow

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

As a maker, Melyn works in the space between discomfort and desire. Her recent works I happen to be doing this for you (2023) - mime porn video installation created with Kim Zeevalk, VV (2022), Shaking shame (2022) and Intimacy currency (2020) delve in the female gaze, sensuality, shame and eroticism as a source of power. To hold & to have (2020), a film made with her parents, and To have & to hold (2019), a solo in a wedding dress, are works where she observes marriage as a social construct. Melyn's works are characterized as intimate, physical, visual, visceral and provocative. Her research begins from the body in relation to movement, space and image.

Besides making, Melyn Chow is a versatile & experienced performer who currently finds joy and challenge in the grotesque and the unpredictable danger of playing. Her experiences as a player diverse from conceptual, durational, experimental works, to dance, movement, playing, physical text and acting. In Singapore, Melyn performed with RAW Moves for 2.5 years where she worked with many local and international choreographers. In the Netherlands, she worked with makers such as Nicole Beutler, Davy Pieters, Zarah Bracht, Dries Verhoeven and Floor van Leeuwen.

“Human beings do not find their essence through fulfillment or eventual arrival but by staying close to the way they like to travel, to the way they hold the conversation between the ground on which they stand and the horizon to which they go.” - David Whyte

Shaking shame

A contagious landscape of shaking bodies, driven by the words of Audre Lorde “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power”. An intimate performance that looks at shame in connection with our pleasure and liberation.

Overige projecten

I happen to be doing this for you (mime porn video installation) I happen to be doing this for you is a mime porn video installation that looks at intimacy and pleasure through the erotic. Inspired by the words of Audre Lorde, "The erotic has often been misnamed by men and used against women. It has been made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticised sensation. For this reason, we have often turned away from the exploration and consideration of the erotic as a source of power and information… For the erotic is not a question only of what we do; it is a question of how acutely and fully we can feel in the doing" † † The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power, Audre Lorde Concept & direction: Melyn Chow, Kim Zeevalk