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Merel Severs

@merel_severs

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Performer. Artist. Actress. Feminist. Fighter. Muay Thai. ❤️
@dancespacedestiny - open experimental space for movement, join the community

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House artist at @tar_arnhem

‘slow and steady wins the race’ is the last co-production we do together (premiere July 2027)! Grateful for all the support the team has given me throughout the trajectory❤️‍🔥

And excited for all that is coming!

📸 hilde harshagen by @merel_severs

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16 days ago

🥰🥊 Our kick-off gathering kinda kicked ass.. literally. Wanna join our next meet-ups? DM us! #community #staytuned by @merel_severs

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25 days ago

‘𝓶𝓪𝔂𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓮 𝓹𝓸𝓮𝓽𝓻𝔂 𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓵𝓭 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓾𝓼’

Excited to share a new videowork with you all!!!!🌿
Saturday 19 September @desloot.amsterdam

A sensory video installation of sweating bodies, flowing rivers and rotating fans.

During their trip to Thailand, Merel and Milou collected intimate, unpolished and fragmented footage while training in various Muay Thai gyms and attending fights. Training, rest, struggle, poetry and dance come together to form a new landscape, posing the question: 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵?

The installation plays with compositions of this material and shows how intensity and relaxation, explosion and release, the material and the natural keep each other in balance.

By @merel_severs & @milou.van.duijnhoven
Edit by @danwalwin_train
Title inspired by the poem: FROM THE BOOK OF TIME van Mary Oliver
Made possible by @cultuurfonds

Thanks to @manasakmuaythaigym, @rittisakmuaythaigym, @theateraanderijn, @dancespacedestiny taken in De Sloot by @merel_severs

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a month ago

Thanks to the international travel grant from @fondspodiumkunsten I had the opportunity to go on an inspiring trip along three art and performance festivals! Building network, meeting potential collaborators and following workshops to broaden my artistic practice. Now on my way home, feeling fulfilled, grateful and deeply touched by the specificity of obsessions of artists. My heart is full. Even in a hostile climate towards the arts -which only affirms its power in a society that wants its people docile and obedient- to see so many shapes and forms and thoughts and attempts of expression.

The first stop was @Centrale fies which is a festival I fell in love with. The organising team. The location. The artists presenting their work. ❤️‍🔥
I got to see the new work: born to lose of @publik_universal_frxnd with @liza dries. GO SEE IT BOOK IT PRODUCE IT if you get the chance!!

Visited some mindopening lectures like: New techniques for the healing of a wound by Hannah Proctor. And saw SHOUT TWICE by @katerina.s.andreou and @mel_gx which was
one of the coolest works i’ve seen this year!

The mountains reminded me of a text fragment of my latest performance..

Second stop was @Venice Biënnale.
An overwhelming overload of impressions with a clear intention from the late curator Koyoh Kouoh: shift to a slower gear and tune in to the frequencies of the minor keys.

Which was hard to find but nevertheless got touched by @Milou in SEAWORLD VENICE, a work of @floholzinger.

By the ear is the eye of the soul in the holy see pavilion. Incredible soundwork that makes you disappear into your senses. And by so many other works✨

The last stop was @impulstanz where I saw 2 beautiful tactile, intriguing and funny performances Echo Body by @magdalena And Ash, Horizon, Riding a House by @netti

I moved my body, voice, organs and soul in the workshops: Improvisation through the porous body by He Jin Jang.

And A carpet of longues by @veza and oneka most epic poetic note that I will never forget: LET THE TONGUE OF THE HEART LICK THE EDGES OF THE SPACE by @merel_severs

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3 months ago

STUDIO-TRY OUT
Sunday 2 August at 16:00- 16.45
@dancespacedestiny

We need your eyes and bodies in the space! Sunday august 2nd we’re opening the doors for an intimate sharing of Living in Silence for Too Long. A solo performance (based on my solo from 2020) created with and for @jim.in_beweging, especially for WorldPride August 5th at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam.

The work is about inherited ideas around identity and the social roles we are invited -or forced- to inhabit. And moves between text, physical performance, a cooking timer and a boxing bag. So far it has been Jimmi and me in the studio so we can use some friendly faces!

It’s about 30 minutes, informal and cute, so come join us!

Send me a DM if you want to come! by @merel_severs

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3 months ago

“What is q̶u̶e̶e̶r̶ Fightclub fighting for? /
When was the last time I(we) wanted to fight?”
🥊 Exciting collective project coming up 🤼‍♂️
initiated by @merel_severs & @smtnah & enriched with
@sennapauli @eel.feels @fdotroya @barnabysavage @xero33 @4idan0kashi @brutecain & more

Thank you to @atjakoozi for hosting our first writing-sparring session 🫯

#fightclub #queerfightclub by @merel_severs

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3 months ago

Last week @halloffame013 by invitation of @de5ontmoetingen I shared a lecture performance and it was very cute! Thanks @merijnbisschops and @dansbrabant for the invitation🙏🏻

I enjoyed this first encounter with the audience!

📸 @jostijnligtvoetfotografie by @merel_severs

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4 months ago

MEREL SEVERS

What happens when an image of your body continues to exist without you?

Drawing on performance art, archival research and personal history, Merel Severs explores ownership, representation and the afterlife of images online. Inspired by Carolee Schneemann’s iconic Interior Scroll, this lecture performance asks who controls meaning once an image begins to circulate.
A powerful exploration of the body, memory and artistic freedom.

Merel Severs will perform during Do We Want to See Everything?

📍 Hall of Fame, Tilburg
📅 This Sunday June 28
🎟 Tickets via link in bio taken in Hall of Fame by @merel_severs

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4 months ago

On sunday 28 of June, I’m sharing an early stage of research for 𝑺𝑬𝑳𝑴𝑬𝑹 𝑽𝑬𝑬𝑹𝑺 𝑷𝑼𝑳𝑳𝑺 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑶𝑭 𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑪*𝑴𝑯𝑶𝑳𝑬

An interdisciplinary work about reclaiming appropriated nude images, sexual trauma, and the body as an archive of both personal and collective histories. The larger work will premiere in 2028.

For @de5ontmoetingen, I’ve created a lecture performance in which Interior Scroll by Carolee Schneemann is the point of departure. I explore how gestures as such acquire new meanings as they move through different times, bodies, and (digital) contexts.

What is captured when a body is photographed, filmed, or shared? To what extent does the position of the person who views, archives, or publishes an image determine its meaning? Can we detach ourselves from an image of our own body? And what happens when images continue to live on across the internet, severed from their original context?

I look forward to sharing this research so hope to see you there!

Thanks to @indigo___kona for helping me with the video! And @dansbrabant for inviting me.

2nd 📸 is from Carolee Scheemann, body politics edited by Lotte Johnson and Chris Bayley by @merel_severs

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4 months ago

✨ Soft Tactics for Hard Times ’26
Merel Severs i.s.m. Frascati
📅 do 25 juni | 19:30

In de tweede editie van Soft Tactics for Hard Times brengt theatermaker Merel Severs opnieuw verschillende stemmen samen voor dialoog, performatieve interventies en speelse opdrachten. Na een eerste editie in 2025 vertrekt deze bijeenkomst vanuit de groeiende fysieke en verbale dreiging tegen de queer gemeenschap — zowel op straat als in wetgeving wereldwijd.

Van micro-agressies tot rechten die onder druk staan of worden afgepakt, van familieverwachtingen tot systemische uitdagingen: hoe ga je om met deze groeiende dreiging?

Tijdens deze editie gaat Merel in gesprek met Simcha Zijlstra over de noodzaak van een queer knokploeg. Terwijl het geweld tegen queer personen blijft toenemen, zoeken Merel en Simcha samen naar manieren om een duidelijk signaal af te geven: wij zijn een gemeenschap die, wanneer nodig, terug kan vechten en voor elkaar opkomt.

Te gast deze avond:

Simcha Zijlstra
Campaigner bij Greenpeace Nederland, theatermaker van origine, opiniemaker en activist. Daarnaast maakt Simcha educatieve content over Palestina vanuit een Joodse lens.

Ahmed El Gendy
Interdisciplinair kunstenaar die in diens werk de wonderen en zwaarte van verstrengeling en ontmoeting onderzoekt. Ahmed faciliteert daarnaast queer play-fight grappling-bijeenkomsten waarin fysieke onderhandeling, intensiteit en humor centraal staan.

Yun Lee
Taiwanees-Amerikaanse kunstenaar die werkt met geluid, beweging en workshops. In diens werk gebruikt Yun bewegingen uit de vechtsport om thema’s als intimiteit en conflict binnen queer identiteit en gemeenschap te onderzoeken.

🗣Engels gesproken
🎟 Tickets via Frascatitheater.nl by @merel_severs

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5 months ago

Excited for another Soft Tactics for Hard Times
@frascatiamsterdam 25th of June, 19.30

How do you fight back without hardening yourself?
This second edition departs from the growing threats against the queer community, in public spaces, in legislation, everywhere. We’re bringing different voices together through conversation, performative interventions, and playful assignments.

Joining me in conversation:
@simcha_zijlstra, on the necessity of a queer knokploeg
with performances by:
@xero33, queer play-fight grappling: physical negotiation, intensity, humour
@eel.feels, martial arts as cultural archive, political tool, and queer embodied practice

Can we also fight with softness, as a way to connect rather than harden?

Hope to see you there 🖤
🔗 Link in bio for tickets & info

#SoftTactics #QueerResistance #MartialArts #Frascati #Amsterdam by @merel_severs

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5 months ago

Old video. nov ‘25
When alone in the studio and feeling like no one is watching🤓 DAMN. Haha Feeling a lot more compassionate and less critical when watching old videos. Its cute. Watching myself practicing has something disarming. Cause it is never done. Never finished. I love it.

@dancespacedestiny by @merel_severs

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5 months ago