Coerced & Freely Given

Coerced & Freely Given

Merel Severs returns to her self-constructed arena where dance and martial arts meet once again. This time around, she explores the playing field between discipline and pleasure with more boxing partners and the hard-working body.

After her much-acclaimed performance Try not to know what you know, Merel delves deeper into the relationship between care, violence, exhaustion and resilience in Coerced & Freely Given. Joined by performers Milou van Duijnhoven and Princess Isatu Hassan Bangura, she
brings another blistering performance with her signature energy. The trio questions the existing capitalist, patriarchal system and explores a world of intense physical effort versus gentle connection. How can nurture and interconnectedness form an active rebellion against the dominant norms in our society? As raunchy hits turn into tender embraces, the performers transform the stage into an evocative landscape of potentiality.

‘We need to learn how to practice love such that care – for ourselves and others – is understood as political resistance and cultivating resilience.’ - Adrienne Maree Brown

In Coerced & Freely Given, Merel puts the body under pressure with both discipline and pleasure. With the actors, she fights for radical softness and together they celebrate being human in all its complexity, full of emotions and impulsiveness.