The Souvenir Effect — From Solo to Debut Production
The Souvenir Effect began as a 10-minute solo in 2022, created by Shu-May Dance Company’s co-founders Ashlynn Edward and Nathalynn Edward Lim. The following year, the solo was featured in the Short+Sweet Dance Festival (Kuala Lumpur 2023), where its emotional impact resonated with audiences.
What started as a brief, intimate work soon grew into something larger. Over the next year, the piece was developed into a 45-minute contemporary duet, presented by Shu-May Dance Company as their debut full-length production. The premiere took place at iBOX Theatre, Penang, from 26–28 April 2024.
The Souvenir Effect is a deeply personal reflection on grief, inspired by the choreographic duo’s own experiences over the past four years. They began to explore grief not only as an emotional response to the death of a loved one, but as a passage all humans eventually encounter — one that is often overlooked or left unspoken.
Grief, as portrayed in this work, is both tangible and intangible. It can be the loss of a loved one, a home, or an heirloom. But it can also mean lost time, opportunities, culture, traditions, careers, freedoms, memories, abilities, relationships, and all the should-have-beens and could-have-beens.
The choreography uses the symbolism of pants worn upside-down — a striking visual of mourning and disarray. It represents dysfunction and vulnerability, a body in a position it was never meant to be, mirroring the disorientation of loss.
The work asks how we continue with life when shock, anger, frustration, emptiness, sadness, hurt, and confusion collide into an unrelenting inner storm. Some people ignore it. Some feel helpless. Others wait, hoping time will eventually bring relief. But the question remains — does time heal?
The title comes from a quote by author Glennon Doyle Melton:
“Grief is love’s souvenir. It’s our proof that we once loved.
Grief is the receipt we wave in the air that says to the world: Look! Love was once mine. I loved well. Here is my proof that I paid the price.”
Though sombre in tone, The Souvenir Effect is also a love song — an attempt to externalise, through movement, the bittersweet reality that grief is a consequence of having loved deeply.
“Grief is love’s souvenir. It’s our proof that we once loved.” — Glennon Doyle Melton
An acknowledgement of the reality of grief, and the many ways it can exist beyond the mourning of physical death. The piece asks: How do we process having loved well?
View our behind-the-scenes interview video and TSE 2024 slideshow here
Link to Interview: Click Here
Link to slideshow: Click Here
We’re here to answer your questions, share more about our work, or explore ways to collaborate. Reach out and let’s start the conversation