Then another email and another, all saying they had seen this video or wanted to see it. Couvreur was puzzled, so she began asking the emailers what they were talking about and where they had seen it.
They told her it was on adult websites. So she looked up her name and using some keywords found the video. It had been clipped out of her show The Sensemaker which she had posted online for a short time during Covid.
"A lot of artists made their work temporarily available for free because people were stuck at home and bored and we were like, let's share that with the world."
It never occurred to her that the very small part of the show would trigger the response it did.
"I didn't even fathom that some people would be interested in that scene in a sexual way. I was really surprised when I realised that there was interest for it, because it's not really as if the internet is lacking naked women. I didn't really understand why like some men would scout the internet in search of naked theatre to share with the bros."
Then Couvreur got "really angry" at the emailers.
"Maybe not for the reasons that they think, but because I don't really care that they saw me naked in the sense that I chose to be naked on stage. I know that everyone regards nudity differently, but to me, it's not some sort of like big reveal, you know? I'm just a naked woman. I don't really see what's so special about it."
But what most upset her was that the naked scene depicts an abuse and comes after 45 minutes of the show.
"By that time, the audience feels empathy towards my character and identifies with me as a subject instead of watching me as an object."
"And part of it for those men is the fantasies that they project on to me. So what's appealing to them is like to picture me as some kind of girl next door who got naked for the first time on stage and is really excited about it, but also ashamed. And ... basically it's all of the feelings that they project on to me — this I find very offensive."
For Couvreur, who started dancing at 15 before moving into solo theatre, it was essentially as if her identity was being stolen.
"What's also like really scary is how much they know about me because, you know, some of them created ... profiles of me on naked celebrity websites and they have ... my name, my place of birth, my date of birth, like so many info and someone took the time to do that. They also know about all of my tours ... they share it on forums. So you feel watched as a person. It's like borderline stalking, by ... a bunch of internet strangers."
As a result she has become quite uncomfortable in some situations and wary of compliments from men about the show as so many have followed up a compliment with a request for the video.
"It's humiliating in a way because it's like, oh, people are interested about ... the show. Oh no. He just wants to see me naked."
So Couvreur, who is based in Geneva, set about trying to find the videos and then asking the forums it was posted on to take it down.
"They made me look like I was the crazy one."
The only avenue she found that gave her some power to get the video taken down was copyright. Many of the websites are hosted in the United States and seem to have a fear of lawsuits around copyright infringements, she says, as when she sends them a copyright takedown they take the video down.
"But the issue is that the video ends up popping up again because they have the right to post it. And I have the right to have it removed. The rules are really backward on that unfortunately and is also something maybe I wish would change. Hopefully this show can be part of that."
It has taken about five years for Couvreur to be ready to write about it but she has found great satisfaction in creating her new show Embarrassed Naked Female, a lecture-performance following her journey.
"Now that I display their posts and comments for an audience to see, and then I'm ... re-contextualising those posts and comments in a normal context. It's really nice to hear an entire audience laugh at them.
"I guess it feels a little bit like a revenge, but also I didn't want to just make fun of them. I also wanted to be like, OK, let's analyse what you said and understand why this happens."
The event is a crossroads for so many topics from consent, digital image use to copyright, male sexuality and more, she says.
"So many things are like crystallised in that event."
"I am aware that by making this new show, it could upset them and it's never really good to upset large communities of men. But also I think it's worth the risk because it's that complicated space, right? I think a lot of people who are victims of stalking know if you want your safety, don't talk. If you want other people's safety, you need to talk."
But she does not want what happened to her to turn people away from performing how they want to. Instead she wants people to be aware of the phenomenon.
"I want people to be aware that some men do this and do this in a scale that you wouldn't imagine. But also I guess that the warning I want to say is not to stop making shows with nudity or be careful [with] whom you shared a video.
"I think the warning is more don't let the creepers win. This is your work and your body and your image and you have all of the rights on it. And if someone tries to appropriate your image, they are in the wrong."
She has not let it change how she feels when performing Senseless although she knows some of the online viewers have come to her live shows.
"They’re always a small minority of the audience if they are there."
However, for her new show, Embarrassed Naked Female, she feels great because it is cathartic to perform. It is just her, a video projection and a computer on stage and for the first time she is speaking.
The show has won the Virtuoso Award at the Stockholm Fringe Festival (2025) and the Hot Potato Award at the Gothenburg Fringe (2025).
"I feel great about the fact that I made this unfortunate event into something that can bring people joy for the time and laughs and maybe thought-provoking, something positive, both for my life and the life of people in the audience."
It is her second visit to Dunedin for the fringe festival, first visiting and performing at Australian fringe festivals. This time she has also left time to travel and see both countries.
"When you're working on festivals ... it's a very fun way to discover a country, but it's a little bit frustrating because you don't really have the time to do like the touristy stuff because you have to be back in the evening to perform."
• For advice on staying safe online: Netsafe.org.nz or help@netsafe.org.nz
To see
Embarrassed Naked Female, New Athenaeum Theatre, March 19-21; The Sensemaker, New Athenaeum Theatre, March 19, March 21.
