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THE ART
Nose on stage
Imagine a gesture driven by a scent
A perfume that set a theatrical scene
A smell becoming action
In the lab I studied the senses and perception, for example, what happens to our body when we smell something; the other side of this work was on stage, where "forgetting" about the science and physiology I just put at work my body perception and body-schema:
Embodying the knowledge coming from the senses, observing what happens when we explore the reality around us without words, but through the silent, metaphoric, and sometimes ambiguous language of a body within a performance space.
This is how the two main roads of my research hit each other, I started to ask myself what happens when I put a smell on a performance, on a dancer-actor, and how this may affect and modify his/her experience and creative process as well as the audience.
My work is centered on the aesthetical dimension and practical applications of scent in performing arts with the aim of finding new and original way for the use and release of odors in performance space, the training of the dancer-actors, and the use of scent as an aesthetic object.
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Points of interest
I analyze the use of odors, and odor perception, in connection with movement and the performance-space. This involves research on the role of smell in modifying communication between the performers and the public, the resulting experiences, and the possible use of scent within the actorial training.
I question: how does body embody scent? How can we translate scent in movement? Can we represent an odor as a performing object (or subject)?
my approach
My background comes from physical theater and dance-theater mainly; I combine elements from traditional dances, Butoh (school of Atsushi Takenouchi) and theoretical studies from theater anthropology with the use of scent and olfactory input.
My approach employs knowledge from cognitive neuroscience and olfaction to inspire reflection on the training of the performer before, during, and after practice. One of the focuses goes on defining how scent can be used to develop the relationship of actors and their daily practice enhancing their experiences.
By “training”, I refer to a deliberate practice of varied duration (e.g., between 20 min and several hours – see the work of Eugenio Barba), consisting of procedures or exercises that put the actor to work on the foundations of his/her craft (see Savarese and Brunetto 2004).
Acting/performance exercises are built on one or more constraints (or limitations) similar to those used to find novel and/or creative solutions in dance improvisation
and dance-theater.
Scent & Movement workshop
With this method I give workshop and training class to professionals and lay people.
Here some examples:
Scent and movement workshop, Embodying scent in movement workshop, 9 July 2018
Smell Lab, Berlin (Germany)
Strambinaria,
Strambino 4 luglio 2021
Workshop: Sensi in movimento, workshop di teatro-danza e movimento sui sensi.
Smellwalk at the Buchmesse 2016
in collaboration with the museum of applied arts Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt and Spielbein Publisher, at the International Book Fair, October 2016, Frankfurt (DE).
Scent-Hackathon
organized by Art &Olfaction Institute and Smell Lab Berlin
Smellwalk
Smellwalk
Smellwalk
Smellwalk
Scent and movement workshop, Embodying scent in movement workshop, 9 July 2018
Smell Lab, Berlin (Germany)
Scent-Hackathon
organized by Art &Olfaction Institute and Smell Lab Berlin
Strambinaria,
Strambino 4 luglio 2021
Workshop: Sensi in movimento, workshop di teatro-danza e movimento sui sensi.
Smellwalk
Smellwalk at the Buchmesse 2016
in collaboration with the museum of applied arts Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt and Spielbein Publisher, at the International Book Fair, October 2016, Frankfurt (DE).
Smellwalk
My essays
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D’Errico A, The nose on stage: olfactory perceptions and theatrical dimension.
Book chapter in "Designing with smell: practices, techniques, and challenges".
Edited by Victoria Henshaw, Kate McLean, Dominic Medway, Chris Perkins, Gary Warnaby. Routledge Publisher, 2018. ISBN-10: 1138955531.
D’Errico A, My smelling avatar - the use of scents in new media. (in German) Book chapter in “Für den tieferen Sinn – Duft als Medium in Kunst, Design und Kommunikation“.
Martin Hegel, Matthias Wagner K (Hrsg.); Museum Angewandtekunst. Spielbein Publishers, Wiesbaden, 2016. ISBN 978-3-946718-03-1.
