DANCING WITH MOLECULES
Moving the Invisible. Exploring Olfactory and Tactile Resonances
at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
What happens when scent and molecules become choreographers of our movements?
With DANCING WITH MOLECULES, we explored resonance beyond sound – into olfaction, space, and motion. Drawing on our scenographic studies SENSING THEORY and SŸS DANCE, the participative lecture performance translated key ideas from our research project into a live performative setting.
Smell took center stage. Audience and performers entered a carefully composed olfactory space where scent triggered physical response, improvisation, and shared reflection. Scent molecules became subtle yet powerful agents of resonance and dissonance, shaping movement patterns, proximity, and bodily awareness. The performers embodied subtle stimuli, allowing invisible dynamics to become physically and spatially observable.
The participative lecture performance was part of the symposium Dance – Resonance. Artistic Attunement in Motion, hosted by the Gesellschaft für Tanzforschung and held at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in cooperation with the University of Hildesheim. Framed by Hartmut Rosa’s sociological concept of resonance, the symposium investigated how movement can generate and respond to resonance – across physical, musical, and social dimensions. DANCING WITH MOLECULES extended this conversation into the molecular, the sensory, and the relational.
September 2025 – Participative Lecture Performance,
mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
