Dr N. Eda Erçin

Teaching

I have been teaching in higher education since 2010 (Southern Illinois University Carbondale, University of Exeter, Louisiana State University and York St John University). I have taught and designed a wide range of theory and practice-based modules on undergraduate and postgraduate levels including Oral Interpretation and Public Speaking, Staging the Text, Research and Performance, Performance of Literature, Performance Composition, Performing Sound and Voice, Performing the Self and Autobiographical Performance, and Body Performance Culture.

Prior to my position at York St John, I worked as the manager of HopKins Black Box Theatre - the performance laboratory of the Communication/Performance Studies Department at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge where I advised and produced several undergraduate and graduate projects in devised performance, object theatre, personal narrative and multimedia installation (2018 to 2022).

At York St John, I teach across different undergraduate programs and years (in Acting, Drama and Theatre, Drama: Education and Community and Musical Theatre), and supervise MA projects in Theatre and Performance. I am the coordinator of Year 1. I convene the Voice (Year 1) and Dissertation (Year 3) modules. My students and I collaborate with students and staff across programmes in the interdisciplinary research network "Living Lab" (in the modules such as Performance and Ecology, and Ensemble: Political Performance).

Research

My most recent research is at the intersection of body, ecology, identity and performance. I practice and develop phenomenological, audiovisual, autoethnographic and embodied research methodologies. I am a member of the Ecological Justice Research Group and the Anti-Racist and Decolonial Pedagogies Working Group.

Selected Practice-based Research Outputs

2021: Researcher/Performer/Video Maker: "Działoszyce: Song, Border, Body" (video essay), premiered online as a part of the video performance collection, ECOPOET[H]ICS in Progress on 17 March 2021 at the First International Ecoperformance Festival organized by Taanteatro, São Paulo, Brazil. https://urbanresearchtheater.com/2021/03/17/dzialoszyce/ (OPEN Access).

2020-2021: Director/Collaborator/Performer: “BUG: Kafka’s Metamorphosis in the time of Covid-19” (video performance), premiered at National Communication Association Annual Convention, Performance Studies Division (November 2020), and performed at HopKins Black Box Theater, Louisiana State University (March 2021), [a teaser of the performance: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/519221806].

2020: Collaborator/Performer: “dist[Sense]” a virtual performance in zoom space for one audience with one performer, directed by Naomi Bennett, HopKins Black Box Theatre, Louisiana State University [a teaser of the performance: https://vimeo.com/user121617363].

2017 (ongoing): Co-researcher/Performer/Director/Videographer: “Judaica Project: Embodied Laboratory for Songwork.” AHRC-funded practice as research into new intersections of song as cultural and embodied knowledge. [The songwork archive with short videos of physical and vocal practice at http://urbanresearchtheater.com/songwork/].

2016: Researcher/Performer/Director: Ph.D. Practice Project (3): “Performing Virginity: Between Mother, Little Princess & Belly Dancer,” a solo voice and movement performance, University of Exeter, Drama.

2015: Researcher/Performer/Director: Ph.D. Practice Project (2): “Dis/assembling her Body,” an auto-topographic multimedia installation, University of Exeter, Drama.

2014: Researcher/Facilitator/Director: Ph.D. Practice Project (1): “What Language Does My Body Speak?” design and facilitation of physical autobiographical performance workshops on bodily history and gender. Exeter, UK and Ankara, Turkey.

Selected Publications

Erçin, N. Eda. “Letting things rot.” Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, vol. 11, no. 2, 2020, pp. 182-184. DOI: 10.1080/19443927.2020.1752058

Erçin, Nazlihan Eda. “Ütülü Vücut Kırışık Dil: Performans Sanatlarının Yöntemleriyle Bedensel Bellek Çalışması”. (“Ironed Body Wrinkled Language: Researching Embodied Memory with Performance Methods”, title translated from Turkish). Feminist Tahayyül, vol. 1, no. 2, 2020, pp. 263-281 (Araştırma Notu) http://www.feministtahayyul.com/?page_id=1294 (OPEN Access)

Spatz, Ben., Erçin, Nazlihan Eda., Mendel, Agnieszka. “Judaica: An Embodied Laboratory for Songwork”. Ground Works Compendium of Arts Integrative Exemplars. Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (2020) https://groundworks.io/projects/39 (OPEN Access)

Erçin, Nazlihan Eda. "From-ness: The identity of the practitioner in the laboratory." Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, 2018, pp. 195-202, DOI: 10.1386/jivs.3.2.195_1 (OPEN Access).

Erçin, Nazlihan Eda. "Spell or Spill It Out: Dismembering a Name." Performance Research: On Names, vol. 22, no. 5, 2017, pp.44-51, DOI: 10.1080/13528165.2017.1383768

Publications and Conferences

Journal articles, book chapters and video essays

(single-authored) 

“Dis/assembling her Body: The phenomenological anatomy of (a) female body-in-parts”. About Performance. Special Issue. Phenomenological Practices. 2024. (forthcoming)

“Działoszyce: Song, Border, Body” by N. Eda Erçin in ECOPERFORMANCE Volume I edited by Wolfgang Pannek. 2022. Online publication. Open access book. 

“Letting things rot”. Journal of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training. Special Issue: Training for Performance Art and Live Art. 11:2 (2020): 182-184.

“Ütülü Vücut Kırışık Dil: Performans Sanatlarının Yöntemleriyle Bedensel Bellek Çalışması” (“Ironed Body Wrinkled Language: Researching Embodied Memory with Performance Methods”, title translated from Turkish). Feminist Tahayyül, 1(2020): 263-281. Open Access. 

“From-ness: The identity of the practitioner in the laboratory”. Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, Themed Issue: ‘Voice, Identity, Contact.’ 3:2 (2018): 195-202. Open Access. 

“Spell or Spill It Out: Dismembering a Name.” Performance Research. 22:5 (2017): 44-51.

(co-authored)

“Being Virtual Together: Creating Connection in dist[Sense]” by Naomi P. Bennett, N. Eda Erçin, Gregory Langner, Irina Kruchinina, Johanna Middleton, and Cynthia Sampson International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media (in review).

“Postmemory: Fragments / Crypt” by Ben Spatz with Lxo Cohen, Lindsey Dodd, Nazlıhan Eda Erçin, Paula Kolar, and Agnieszka Mendel. Performance Matters 9.1: “Performing Practice-Based Research” (2023)

“whiteness” by Ben Spatz with Nazlıhan Eda Erçin, Ilona Krawczyk, and Agnieszka Mendel. Performance Philosophy7.2 (2022): 13 minutes.
https://performancephilosophy.org/journal/article/view/349/462

“He Almost Forgets That There is a Maker of the World” by Ben Spatz with Nazlıhan Eda Erçin, Caroline Gatt, and Agnieszka Mendel. Journal of Embodied Research 4.2 (2021), special issue of illuminated video: 32 minutes. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16995/jer.71

“ancestors: an illuminated video” by Ben Spatz with Nazlıhan Eda Erçin, and Agnieszka Mendel. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 17.1 (2021), special issue on “Digital Annotation and the Understanding of Bodily Practices”: 10 minutes.

“Judaica: An Embodied Laboratory for Songwork” by Ben Spatz, Nazlıhan Eda Erçin, and Agnieszka Mendel. Ground WorksCompendium of Arts Integrative Exemplars. Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (2020) https://doi.org/10.48807/2020.0039

“Triptych: Genesis, Kavana, Sabbath.” Illuminated video triptych by Ben Spatz, Nazlıhan Eda Erçin, and Agnieszka Mendel. PARtake: The Journal of Performance as Research. 2.2 (2018): 25 minutes. Open Access. 

“Diaspora. An Illuminated Video Essay” by Ben Spatz, Nazlıhan Eda Erçin, and Agnieszka Mendel. Global Performance Studies (Performance Studies International). 2:1 (2018): 30 minutes. Open Access. 

Conference and public research presentations

2023 TaPRA (Theatre and Performance Research Association) 2023 Conference. Performer Training Working Group. "Performer Training Beyond Binary: The Ethics of Proximity”. An hybrid workshop presentation. (forthcoming)

2021 TaPRA (Theatre and Performance Research Association) 2021 Conference. Sound, Voice, Music Working Group. “Bird calls, Lawnmowers, and the Song of Gregor Samsa: The role of sound and voice in adapting literature.” Multimedia virtual presentation.

2021 IFTR (International Federation of Theatre Research) Conference—Theatre Ecologies: Environment, Sustainability and Politics. Embodied Research Working Group. “Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Morphological Transformation in the time of Covid-19.” Multimedia virtual presentation. 

2021  Cultural Studies Association Conference—Antibodies. “Audiovisual (Anti)bodies: Practice Research and/as Cultural Studies.” Performance Working Group.

2020  National Communication Association Convention—Communication at the Crossroads. “BUG: Body out of place based on The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka in the time of COVID-19.”

2020  a2ru Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities Conference—Land & Equity: The Art and Politics of Place. “The Songwork Catalogue: Technique, Identity, Place.”

2018  Royal Anthropological Institute Conference. Art, Materiality and Representation. British Museum, London. “What is a Song? Body, Text, Video.” 

2018 The Audiovisual Body, a symposium hosted by Judaica Project, University of Huddersfield. Keynote Presentation: “The Judaica Project.” 

2017 Judaica Project, Research Seminars, Public Presentations and Open Work Sessions with Ben Spatz and Agnieszka Mendel:

Presenting organizations in the UK (organized by applicant) 

• JW3 Jewish Community Center, London
• Royal Central School of Speech and Dance 
• Department of Theatre and Performance, Goldsmiths, University of London 
• European Theatre Research Network, University of Kent 
• Performance Training, Preparation and Pedagogy Research Group, University of Leeds
• Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Arts and Languages, University of Manchester
• Centre for Psychophysical Performance Research, University of Huddersfield

Presenting organizations in the US: 

• Department of Performance Studies, New York University
• Drama Therapy Program, New York University
• Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, City University of New York
• CUNY Center for Jewish Studies
• SITI Company Thought Center, NYC
• LABA Laboratory for Jewish Culture, NYC
• Cave Arts, home of Leimay, NYC
• Panoply Performance Laboratory, NYC
• Institute for Somatics and Social Justice, Philadelphia
• Jewish Voice for Peace, Philadelphia
• Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut
• Studio@550, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Tufts University Hillel, Medford, Massachusetts

Presenting organizations in Poland:

• The Grotowski Institute, Wrocław
• White Stork Synagogue, Wrocław
• POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw
• NN Theatre Centre, Lublin
• Galicia Jewish Museum, Kraków
• Massolit Books, Kraków
• Five synagogues in the Świętokrzyskie region

2017 Theatre and Performance Research Association (TAPRA) Annual Conference. Lecture Performance of Judaica Project. “Molecular Identities: Song as Philosophy in the Embodied Laboratory.” Performance presentation. 

2017 Performance Studies International (PSi) #23—Overflow, Hamburg. Performance in Historical Paradigms Working Group. “Embodied Research in Song-Action.” Performance Presentation of Judaica Project. Performance presentation. 

2017 PSi #23—Overflow, Hamburg. “A Phenomenological Female Anatomy and Leakage.” Paper presentation. 

2016 PGR Conference. Audience, Experience, Desire. Researching interactivity & participation in contemporary performance. Paper Presentation and Performance Installation: “Dis-assembling her body: An auto-topographic multimedia installation.” 

2015 Artistic Research: Is There Some Method? Academy of Performing Arts, Prague. “Expression versus Exploration in Practice as Research.” Performance lecture. 

2015 Feminist and Women’s Studies Association (FWSA) Conference 2015. University of Leeds. Everyday Encounters with Violence: Critical Feminist Perspectives. “Senses of Virginity in a Female Body: a Practice-based account.” Paper presentation. 

2015 Alumni Research Talk, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Communication Studies. “From Performance Studies in the US to Practice as Research in the UK.” Paper presentation. 

2015 Pre-sessional Research Presentation. Drama, University of Exeter. “Performing Virginity and Female Embodiment.” Paper presentation. 

2015 Eleventh Qualitative Inquiry Conference at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Artistic Research Group. “Not ‘Why’ But ‘How’ Practice as Research? Tracing the Bones of a Practice-Based Account on Body, Gender and Virginity.” Arts-based Research Working Group. Paper presentation. 

2011 Seventh Qualitative Inquiry Conference at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Auto-ethnography Research Group. “Are We the Same When We Do Not Speak: An Identity Question Through Language and Otherness.” Paper presentation. 

Publications continued

INTERNATIONAL ARTISTIC RESIDENCY and PROFESSIONAL TRAINING 

2023  Laboratory on Embodied Knowing at The Contemporary Dance Centre, Tanzquartier Wien (Vienna, Austria), invitation for participation and workshop facilitation on intercultural theatre and voice.

2023  The Interdisciplinary Arts Lab at Movement Research (New York City), invitation for participation and workshop facilitation, “Ecological Voice: Song, Border, Body”.

2021 Moving Arts Lab at earthdance. Workshop Facilitator: Sound and Voice. 
(July 23-25)

2021 The International Interdisciplinary Artists Consortium. Participant/Facilitator. 
(July 19-22)

2020 THE LIVENESS LAB— A NEW LAB FOR 2020, The Orchard Project.

2017 Grotowski Institute, Brzezinka, Poland. Judaica Project Residency with Ben Spatz and Agnieszka Mendel.

2015 E|MERGE Interdisciplinary Collaborative Residency, earthdance, MA, US. 

2014 Odin Festival, training with the ensemble members of Odin Teatret and Eugenio Barba, Grotowski Institute, Wroclaw, Poland.

2014 – 2015 Laboratory Karawanasun The School of Rena Mirecka, Grotowski Institute, Wroclaw, Poland.  

2014 – 2015 Walk of Life Workshops with Helen Poynor on somatic/non-stylized movement, Devon, UK. 

2014 Sensory Awareness and Gindler Work workshop with Eva Schmale. University of Exeter. 

2013 – 2015  Core Training for Relational Actor workshops with Alison Hodge. University of Exeter. 

2013 – 2014  Intercultural Performer Training with Rebecca Loukes. Drama, University of Exeter. 

2011 – 2012  Internship (3 months, 2011), Summer Residency (3 weeks, 2012). Double Edge Theatre (MA, USA). International laboratory for psycho-physical and site-specific performance. 

2010 Summer Institute. Cornerstone Theater Company (CA, USA). Multidisciplinary professional training and practice in community-based theatre. 

2009 Residency Training. Body Maps: Autobiographical Performance with Tim Miller. Communication Studies, SIUC. 

2008 Workshops. Giving Voice 10: Breath, Inspiration, and Voice. The Center for Performance Research (CPR), Wales. (1) “Flesh of Sound” with Theatre Zar (Poland). (2) “A Blessing of Song from a Persian Garden” with Mahsa & Marjan Vadat (Iran).

2008 Residency. Group leader. Juggling in Rome: Social Theatre and Clownery with Compagnia Endaxi, Roma Italy, organized by Lunaria (Italy) and Youth Services Program (Turkey). 

2004-2005  One-Year Intensive Actor Training Program. Ankara Art Theatre / Ankara Sanat Tiyatrosu (AST), Ankara, Turkey.