Anthropology of breathing: towards actor’s presence

The intention of this paper is to introduce an emerging field of study and a new training method called Anthropology of Breathing. The focus of anthropology of breathing as a new discipline is to identify, explain and work with actor’s presence. Anthropology of breathing trains actor’s body, mind and the actor/character introspective experience in performance. Performance is a trance-formational experience between daily and extra-daily experiences and the actor goes through various stages of physical and mental changes through the process of training, rehearsals and performance. Anthropology of breathing, therefore, focuses on the internal and external awareness of the actor by using breath as a transformational tool. Anthropology of breathing, in this sense, is an investigation into the fundamental structure and inner dynamics of human respiration. It is a systematic study of how breathing interacts with the body, emotions, internal and external awareness of the actor. The paper suggests various practical approaches and theoretical positions to clarify the links between breath and consciousness in training and performance. Anthropology of breathing, theoretically and practically, is an extension of Barba’s Theatre Anthropology. The paper proposes training actor’s inner awareness and stage presence through a technique of breath training called Restoration of breath