lara "we should smell more"

lara

"we should

smell

more"

The work unfolds within this difference,

where direction is not imposed, but discovered through (co)existence.

We do not know where we are heading.

We do not know whether we want to go there, should go there, or need to know the destination at all.

Perhaps we do not need to know.

We simply orient ourselves toward what we sense

through smell, sight, sound, and skin.

Direction does not precede us; it emerges from perception.

This work explores the moment when direction comes into being, rather than a fixed goal.

Ants live within precise systems

pheromone trails, assigned roles, invisible rules.

These unseen structures create boundaries

that organize their society.

I began to see in them

a reflection of our own worlds:

the distances we keep,

the roles we inhabit,

the silent agreements that shape our relationships.

Somewhere in their nature,

I felt something deeply human.

Lara and Hinako

Two bodies.

Two trajectories.

One pheromone trail.

smelling. smelling. smelling.

HOW WE MET

November 2025.

We did not meet with a project in mind.

There was a moment when Hinako noticed Lara from a distance.

She kept following her with her eyes.

Not knowing why.

Not knowing that this small act of looking would eventually become the beginning of a project.

Perhaps we had already started following a trail.

One that neither of us could see.

We met through movement, conversation, curiosity and coincidence. One thing led to another, and our attention gradually moved towards ants — their ways of communicating, their invisible pheromone trails, and their ability to navigate through something they cannot see.

“WE SHOULD SMELL MORE”

We began with a visual question.

We thought we were going to make a visual work.

Instead, the project started moving.

Photography led to film.

Film led to questions.

Questions led to experiments.

Experiments led to movement.

Movement led to performance.

And somewhere along the way, we realised:

We are smelling.

Not looking for a destination.

Not knowing exactly where the trail leads.

Just sensing what is there, and what might be there.

Keep smelling.

Keep moving.

Keep following the curve.

Maybe this is our pheromone trail.

Maybe this was yours.

Maybe this was ours a thousand years ago.

Lara Szymanski

was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and grew up in Spain.

She speaks Spanish, English and Catalan.

Her love for dance and performance appeared as soon as she could stand in front of her family on a makeshift stage. As a child, she moved between ballet, hip-hop, jazz, flamenco and theatre improvisation, before following the classical ballet path.

Years later, her curiosity began to lead her somewhere else.

She moved from Mallorca to Rotterdam to study contemporary dance at Codarts University for the Arts, where she encountered an enormous number of possible paths.

The more she explored, the more she questioned the idea that there was one “right” path to follow.

Today,

Lara works as a freelance artist, allowing her practice to move between dance, somatic practices, research, writing and acting. She is interested in discovering what emerges when movement is not imposed, but listened to.

Perhaps this is how Lara smells her way through the world by listening to what emerges, and following what catches her attention.

Lara,

“Smelling, smelling.”

She will probably ask you a question. 

And most probably, she will find something interesting in your answer.

“Wow, vale, bueno… can I ask you a question?”

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/laraszym?igsh=MWU2N3VrNm5lOGZ6cQ==

Hinako Yukimoto

is Japanese.

She speaks Japanese and English, dances, takes pictures, draws, writes, and crochets.

To give you a glimpse of her sense of humor,

She recently bought a sewing machine because she was fascinated by the sound it makes.

With it, creating a performance that combines the sound of live sewing and contemporary dance.

If something catches her interest, she immediately dives into it, deeply, intensely.

That is why, as her curiosity grew deeper, she moved from Japan to the Netherlands at the age of sixteen to study ballet at the royal conservatoire.

While her exploration developed more and more, she simultaneously followed a year internship at “Conny Janssen Danst.” Now she’s really grateful for her independent work as a professional creator, dancer, and photographer.

Did you know that Hinako has been dancing for over sixteen years?

Since Hinako was five years old.

I must have smelled something in dance when I was little.

Honestly, it’s the longest relationship I’ve ever had.

So, I would say:

Hinako,

Keep smelling.

Keep dancing.

Anyway, you ended up here because you wanted to know who Hinako is, who I am?

Maybe you are thinking, “I love this girl!”

Or, maybe, “this girl is crazy!”

I love both reactions anyway.