Blind and visually impaired dancer, access dramaturg, and dance educator Naomi Sanfo-Ansorge invites participants to explore and experiment with different approaches to artistic audio description. In dance, audio description is the verbal and vocal articulation of what takes place on stage – describing bodies, movement, and situations. It serves as an access tool that enables blind and visually impaired audiences to engage with dance and theatre performances.
The workshop reflects on artistic practices and experiences of audio description while addressing its critical dimensions in relation to power, representation, and perception. Through a combination of movement and descriptive practice, theory, discussion, and laboratory-style experimentation, participants will explore creative approaches to artistic audio description and consider blind and visually impaired dramaturgies for dance productions. These approaches interweave spoken descriptions of dance and performance with sound, rhythm, touch, and other sensory modalities.
Participants may take on different roles throughout the workshop, including performers, witnesses, and describers.