Integrated audio descriptions (AD) are currently being “more intensely developed and perceived” as an artistic medium, says blind author Pernille Sonne. “We don’t want this newly opened door to greater inclusivity to close again.”
A sluggish housefly buzzes aimlessly from right to left through the space, landing here and there. Lau Lozza’s eyes follow the insect with suspicion. When it gets too close to her, she lets the knotwork she is tying fall in her lap as she claps in the air with a loud crack. Missed! The performer’s hands pick up the ropes once again. The tip of her tongue moves back to the roof of her mouth between her slightly parted lips. The air she exhales now elicits the humming sound she has just heard. I close my eyes and try to envision the onomatopoeic fly close up. The way it wearily and shakily moves through the air. Another loud clap tears me from my reverie. Lau Lozza shouts, “Now I’ve got it!”
Sechs Schwestern, by Lea Moro @Dieter Hartwig Performer Lea Moro is sitting on the floor and has pulled one end of a gray, braided strand of rope over the top of her foot in order to hold it in place. She makes a loop with her right hand and stretches her left arm out to pull the rope through the loop to tie another knot.
The scene described is from Sechs Schwestern (Six Sisters), a piece by choreographer Lea Moro, who navigates the intersection between dance and spoken performance. Inspired by Chekhov’s Three Sisters, the work attempts to deploy audio descriptions, a medium developed for blind and visually impaired people, as artistic performance material rather than just as an add-on service. The three performers consistently describe all their actions, the costumes, objects, and lighting changes on stage. Sometimes they resort to onomatopoeia, sometimes to Chekhovian quotations. In so doing, plot and description coalesce into a completely unique documentary poetry of sorts. Within the context of the complex issues of work, productivity, and meaning(lessness), I am occasionally reminded of Simone Weil’s The Condition of Workers (originally, La Condition Ouvrière, 1951).
In a discussion with the blind actress, dramaturg, and author, Pernille Sonne, as well as with the sighted artist, choreographer, and audio description writer, Emmilou Rößling, who also performs in Sechs Schwestern, I had the opportunity to inquire about the specifics of how ADs are created, what strategies the the co-authorship teams of blind, visually impaired, and sighted description writers use, and what challenges their important work is currently facing in the process of dismantling barriers.
Sechs Schwestern, by Lea Moro @Dieter Hartwig The image shows the upper body of performer Lau Lozza, whose head is tilted slightly downwards, probably to look at the work in her hands. She purses her lips and whistles as she works.
Typical ADs, which are primarily being used ever more frequently by large theaters, are developed in a retrofitting process, explains Rößling. That means the co-authorship team attends a final rehearsal or works with a recording of the piece, which they use to write a script describing the stage, characters, and theatrical action. According to Sonne, the challenge is mostly not to overload the AD, which is spoken live during the piece and played over headphones. “I personally try to keep it very minimal so that everything else that constitutes the piece can still be experienced and understood,” she says. Having a team of mixed description writers is key, which is already clear at this performance. Because whether the descriptions for blind and visually impaired people are effective is something that they themselves are best able to assess.
In accordance with the motto of the International Disability Alliance, “Nothing About Us, Without Us”, the two authors agree that much still needs to be done to dismantle barriers and create access. It starts with the question of whether or not venues offer, for example, a pick-up service, says Rößling. Sonne, in turn, gives the example of the tactile or haptic tour, where blind and visually impaired people can feel the space, set, objects, and texture of the costumes for themselves before the piece begins. “It simply has to be close up. When you’re blind or visually impaired you need to be close,” she says. Which is why Sonne is pleased that the artistic integration of AD, like in Sechs Schwestern, is becoming more commonplace. Particularly when it comes to dance, which is less about audio content, there is so much potential to work with breath, steps, the sound of costumes, soundscapes, or even with poetic language.
Sechs Schwestern, by Lea Moro @Dieter Hartwig The three performers, Lau Lozza, Lea Moro, and Emmilou Rößling, are sitting on the floor. A knotted installation made of thick marine ropes and thinner ropes is hanging from the ceiling in between them. The performers’ hands continue tying knots at different ends of the installation.
The strategies for artistically integrated AD are manifold, constantly being expanded, and mostly developed in line with the topics being addressed by the specific work. One concrete challenge is the added expense and the fact that it is often unclear who is responsible for financing certain measures. What should venues offer? And what in turn should be calculated into the project budget of the artists? The workshops offered by choreographers and access dramaturgists Carolin Jüngst and Naomi Sanfo provide practical knowledge and creative exercises around the topic of artistically integrated AD. Their workshops are a helpful entry point into the work with AD for many artists. In Berlin, production and performance space ausland has already extended two invitations to them. Unfortunately, the grants for these types of formats for dismantling barriers were not approved this year, laments Ruth Waldeyer, co-manager of ausland. Which reminds me of what Pernille Sonne said, that creating dance with and for blind and visually impaired people is first and foremost a matter of creating awareness. An awareness, which in my opinion, not only needs to be broadened in the choreographic process but also in political discussions.
Sechs Schwestern, by Lea Moro @Dieter Hartwig The three performers, Lau Lozza, Lea Moro, and Emmilou Rößling, are standing close together in this photo. Their arms are raised in the air in different directions, in a dance that imitates rope tying motions. The knotted rope installation, which hangs from the ceiling and reaches to the floor, is visible in the background.
