Eine Fotografie der Performance "Erste Schritte zu den Schwellen" von Zwoisy Mears-Clarke, die im Hofgarten stattfand. Im Vordergrund laufen fünf Performer*innen nebeneinander über einen Weg, der von Bäumen umgeben ist. Sie tragen Kostümen aus fließenden Stoffen und Masken, die ebenfalls aus Stoffen bestehen. Ihre Arme sind ineinander eingehakt. Im Hintergrund ist eine Gruppe von Personen, die der Performance beiwohnt und den Weg der Performer*innen verfolgt. Zwei der Personen tragen einen Langstock.
Topic

Laboratory for Creative Audio Description

Community of Reception by Fia/Sophia Neises and Zwoizy Mears-Clarke

The Laboratory for Creative Audio Description began in April 2023. It addresses members of the blind and visually impaired community and people from North Rhine-Westphalia who are interested in audio description for dance or aesthetic accessibility, respectively. The aim of the laboratory lies in furthering the creative development of audio description for dance. Here, audio description is fostered as a tool for participation and an integral component of art, conveyed as a diverse and experimental practice. Another important aspect lies in social gatherings which may reduce uncertainties on all sides. Workshops and meetings incorporating performance visits take place regularly. The group also collects (critical) feedback on barriers and accessibility issues at tanzhaus nrw on these occasions.
The offer has been designed and is managed by Fia/Sophia Neises and Zwoisy Mears-Clarke. Participants from different fields and backgrounds are part of the laboratory: blind and visually impaired tanzhaus nrw audiences, blind and visually impaired artists and dramaturges as well as sighted North Rhine-Westphalian artists who are interested in audio description and inclusive aesthetics.

Fia/Sophia Neises is a white, queer, visually impaired performer, dramaturge, theatre educator and disabled people’s rights activist She works inclusively as a choreographer and dancer for stage pieces and, time and again, as a dramaturge for visually impaired and blind audiences. Zwoisy Mears-Clarke views themself as a choreographer of encounters. This reflects both Zwoisy's approach as a Black queer choreographer and as a community organiser, as well. Since the beginning of Zwoisy's career, Zwoisy has been developing dance pieces for an audience of visually impaired, blind as well as sighted people, employing an intersectional approach. Fia/Sophia Neises & Zwoisy Mears-Clarke have been working together since 2016. They continuously share their knowledge and experience with dance artists and members of the visually impaired and blind community and continue their research jointly together with them.

Regular contributors to the laboratory include: Agnes Kappaun, Alexander Panevin, Andrea Eberl, Britta Van Hall, Camilla Moitroux-Fusshoeller, Fabian Lilian Korner, Melanie Hambrecht, Nismiye Önder, Sabine Kuxdorf, Traugott Sobiech, Yasha Müller.

Eine Gruppe von Personen befindet sich in einem Studio des tanzhaus nrw. Sie sitzen in einem Kreis auf dem Boden, auf Yogamatten oder Sitzsäcken.

Audio contributions

Research Area Audio Description – Creating A Dance Experience For Everyone.

An audio contribution about the Laboratory for Creative Audio Description at tanzhaus nrw, a community of reception by Fia Neises and Zwoisy Mears-Clarke

Amy Zayed, cultural journalist from Cologne, retraced the steps of the Laboratory for Creative Audio Description for dance, launched in April 2023, meeting the two directors Fia Neises and Zwoisy Mears-Clarke. What is the research being conducted in this laboratory? What are the results and findings? And what is happening next? Apart from the project’s two heads, Amy Zayed will also talk to participants Sabine Kuxdorf and Thaddäus Maria Jungmann. The two dance creators from North Rhine-Westphalia met in the Laboratory for Creative Audio Description and are now developing audio descriptions for dance performances at tanzhaus nrw in tandem together. 

By & featuring: Cultural journalist: Amy Zayed; Sound Design: Katrin Meier; Speakers: Thaddäus Maria Jungmann, Sabine Kuxdorf, Zwoisy Mears-Clarke, Sophia/Fia Neises

Audio Contribution "Research Field Audio Description – Creating A Dance Experience For Everyone"

Laboratory for Audio Description

Audio contribution "Understanding Blindly – the PRO RETINA-Podcast"

#65 Close your eyes – the magic of dance!

Contact: Lucie Ortmann, dramaturgie@tanzhaus-nrw.de

Audio Descriptions at tanzhaus nrw

Audio descriptions have been developed at tanzhaus nrw, starting in December 2024, by a tandem formed as part of the Laboratory for Creative Audio Description. The tandem of Sabine Kuxdorf and Thaddäus Maria Jungmann explores the forms of expression in as well as the facets and limits of audio description. In the spirit of the aesthetics of access, the two descriptors – instead of adding the audio description afterwards – enter the exchange with the choreographers already during the rehearsal process. Their style of artistic audio description reaches beyond the classic, neutral translation of visual information, encompassing experiments with language and enables blind and visually impaired audiences to access the respective pieces both sensually and atmospherically, via their headphones.

Portraitfoto von Sabine Kuxdorf.

Sabine Kuxdorf

Sabine Kuxdorf is a social worker based in Cologne. She gathered her first dance experience as part of the piece Collisions Interdites by DIPHTONG KOLLEKTIV, in which she performed in 2022. She is blind and works as a performer and consultant in the field of access dramaturgy and participation in theatre and dance productions in North Rhine-Westphalia, including with Khadidiatou Bangoura and the Sticky Fragments Physical

Portraitfoto von Thaddäus Maria Jungmann

Thaddäus Maria Jungmann

Thaddäus Maria Jungmann lives as a freelance performer in Cologne. In her own artistic practice, she deals with the agency of objects in relation to her own queer body. As a journalist, she came upon audio description through writing about dance. She is currently conducting research in the field of artistic audio description in the Master's programme in Dance Studies at the Cologne University of Music and Dance.

 

Our upcoming events

Saturday,  22 November

Starting at 10.30 am
Fia/Sophia Neises and Zwoisy Mears-Clarke:

Community of Reception: Online Conference.

 The conference will take place via Zoom and includes two panels of two hours each, with a 90 minute lunch break. Each panel starts with an introduction to Zoom accessibility, followed by a conversation with the panellists, a short break and an open Q&A session. All panels will be held in German and English spoken language as well as in German Sign Language (DGS) and will be offered with simultaneous interpretation in all three languages. Please find more information HERE.