Categories
News / Announcements

Audio Description for Dance Workshops return in January & February 2024!

Are you an audio description for dance student who missed Krishna’s workshops in either 2022 or 2023?

Did you attend the workshops, but want to study again?

Krishna is presenting a limited series of five of her most foundational audio description for dance workshops in January and February 2024. (A sixth workshop will be by invitation only.)

Sponsored by Movement Research, all workshops take place online via Zoom, on Saturdays from 4 PM to 6 PM (Eastern/New York Time)

To register for any or all of these workshops, please write to info@darkroomballet.com as soon as possible to complete the registration process.


Saturday, January 20, 2024:
Four Strategies to De-Center Sight in Audio Description for Dance

When developing audio description for dance, even for blind artists, there is an expectation that the audio describer will “say what is seen.” What if this approach isn’t adequate to express the artistic ideas of the dance? What are strategies that audio describers and dancers can reach for instead? In this workshop, students will learn four strategies to help break them out of the “say what you see” box, and also learn about a popular strategy that might be better off left on the shelf.

Saturday, January 27, 2024:
The Layered Body: Self-Audio Description that De-Centers Sight

Audio description for dance has, for too long, stayed deliberately superficial and visual in its descriptions of movement performance. In this workshop, participants will cultivate the somatic skills and body awareness to describe how the body feels in movement, rather than how it looks, de-centering sight and rooting itself in visceral language.

Saturday, February 3, 2024:
How it Feels: Integrating Physical Sensation and Emotion in Self-Audio Description

Emotional content is often deliberately excluded from audio description for dance. In this workshop, participants will cultivate a self-audio description practice that can help fully integrate the description of physical movement and the accompanying emotional experience.

Saturday, February 10, 2024:
Experimentation in Vocal Tonality for Audio Description for Dance

Most audio description used to support television and film is recorded with a neutral tone of voice. However, we here in the Dark Room propose that dance is a very different art form that deserves a different approach to audio description. Be ready to listen to some interesting examples of audio description, practice using the voice expressively, and pair sound and movement together in artistically effective ways.

Saturday, February 17, 2024:
Yeah, But Was It Good? Learning How to Listen to Audio Description for Dance Critically

Audio description for dance performances is still very rare, but that doesn’t mean that blind and visually impaired audiences should be satisfied when the audio description on offer is of low quality. Students are going to get to listen to many, many examples of audio description for dance, and talk about what works and what doesn’t work, and what we might change in order to improve it.

Saturday, February 24, 2024:
Our Memories Are Real: The Disabled Dancer’s Body

This self-audio description workshop is designed for disabled artists interested in creating self-audio described movement art for one another. Many arts education programs and performing arts institutions have used dance as a tool to police, judge, objectify, and exclude human bodies. It is our belief in the Dark Room that dance at its highest form of artistry should only be used as a tool to express creativity, to explore the infinite physical sensations of movement, and to cultivate human empathy. In this workshop, disabled artists will be given frameworks to safely explore and memories of body policing, judgment, objectification, and exclusion, and will have opportunities to explore integrating storytelling, visceral sensation, and self-ownership through self-audio described dance.
* This workshop is by invitation only.


Image description:

On an orange and tan background, black text reads:

DARK ROOM BALLET WITH KRISHNA WASHBURN

Audio Description for Dance

A LIMITED SERIES OF VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS

SATURDAYS FROM JANUARY 20 TO FEBRUARY 24

ON ZOOM FROM 4 PM TO 6 PM (EASTERN/NEW YORK TIME

MORE INFO/REGISTER AT LINK

OR VISIT DarkRoomBallet.com

Outdoors at sunset, two barefoot dancers wearing flowing white dresses with dark trim and upswept hair stand at a distance while in similar motion, facing away from each other with heads turned to the side, one arm arched above their heads with a palm facing up  and the other bent towards their sides with a palm out.

Categories
News / Announcements

No Diagram Anatomy returns for November & December 2023!

Announcing a new series of three no-diagram anatomy workshops open to all (with priority given to blind and visually impaired students), no prior experience required.

Sponsored by Movement Research, all workshops take place online via Zoom.

To register for any or all workshops, please write to info@darkroomballet.com as soon as possible to complete the registration process.


Saturday, November 18, 2023:
The Dark Room Presents No Diagram Anatomy – The Respiratory System

This highly detailed workshop is a complete analysis of the organs, muscles, nerves, and connective tissues associated with the human respiratory system. In this workshop, we will use movement, touch, breathing, and conversations to not only cultivate scientific knowledge related to the respiratory system, but also initiate a higher degree of body awareness and neurological learning pertaining to how we breathe. Evolutionary history and the marvels of human variation will also be addressed in this workshop. No prior knowledge of human anatomy, dance, or self-audio description are required to participate, but all students will come away with deep anatomical knowledge, reduced movement anxiety, and tools to start learning how to talk about movement in a visceral way. Let’s get right down to the real nitty gritty!

Material covered in this workshop will include:
  • The organs and organ components of respiration
  • The muscles and nerves tasked with facilitating respiration
  • The biochemical processes of respiration and how they affect the body
  • The connective tissues that support the respiratory system

All students will receive the complete script of the workshop two days beforehand, and the script can be reviewed either before or after the workshop.

This workshop is designed for the educational needs of blind and visually impaired people and does not use diagrams.

Saturday, December 9, 2023:
The Dark Room Presents No Diagram Anatomy – The Spinal Complex

This highly detailed workshop is a complete analysis of the spinal complex, which includes the skeletal spinal column, the spinal cord and related nerve plexuses, and the layers of musculature that enable spinal movement. In this workshop, we will use movement, touch, and conversations to not only cultivate scientific knowledge related to the spinal complex, but also initiate a higher degree of body awareness and neurological learning pertaining to our spines. Evolutionary history and the marvels of human variation will also be addressed in this workshop. No prior knowledge of human anatomy, dance, or self-audio description are required to participate, but all students will come away with deep anatomical knowledge, reduced movement anxiety, and tools to start learning how to talk about movement in a visceral way. Let’s get right down to the real nitty gritty!

Material covered in this workshop will include:
  • The bones of the spinal column
  • The connective tissues of the spinal complex
  • The spinal cord itself and its emergent nerve plexuses
  • The layers of torso muscle that act on the spine and create movement

All students will receive the complete script of the workshop two days beforehand, and the script can be reviewed either before or after the workshop.

This workshop is designed for the educational needs of blind and visually impaired people and does not use diagrams.

Saturday, December 16, 2023: The Dark Room Presents No Diagram Anatomy – The Iliopsoas Complex

This highly detailed workshop is a complete analysis of the iliopsoas complex and surrounding pelvic tissues, including the components of the pelvic floor. In this workshop, we will use movement, touch, and conversations to not only cultivate scientific knowledge related to the spinal complex, but also initiate a higher degree of body awareness and neurological learning pertaining to our spines. Evolutionary history and the marvels of human variation will also be addressed in this workshop. No prior knowledge of human anatomy, dance, or self-audio description are required to participate, but all students will come away with deep anatomical knowledge, reduced movement anxiety, and tools to start learning how to talk about movement in a visceral way. Let’s get right down to the real nitty gritty!

Material covered in this workshop will include:
  • The skeletal framework of the iliopsoas complex and pelvic floor
  • The muscular components of the iliopsoas complex
  • The connective tissues of iliopsoas complex and pelvic floor
  • The nerves and nerve plexuses of the iliopsoas complex and pelvic floor
  • Overview of the organs associated with the pelvic floor

All students will receive the complete script of the workshop two days beforehand, and the script can be reviewed either before or after the workshop.

This workshop is designed for the educational needs of blind and visually impaired people and does not use diagrams


*All of these No Diagram Anatomy topics were requested by current Dark Room students! If you are a current or prospective Dark Room student who wants a nitty-gritty anatomy workshop on a specific part of the human body, Krishna will honor your requests for her next semester of courses!


Image description:
A workshop informational poster, anchored at the left with an an abstract image of two dancers with blurred features, wearing flowing, sleeveless, rainbow-colored dresses. A third dancer is just out of frame, and additional arms are visible, along with slender legs and pointed toes.

On black and white backgrounds, contrasting text reads:


DARK ROOM BALLET WITH KRISHNA WASHBURN Announcing a new series of 3 no-diagram anatomy workshops open to all (with priority given to blind and visually impaired students), no prior experience required.

November 18th
The Respiratory System

December 9th
The Spinal Complex

December 16th
The Iliopsoas Complex

3 SATURDAYS 4 PM to 6 PM via ZOOM

CLASS & REGISTRATION INFO AT LINK IN BIO