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“Telephone Film” in the New York Times, and next screening on November 15th!

The Telephone Film is currently featured in The New York Times, as part of a thoughtful piece by reporter Siobhan Burke which explores the evolution of audio description for dance.

Here is the opening excerpt:

The dancer Krishna Washburn remembers attending a performance years ago by a well-known modern dance company at a large New York City theater. Washburn, who is blind, opted to experience the show with audio description: in this case, a track that narrated the dance as it was happening, delivered through a headset.

Intended to make the performance more accessible, the voice in her ear had the opposite effect: She left the theater feeling alienated, excluded. During the finale, a work famous for its deep emotional resonance, she heard people in the seats around her crying. But the audio description evoked nothing that seemed worthy of tears.

“I’m listening to: ‘Two dancers enter stage right; they proceed down the front diagonal,’” she said in a video interview, recalling the describer’s mechanical tone. “‘Two more dancers join them.’ And I’m like: ‘Why did they get you to cry? What’s really happening? There’s something I’m not getting.’”

Washburn now looks back on that moment as a turning point — away from feeling grateful for any attempt at audio description, and toward imagining and advocating more.

The founder and sole teacher of Dark Room Ballet, a ballet curriculum designed for blind and visually impaired students, Washburn is also the co-director, with the choreographer Heather Shaw, of “Telephone,” a film exploring the creative possibilities of audio description for dance. Presented around the country since its premiere last year, “Telephone” will be screened virtually by the New York City dance hub Movement Research on Nov. 15, followed by a conversation with the filmmakers.

The article continues, and includes audio and video:

Hear the Dance: Audio Description Comes of Age

(gift link, no subscription required, feel free to share)

Recent experiments in describing dance, like the film “Telephone,” approach it not just as an accessibility service but as a space for artistic exploration.

* A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 12, 2023, Section AR, Page 5 of the New York edition with the headline: Audio Description Finds Its Footing.

Our next screening:

With gratitude to all our colleagues and collaborators (many of whom are featured in the article), we would like to invite everyone to the next virtual screening of the Telephone Film, which takes place on Wednesday, November 15th at 6:30 PM (Eastern), sponsored by Movement Research.

The screening is free, but registration is required:

Register for Studies Project: Telephone Film Virtual Screening at Movement Research

If the registration form is not accessible to you, please email info@darkroomballet.com to register

Please note:

  • This event will happen ONLINE via Zoom.
  • Once you register, you should receive confirmation from Movement Research and/or Dark Room Ballet with a Zoom link and access to the Telephone FilmGoer Guide online.
  • If you cannot attend this screening, there are future screening events that can join — visit the Telephone Film Screenings page for updated info!


Thank you for your support of Dark Room Ballet and the Telephone Film!

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Telephone Film Screening via Abilities Dance Boston (Sept. 17th at 2 PM)

The next screening of the Telephone Film will be taking place VIRTUALLY via Abilities Dance Boston on Sunday, September 17th at 2 PM  (Eastern Time)

As a member of the Dark Room Ballet community, we would like to invite you to this VIRTUAL screening hosted by Abilities Dance Boston, which describes the event as follows:

“Telephone” is an activist screendance documentary celebrating emotionally rich, poetic audio description for dance, which allows blind and visually impaired people to be included fully in the joy of artistic expression.

The first of its kind, Telephone was created specifically with a visually impaired audience in mind, while facilitating an immersive sensory experience for audience members of all sight levels. Featuring diverse disabled and non-disabled artists from across the globe, the film demystifies and legitimizes audio description, not just as an access tool, but as a beautiful, rich art form in its own right. 

Join us virtually over Zoom with Abilities Dance Boston to experience the forty-five minute film, followed by a talkback with the co-directors, choreographer/filmmaker Heather Shaw and Dark Room Ballet Founder Krishna Washburn

More information about Telephone at: www.telephonefilm.com.

The film includes audio description, American Sign Language, and open captions. 

General Admission Tickets ($25) and Free Tickets are available via Abilities Dance Boston:

PURCHASE VIRTUAL TICKETS

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Tickets available for VIRTUAL Telephone Film Screening at the EstroGenius Festival on Sunday, April 23rd at 7 PM (Eastern Time)

The next screening of the Telephone Film  will be taking place online at the EstroGenius Festival on Sunday, April 23rd at 7 PM (Eastern Time)

As a member of the wider Dark Room Ballet community, we would like to invite you to this virtual screening (completely online) hosted by the EstroGenius Festival 2023, which describes the event as follows:

Telephone Film, co-directed by choreographer/filmmaker Heather Shaw and Dark Room Ballet Founder Krishna Washburn, is a disability arts film project that promotes radical arts inclusivity by bringing awareness to audio description for dance, an art form that allows blind and visually impaired people to be fully included in the joy of artistic expression. Telephone advocates for a new paradigm of anti-ableist artistic expression by showcasing audio description as an art form in its own right, while also providing an immersive sensory experience of dance for audience members of all sight levels. The screendance documentary is the first of its kind, featuring diverse disabled and non-disabled artists who have come together to prove that: dance is visceral, not merely visual. Join us to experience the forty-five minute film, followed by a talkback with the co-directors. The conversation will center around accessible art, creative choreographic/filmmaking methodologies, and the future of anti-ableism in the arts.

This event will include Audio Description and American Sign Language.

To attend this virtual film screening:

Tickets are available on a sliding scale, which means you can pay any amount to attend.

Once you purchase a ticket online, you will receive a confirmation from the EstroGenius Festival that will include a Zoom link to attend the event, as well as access to the Telephone FilmGoer Guide online.

Buy tickets at the link:

Ticket Link for Telephone Screening at EstroGenius Festival

Please note:

  • This event will begin at 7:00 PM (Eastern/New York Time) and will end at 8:30 PM in-person and online.

  • If you need accessibility assistance with ticket purchases, let us know and we will do our best to help.

    • For other questions regarding the event or the EstroGenius Festival, contact the festival directly at: estrogenius.festival@gmail.com

  • This event will not be recorded.  If you cannot attend this screening, there will be future screening events that you will be able to join! 

More information on future screenings will be available in the coming weeks and months, and we will keep you updated as it becomes available.

Thanks for your support of Dark Room Ballet and the Telephone Film!

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Help Telephone Film reach its goal of 15k by Nov 15th!

Help Telephone Film reach its goal of 15k by Nov 15th! (on YouTube, captions available)

Support disability justice and arts access – help Telephone Film reach its goal of 15k by Nov 15th!

Funds raised will go directly towards the costs of post-production, bringing this important screendance documentary to the finish line.

No donation is too small and we appreciate all of your support.

Donate on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/telephonefilm

Video description: Split screen Zoom recording of Telephone co-directors Krishna Washburn and Heather Shaw.


Follow Telephone Film!

On Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/telephone.film.AD/

On Instagram:
@telephone.film

On Vimeo and Ko-Fi, too!

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New inventory at Dark Room Adorned on Etsy!

Don’t sleep on the new inventory at Dark Room Adorned on Etsy!

Over a dozen new designs — here are just 2, WATERWAYS and TAJABONE

⚡️ Use code WEARME for 10% off! ⚡️

All bracelets are made in a wrap style that is adaptable and adjustable for many sizes and uses, and each is created using ethically sourced supplies from the United States, Czech Republic, Austria, and Mexico. 💎

Every bracelet is named after music used in Dark Room Ballet classes for blind and visually impaired adults, many of which are songs requested by students.

Proceeds from every sale at Dark Room Adorned benefit the Telephone Dance and Audio Description Film project, so that editors, composers, ASL interpreters and consultants can be paid.

Descriptions with each image.

Shop at Dark Room Adorned on Etsy today!

Inspired by Ludovico Einaudi’s beautiful, delicately atmospheric song, Waterways. This powerfully beautiful bracelet is made with a cyan blue vegan leather strap, cyan nylon thread, beautiful rare and special cyan blue apatite gemstones cut in a unique faceted cube shape, cyan blue Baroque freshwater pearls, matte finish Czech glass beads, and two shapes of silver-filled beads: round and filigree, and a silver-tone pewter oval button with swirl detailing. At four wraps around the wrist, it fits up to a six and three quarter inch wrist. This bracelet can also be worn loose at three wraps, unwrapped as a necklace, or double-wrapped as an anklet.

All purchases from Dark Room Adorned support Krishna, the blind ballet teacher who made this bracelet, and The Telephone Film, a screen dance project with choreographer Heather Shaw meant to promote the field of audio description for dance. The song Waterways was used in Dark Room Ballet class on May 23, 2022; this song was introduced to Krishna by her disabled dance mentor, Sasha!



Image described in caption
Inspired by the impossibly talented Senegalese musician, Ismael Lo, and his heartfelt ode to childhood holidays, Tajabone. This especially beautiful bracelet is made with an olive green vegan leather strap, olive green nylon thread, beautiful natural green garnet and peridot gemstones, olive green freshwater pearls, flickering crystal rondelles, and two shapes of gold-filled beads: round and hexagonal, and a gold-tone brass oval button with pinpoint detailing. At four wraps around the wrist, it fits up to a seven and a half inch wrist. This bracelet can also be worn loose at three wraps, unwrapped as a necklace, or double-wrapped as an anklet.

All purchases from Dark Room Adorned support Krishna, the blind ballet teacher who made this bracelet, and The Telephone Film, a screen dance project with choreographer Heather Shaw meant to promote the field of audio description for dance. The song Tajabone was used in Dark Room Ballet class on June 6, 2022; this song was introduced to Krishna by her disabled dance mentor, Sasha!

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Support the Telephone Film and Dark Room Ballet on #GivingTuesday!

Cyber Monday is coming to a close, which means that tomorrow is Giving Tuesday!

You may have heard about the Telephone Film project before. 

If you haven’t, here is some more info:

The first of its kind, Telephone is a work-in-progress short film bringing awareness to the important art form of audio description (AD) for dance. Audio description allows blind and visually impaired people to be included fully in the joy of artistic expression.

Co-directed by Dark Room Ballet founder Krishna Washburn and choreographer Heather Shaw, Telephone is the first screendance film created specifically with a visually impaired audience in mind, while facilitating an immersive sensory experience for audience members of all sight levels.

Created during the global pandemic, the film features diverse disabled and non-disabled artists from across the globe, demystifying and legitimizing AD, not just as an access tool, but as a beautiful, rich art form in its own right.

Telephone is at the forefront of a completely new approach to audio description. Most of what is considered “best practice” for AD is meant for television or film. A neutral AD voice describes the visuals and does not express emotional content. In television and film, the performers’ voices (layered over the AD) inform the audience of the emotional themes. However, in dance, performers rarely speak. Is the neutral AD voice really the best choice for dance? How do those listening to the AD connect with the emotional content of the performance?

The audio describers of Telephone are reshaping the world’s perception of AD, adding emotional context and allowing their words to dance in the same way a dancer’s body moves. The result is a beautiful merge of poetry and movement, proving that:

Dance is visceral – not merely visual.

Telephone Film is in the post-production stage, and is just $600 away from being able to meet a minimum goal to pay for editing and accessibility services.

You can help!

Interested in making a one-time donation? You can do so on Ko-Fi.

Interested in Dark Room Ballet Merchandise in support of Telephone? Limited quantity tote bags* are available at the following links: Air Between My Vertebrae, Fingers Awake and Alive, and Heels like Magnets.

Watch the Telephone film trailer (with credits and expanded description)… and then, do the Telephone Rock!

(The Telephone Rock is a Sesame Street video from 1977 with Muppets singing in and around a telephone booth… remember those? The lyrics are available here.)

Thanks, as always, for supporting the missions of Dark Room Ballet and the Telephone Film!