For Núñez, the decision to incorporate audio description into his work, rather than providing it through an optional headset, came in part from a desire for “everyone to be on board,” he said. “I wanted the non-disabled community to experience audio description as well.”
At Kinetic Light, Audimance developer Laurel Lawson would like to make the app available to other dance companies, allowing anyone to deliver audio-described performances. In addition to funding, reaching that goal will require “getting choreographers to understand how exciting this is and how much more there can be to their work,” Lawson said.
Cheryl Green, Kinetic Light describer, said slowly but surely more arts organizations are realizing the importance of audio description. “I think the message has gotten through: DEI needs to be DEIA,” she said, using the abbreviation for diversity, equity, inclusion and access. “Accessibility is not difficult and it is not scary.” Not to mention, she added: “It grows your audience. He just does it.”
As Washburn spreads the word about audio description, she also stays connected to the communities closest to her. What matters most to her about “Telephone,” she said, is how she reaches disabled audiences, like the regulars at her Monday night online ballet class.
“When you are a disabled person who is drawn to dance and art, you feel alone,” he said. “And what I hear most from my students is that this movie doesn’t make them feel alone.”
Audio produced by Adriana Hurst.
Video credits:
Excerpt from “Telephone” (2022): directed by Krishna Washburn and Heather Shaw; choreography and performance by Camille Tokar Pavliska; audio description by Seta Morton; American Sign Language performance by Ian Sanborn; music by Emil Bognar-Nasdor.
Excerpt from “DESCENT” by Kinetic Light (2018): choreography by Alice Sheppard in collaboration with Laurel Lawson; performance by Sheppard and Lawson; audio description by Cheryl Green, George McRae, Erin deWard, Eli Clare (poetry), Dylan Keefe (soundscape); music by Joan Jeanrenaud; Lighting and projection by Michael Maag.
Excerpt from “The Circle or Prophetic Dream” (2022): choreography by Christopher Unpezverde Núñez; dance show by Núñez and Rafael V. Cañals Pérez; audio description of Núñez; sound composition and interpretation by Alfonso Poncho Castro; video by Peter Richards.
