Dance / Holly Thomas
Inclusive dance, sound and narrative show features visually impaired and sighted performers
Based at Pervasive Media Studio, Holly Thomas is a dance artist, choreographer, performer and educator specialising in what she terms “inclusive choreography and embodied audio-description for dance”.
Her partly biographical live dance show Half Light features two visually impaired (VI) and one sighted performer, together exploring “the passing of time from day to night and back to sunrise, evoking an experience of twilight, absolute night and sonic sunrise, as a shifting sensory landscape, where memory and time are ambiguous”.
Combining audio-description with multi-layered and located sound, the work is designed to suit blind, (VI) and sighted audiences alike, with no age restriction.
“Immerse yourself in a world where sight is not assumed”, we are instructed. “Dance like everyone is listening.”
An hour prior to the performance, people are invited to join a 25-minute ‘touch tour’, allowing individuals to “meet the cast, experience moments of choreography from the show, handle costumes, with audio descriptions provided, choose seating that best suits your particular visual access requirements”.
Phil Owen is head of events at Arnolfini, which is staging Half Light on November 14. For him, the show blends “a delicacy of means with deeply considered underlying principles.
“A dance piece, a sound piece, a piece of narrative performance – and an inclusive audience experience which feels almost healing.”
Holly Thomas: Half Light is at Arnolfini on November 14 at 4-8.30pm. Performances at 4pm and 7.30pm; touch tours at 3pm and 6.30pm. Tickets are available at www.headfirstbristol.co.uk.
All photos: Holly Thomas
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