Performance Arts Description Techniques
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Theater
General
- With most performing arts, the describer should allow listeners to participate in the "willing suspension of disbelief" by describing in terms of the story rather than the theatrical experience. Avoid stage directions -- stage right, house right, and downstage as well as words like "enters" and "exits."
- Avoid theatrical references or jargon, especially names for technical equipment and devices, which would draw listeners' attention away from their involvement in the story ("break the fourth wall") and may introduce confusing, unknown terms.
- Example: Say "John [character's name] is 6 feet tall with curly black hair... " instead of "the actor playing John is 6 feet tall..." "Susan runs from the kitchen" rather than "Susan exits the stage."
- The exception to the "maintain the illusion" caution would be when the style of the production is presentational, calling attention to its theatricality. Because the production makes the audience aware that it is "watching a play," it's appropriate for the describer to do so as well.
To Script or Not To Script
Some performing arts description producers will have a describer preview a performance (as production schedules allow) enough times to allow for the development of a description script. Others depend on one or two previews where notes are made and the describer provides description in a more "extemporaneous" manner. If time and schedules allow, the development of a script permits the careful consideration of the various fundamentals of description outlined earlier in this document. The describer using a script does not, of course, read the script without looking at the live performance; he/she must know the script well enough to use the script as a prompt and be free to describe extemporaneously when "change happens."
"Stepping On Lines"
- Descriptions are usually delivered during pauses between lines of dialogue or quiet moments, avoiding other critical sound elements. But since it is more important to make a production understandable than to preserve every detail of the original soundtrack, the describer will speak over dialogue and other audio when necessary. In most instances, a describer may talk over background music or underscoring as well as the lyrics of a repeated chorus of a song.
- And, as noted earlier, it is appropriate to let pauses or quiet moments pass without a description. Listeners want to hear the performance first and the description second. The dialogue, the sounds -- and even the silences -- are telling the story and must be experienced.
- Use caution in talking over a "song played on the radio" because its recognition by the audience and/or the audience's hearing its content may be important to setting a mood, recalling an era, making an emotional statement, etc.
- Example: Esther is talking non-stop about making a pie, but she is quietly taking a gun from a drawer. The describer may need to speak over her dialogue because the audience will hear a gunshot before she stops talking about making the pie.
Sound Effects
- Include any sound effects in the timing of descriptions, e.g., he turns away from her and she pulls out a revolver. [BANG] He falls over a desk [CLATTER].
- Usually a sound effect, or the event leading up to it, is described just before it happens.
- Example: "The burglar drops his sack." [THUD] Sometimes it can be even more effective after the action. "Waving their arms they run towards the platform..." [Chuff chuff... the sound of a train pulling away] "The train is pulling out of the station."
- In a live setting, it may be warranted to alert AD users of upcoming sound effects as they could affect guide dogs accompanying a patron.
Identification
- Identify characters as they have been identified in the production. Introduce them only after they've been introduced in the dialogue. Consistently identify people/characters by name. Use a character's name only when sighted audience members know the name. When an unknown character appears, refer to the person by a physical characteristic used in his/her initial description until his/her name is revealed. Once everyone knows the character's proper name, tie the name to the physical description at the first opportunity ("John, the redheaded man") and afterwards use only the character's name.
- Be certain to describe entrances and exits -- who and where -- especially when there's nothing audible to indicate someone has joined or left the scene.
- Note: It may be helpful to create a list of the established names for each character for reference during the description. A list of commonly paired couples may also be useful in plays with difficult character names. Some AD users have suggested that once the material has identified a character, the describer could match the character's name with the actor's voice by mentioning the character's name just before s/he speaks. Although the describer usually doesn't need to repeat the voice identification, this might be necessary after a character has been silent or absent for a long time or if several voices are similar and it's important to know exactly who is saying what at a particular point.
Timing
- Theatrical surprises should, ideally, come at the same time for all audience members. If characters' appearances or actions, hidden identities, costumes, sight gags, sound effects, etc. happen as a surprise to sighted audience members, don't spoil the surprise for listeners by describing (and revealing) them in advance.
- Example: If a character is in disguise, he becomes "the man" rather than "John wears a disguise." Use a neutral term "the figure in red" when characters are disguising their gender. If the action that accompanies a sound effect will result in a reaction from the audience, treat this as if describing a sight gag. Time the description to allow listeners to react at the same time as sighted audience members.
- Example: If the audience sees something happening that might "warn them" of the possibility of, say, a loud noise, be sure to describe that action. For instance, Jack loads a rifle, so we know that there's a possibility he will fire it.
- With experience, describers learn to gauge when laughter and applause have peaked and begun to die down. If possible, hold description until the audience begins to quiet. If not, speak loudly when describing over loud laughter, music or applause.
- When an effect will be repeated, try to describe it the first time in a way that allows a "shorthand" reference later.
- Example: In a play where characters vigorously smoke cigarettes to underscore their tension, describe the first instance as, "Mary and John light cigarettes, inhale and exhale deeply." On later occurrences, as listeners understand the pattern of their behavior, simply say, "Smoking again."
Sounds
Describe the source of sounds that may not be immediately recognizable within the program but are pertinent to understanding and appreciation of the content.
==Dance== : To Be Determined later
Note: The narrative that follows is based on concepts put forth originally by Rudolph Laban, codified under the rubric "Laban Movement Analysis" (LMA). It is offered here as a basis from which standards for dance description may be developed.
LMA offers describers an expanded range of seeing and a more specific vocabulary for describing movement. There is a significant difference between saying what someone is doing and describing how they do it. Description is often about what a mover is doing. But to convey as much information in as few words as possible, they often need to describe how the mover is accomplishing the action. What sort of pathway in space does the mover follow? How does the shape or "attitude" of their body convey character or context? What dynamic qualities of the movement flavor its meaning? The describer needs to choose concise wording that will capture the primary elements, communicating to the listener the most essential visual cues.
Laban wrote that:
"Pure dancing has no describable story. It is frequently impossible to outline the content of a dance in words, although one can always describe the movement. ... the artist playing the role of Eve can pluck the apple in more than one way, with movements of varying expression. She can pluck the apple greedily and rapidly or languidly and sensuously... Many other forms of action are possible, and each of these will be characterized by a different kind of movement... In defining the kind of movement as greedy, as sensuous, or detached, one does not define merely what one has actually seen. What the spectator has seen may have been only a peculiar, quick jerk or a slow gliding of the arm. The impression of greed or sensuousness is the spectator's personal interpretation of Eve's state of mind... "
Here Laban suggests the objectivity principle of Audio Description and the acronym: WYSIWYS -- what you see is what you say. AS noted throughout these standards: it's important to describe accurately and vividly, but to allow the listener to create meaning. (Eve snatches the apple "with a quick jerk of the arm" not "with a look of greedy guilt".)
A blind AD user once commented, "I never go to dance because all I get is the music, and if I don't like the music, it's really boring!" When asked what he would need to hear in the description in order not to be bored, he replied, "the story". Of course, in the case of modern dance often the images are abstract -- there is no story!" With dance description, it's important to find the "story" it tells: what main idea does the dancing communicate to the viewer, what is the essence of the dance? What information would be most important to allow a blind audience member to experience the performance as fully as possible, to help him follow the meaning of the choreography? Which elements comprised the structure and themes of the choreography, and what words would most succinctly convey those ideas?
For example, one piece might be mostly "about" spatial patterns and sequences of group clustering and scattering; the dancers' specific movements may be less important, and their individual characteristics (gender, hair color, body shape, etc.) may not matter at all with respect to the content being expressed. In another piece, where each dancer plays a unique character, those particulars, along with various movement combinations and body attitude, can be meaningful factors.
Attached below is a portion of the describers' script for one of Axis Dance Company's pieces: "Dust", choreographed by Victoria Marks. The script is designed to be spoken while the movement occurs; viewing a tape of the piece, you would notice that much has been left unsaid in order to focus on communicating mood, theme and choreographic structure, while leaving aural space for the impact of the musical score. We invite you to test the description by having it read aloud to you. To what extent does hearing the dance allow you to see?
Audio Describers' Script for a Live Dance Performance (segment)
DUST
By Victoria Marks
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR DESCRIBERS
This dance is structured to employ many types of contrasts. Examples include...
- Visual contrasts: light/dark, warm tones/cool tones, patterns/full light, one or two dancers/large group.
- Sound contrasts: nature sounds/music, quietness (serene sounds)/active (agitated) sounds.
- Choreographic idea contrasts: stillness/mobility, passive/active, initiator/follower, intensity (seriousness)/lighthearted busyness, isolation/interaction.
Note that the activeness/passivity, stillness/mobility of each dancer at any given choreographic moment is not based on who's in a wheelchair/"disabled" or not. Sometimes the choreographer purposely turns that around.
DESCRIPTION
Descriptions delivered in real time.
1
A small pool of light reveals a woman lying still, face down. From left, a second woman drives her motorized wheelchair into the light.
2
She pauses next to the prone woman, then reaches down to lift the woman's shoulder and change her pose.
3
The woman in the wheelchair continues to pose the other, moving one body part at a time. The woman on the floor moves only as she is molded, holding each new shape.
[SLIGHT PAUSE]
The mov-er steers her wheelchair to gently nudge the mov-ee onto her back.
4
The passive dancer on the floor is softly pulled and pushed, her head lifted, her back lightly touched, to bring her to sitting. The wheelchair presses into her from behind; she slides to a crouch, then a squat. In stages, her partner stands her up. The standing woman now turns her head -- on her own -- toward the wheelchair dancer. Light fades to black.
5
Light comes up. The standing woman faces a new dancer. She who was passive is now the initiator. One press of her forefinger against the other's breastbone sets off a cascade of movements. The first backs away and watches as the new dancer flails and dangles, drops to her knees, her elbow, then splays onto her back. Lights fade out.
6
The circle of light comes up. A new dancer stands beside the splayed woman, slicing the air with sharp arcing arm movements. The splayed woman lifts her head, as the other gazes upward. Light fades to black.
[PAUSE, MUSIC CHANGES]
7
Full stage lights up. From left, a man and woman, in time to the music, prance and dip forward. They are met, from right, by a dancer motoring her wheelchair on, dragging another who hangs on to its back. Now dancers converge and scatter busily all over the stage -- two drive wheelchairs, five are on foot. Greetings, hugs, taps, re-groupings. Dancers wave, bump, tease, chase, shove, lean, flop onto and roll or climb over each other, scurrying and whizzing playfully from place to place.
8
Now, as lights begin to dim, the dancers spread across the stage and slow to stillness, pausing in tableau. Lighting creates an uneven geometry of shadows slashing across the floor. In unison, the dancers begin to turn slowly in place. Now all are seen in right profile.
9
Now their backs all face us.
10
[CHIMES]
11
The dancers continue their slow-motion rotation.
12
Now all are in left profile
13
At left, suddenly a wheelchair dancer sweeps her arm up and circles her chair to the right. At this cue, a man at right spins, then reaches out to draw her to him. While some continue their slow, in-place rotation, others break rank and repeat some of the earlier greeting, reaching, running, and pushing. Each always returns to a still patch of light and rejoins the ongoing group rotation.
14
Small groups step forward, then back into place. Now all pause, in tableau again, their backs to us.
15
In unison, all look over their right shoulder then turn toward us.
16
They are still.
17
The two at right turn away.
18
The two at center turn away.
19
The remaining three turn away.
20
Steadily, evenly, all rotate to their left, to face the far left corner.
21-22
Abruptly breaking the spell, a woman dashes from right to left, slicing through the group. She flings herself to the ground, then scrambles up and races back as the others pull away from her and stride off left. She repeats the run and slide, left alone on stage. The lights have brightened and the floor pattern disappears. The lone dancer runs off as others return along her same diagonal path (from far left to close right). They are tugging, shoving, catching and lifting each other. Some push, roll and dart past others to advance along the diagonal and scatter offstage right.
23
Now all but two have exited. They pause, stare at each other, and one runs off right, leaving the other standing alone.
24
Body erect, she gradually turns her back to us...
25
... then pivots slowly on one foot then the other to complete her rotation.
26 Now she looks at us, then walks forward, gazing across the audience.
27
The light brightens on her as she bends forward, hands to her right knee, and unfastens her prosthetic lower leg. She sets it upright in front of her. It stands alone as she kneels behind.
28
Crouching, she slides left on her knees.
29
She glances at us, leans forward to peer at the leg, reaching out slowly with her index finger to poke the leg and tip it over. As she sits up, another dancer, in a separate pool of light to the left, reaches upward, arching her back, then crumples to the floor, face down.
Opera
TO BE DEVELOPED
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