The news

Jennifer Mills has been writing a weekly newspaper about her life for the past 20 years.

Commissioned by Short Cuts and made in collaboration with Jennifer Mills. Edited by Axel Kacoutié.

WHAT IS THIS SHAPE? 

We generally think about dance as being something you go and see, but iele paloumpis and their collaborators have developed an approach to audio description for dance that goes way beyond the verbal version of the visual that is traditional for AD for live performance. They feel that this type of description misses an opportunity, and is often bland, medicalized, and linear. This piece interrogates how a holistic approach to AD can transform the audience experience for everyone, and how access can be art in and of itself.

This piece first aired on BBC Short Cuts in their episode The Interpreter. Listen here.

This piece was produced in collaboration with director iele paloumpis, dancer Krishna Washburn, and audio describers Alejandra Ospina, and Seta Morton.

The music was composed by Dan Pencer.

This research exploring audio description for dance improvisation was catalyzed by the evening-length dance performance of In place of catastrophe, a clear night sky, which was set to premiere at Danspace Project in May 2020, but has been postponed due to COVID-19. It was directed by iele paloumpis in collaboration with Marielys Burgos-Meléndez, Seta Morton, Alejandra Ospina, Monica Rodriguez, Ogemdi Ude, Krishna Washburn, Adrien Weibgen and Marýa Wethers. For more information, please visit inplaceofcatastrophe.com.

This project is made possible, in part, by the Danspace Project Commissioning Initiative and Production Residency Program funded by the Lambent Foundation Fund of the Tides Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; with additional support through a 2019 Movement Research Residency, funded by the Scherman Foundation’s Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund; and is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC); as well as Dance/NYC's Disability. Dance. Artistry. Dance and Social Justice Fellowship Program, made possible by the generous support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs CreateNYC Disability Forward Fund and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, and with additional support from the New York Community Trust. Creative developmental residencies at The Chocolate Factory Theater, Queer|Art Pride at Abrons Arts Center, AUNTS Residency at Mount Tremper Arts, and the Zil Culture Center in Moscow through the GPS/Global Practice Sharing program of Movement Research with funding from the Trust for Mutual Understanding, have also contributed to this ongoing research.

NICOLA, TALKBACK

After I made my first radio documentary, I sent it to my subject Nicola, a 16 year-old I grew up with. She listened then told me she hated it. This has haunted my practice since. in this new doc, I got to retrace my steps and make a piece about trying to tell/being in someone else’s story.

Nicola, Talkback was commissioned and produced for BBC Short Cuts with editor Andrea Rangecroft, and oversight from Nicola. It features music by Abby Swidler.

You can listen to the original documentary this piece speaks about here. 

Thanks to Kristine White, Kate Sutherland, Katie Mathews, and to Nicola.

An audio drawing lesson with Ebony Flowers, commissioned by Short Cuts and edited by Eleanor McDowall.

It features Ebony Flowers, a cartoonist, ethnographer, and educator who teaches drawing to people who stopped drawing a long time ago, or who think they can't draw. This piece is designed so that you can follow along and draw with her, either on paper or in your mind. 

Music by Chad Crouch and Abby Swidler.

AMBIENT, SIR

After studying interrogation transcripts from Guantánamo Bay detention camp, Jordan Scott, a poet who stutters, grew interested in how detainees' stutters were systematically interpreted as signs of their dishonesty.

Scott applied to tour the prison to interview interrogators about this, but at the last minute was informed that his interviews wouldn't be possible.

With Guantánamo's strict censorship policies in mind, Scott changed tactics. He asked to record ambient sound at the prison instead. Gitmo officials, though puzzled, obliged.

This piece considers how institutional silence can be documented and represented, and the possibility of listening in spaces of trauma. It features Scott's field recordings from both his prison media tour and a night visit he took to Camp X-Ray - now the site of an active war crimes investigation. Commissioned by Falling Tree Productions for BBC’s podcast Short Cuts.

This documentary contains Scott's field recordings and retelling of events from his visit.

You can learn more about Jordan and his research at Guantanamo here. 

Ambient, Sir was commissioned and produced for BBC Short Cuts and edited by Eleanor McDowall. It was featured in the official selection of the International Features Conference in Cork, Ireland, and LUCIA festival in Firenze, Italy, in 2019.