Two weeks ago, we had the pleasure to welcome Anne Hornsby from Mind’s Eye for a day-long training session around the creation of a touch tour for our outdoor dance-circus production WILD, with the support of our partner Without Walls. Following this first training stage, the dancers and the team will spend two days creating the touch tour this March, before testing and offering this opportunity to festivals and venues in the WILD tour from April onward. As a company, we are committed to improving access to our work and promoting an inclusive environment for our audiences, so Anne’s training was both insightful and inspiring for the Motionhouse team!
The day included a mix of presentations, to learn about the social context of visual impairment, the etiquette and the good practices in welcoming and guiding visually impaired and blind audience members; as well as a range of practical activities to reflect on the importance of language and put into practice what Anne had taught us.
The tasks we were set ranged from describing a room sitting back to back, to practicing tongue twisters, to reciting Humpty Dumpty one word at a time. As you can see below, that took a few tries to get right! Who knew nursery rhymes could be so mind-boggling??