Exploring belonging, connection, community and place, Queer Blind dance artist and maker Alex Craig works collaboratively, opening and holding space for a collective experience of dance that is not centred upon visual sight.
For their 2022 Critical Path Research Residency, Alex explores sound-based languages which support non-sighted navigation of space whilst dancing and communication between collaborators when improvising and/or sharing individual movement languages.
During their research residency, Alex continues the collaborative development of these non-sighted sound-based practice methods as a means of deeply investigating their potential to:
- Create space for safe and authentic artistic expression and collaboration;
- Foster and strengthen creative connections founded upon trust and reciprocity; and
- Open space for respectful cross-cultural exchange and learning, particularly in relation to the sharing of lived histories related to individual dance practices/movement languages.
Alex conducted their first set of experimentations with choreographers and dancers Victoria Hunt, Jeremy Lowrenčev, musicians Jochen Gutsch and Trevor Brown in early April.
In July. Alex joint with collaborators Imogen Yang, Romain Hassanin, Annalouise Paul, Gabriela Green Olea, Samuel Beazley, Saskia Ellis and Emily Yali at the Drill. Collectively, they explored and built systems which are not sight reliant, and which allow for equitable knowledge sharing between Blind and sighted artists dancing and creating together.
Image credits: Image 1 – 3 – by Natalie Cartney, Image 4 – Photo taken by Iris Shen during Alex Craig’s 2022 Research Residency, Image 5 – Video still by Jochen Gutsch, filmed during Alex Craig’s 2022 Research Residency.
Video by Rolling Media Productions