Introducing Video of the Week from Wales Arts Review. We’ll be showcasing some of the best new art in Wales with a new video shared every week. From music to drama and everything in between, videos will not be limited by medium. Today we take a look at ‘Whimsy Performer’ from Taking Flight Theatre Company.
This week’s video brings us into the realm of British Sign Language, with the introduction of an exciting opportunity for BSL-using performers. ‘Whimsy Performer’ uses BSL with English-language subtitles to announce a collaboration between Deaf Hub Wales, Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru, Krystal S. Lowe, National Dance Company Wales, Taking Flight Theatre Company and The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Their project, based on Lowe’s 2020 storytelling dance ‘Whimsy’, is looking for ‘Deaf Talent’ to work alongside Lowe and director Matthew Gough in the creation of multilingual dance theatre work.
Writing on her website last year, Lowe explained, ‘I am made well and restored, brought joy and peace through art so I want as many people as possible to be able to experience that. And sadly, there are many barriers to art benefiting all. Through [‘Whimsy’] I hope to work to pull down some of those barriers’.
Shared by Taking Flight, who strive to create bold, inclusive theatre, ‘Whimsy Performer’ explains that over the next eighteen months, the Arts Council of Wales-funded project will focus on ‘honouring the intersections of Black, Deaf and Welsh-speaking people’. Taking Flight has an impressive history of successful collaborations as well as independent productions which open theatre up to the D/deaf community, and this next project seems sure to follow suit.
Watch the full ‘Whimsy Performer’ video below.
‘Whimsy Performer’ is also available with Welsh-language subtitles here.
To find out more about the project, follow the collaborators on Twitter: @DeafHubWales @eisteddfod @KrystalsLowe @ndcwales @takingflightco @RSPBCymru.
