Circus to the touch

On World Circus Day, the Russian State Circus, with the participation of the Art, Science and Sport Charitable Foundation, made a real gift for people with visual impairments – a circus performance with audio descriptions “Together the Whole Country”.

The inclusive project “Circus to the touch” is a new page in the activities of the Russian State Circus. He gave thousands of blind people the opportunity to get acquainted with the art of circus. With the support of specialists, the circus performance received professional audio commentaries, and the audience received an innovative way to hear and spatially imagine how the circus “lives”.

“I liked it very much,” said Svetlana Telitsyna, head of the Wise Dog guide dog club in Moscow, who came to the performance specially after the performance. Everything was so well described and told that she could not hold back her tears. I laughed heartily at the clowns, was fascinated by the angel under the dome of the circus. I had images, I had my own associations. The voice in the headphones harmoniously merged with the picture of perception. It was amazing! Listening to the tiflocomments, I seemed to see …

Until last year, there was no practice of audiovisual commentary in the circus.

– There are many specifics, one of which is professional terminology. And if in the theater the audio commentator explains what happens between monologues and dialogues, then in the circus there is practically a continuous story, – said Tatyana Solomina, head of the public relations department of the Federal State Circus. This project is a real challenge for us.

The teacher-defectologist, and now the audiovisual commentator Natalya Isaikina, before taking on such a responsibility – to convey the performance to people with visual impairments, did a large-scale job: she watched the performance several times, which was called “Together the whole country”, then wrote audiovisual comments (40 pages of text!), and then voiced the entire three-hour performance. To say that it was not easy is to say nothing. But she did it!

Another good news: the leadership of the Russian State Circus has taken care that in the circuses of the country, on request, they organize backstage excursions for blind and visually impaired children so that they can most fully compose the image of what is happening in the arena. During the tour, they will be able to touch props, costumes, tethers, loungers, winches, and even some animals, as long as they follow the safety rules.

– For many years, visually impaired people lived in a closed system, lived in their own world. Many institutions were inaccessible to them. But when the Russian State Circus came to us with the initiative to make the circus accessible to people with special vision, it was as if our eyes were opened, – said Vladimir Plekhov, deputy head of the Un Certain Regard program. “Our common task is to make sure that people with visual impairments get involved in art as often as possible and thereby integrate into society.

Soon, circus performances with audio commentaries of the Circus to the Touch project will be able to be seen not only in Ryazan, where the first of them took place, but also in other cities and regions of the country.

Natalia Anokhina.

Photo by the press service of the Russian State Circus