Gravity Access Services

MONDAY JUNE 5, 6 PM Join LightHouse and Gravity Access Services as they co-host a discussion on the evolution of access practices for Blind and Low Vision audiences in the Performing Arts in the Bay Area and beyond. Please come and be in conversation with thought leaders about Access from the Blind Community, Bay Area Theaters, Artists and Funders that are all figuring out how to do this important work together. How is it going? What services exist currently for Blind Audience members? For what kind of performances do Blind and Low vision people want more accommodation? How do Artists let audiences know when they are providing access? Who pays for the real costs of access? Questions? Contact [email protected] Image description: Five dancers are in a line at an ascending level from left to right They are all connected to one another with different body parts. They are on a stage with black marley, illuminated by blue and purple light

Hi everyone! The audio description workshop that was planned in Austin this April has been canceled. If you were planning on attending or are interested in this work, check out our website for other offerings on this topic! We look forward to working with you and moving towards a more accessible performance art world together!

🗓️ mark your calendars! Wednesday March, 29 at @counterpulse ! Here’s your chance to meet face-to-face with the leadership of dozens of arts organizations! Interested in volunteering your time and expertise to help keep San Francisco a vibrant creative hub? RSVP at counterpulse.org/event/boardmatch

From April 10-14, 2023, Artspark is presenting an amazing opportunity to participate in a 5-day professional training for Audio Describers with Gravity Access Services’ Tiffany Taylor and Jess Curtis. Audio Description (AD) is a fast growing practice that provides access to the performing arts, dance, theater, film and video to people who are Blind or have low vision. AD provides clear descriptions of the essential visual details of a performance – action, costumes, settings, gestures, facial expressions, objects and other visually communicative elements in order to accommodate people for whom many cultural events would be otherwise inaccessible. Many communities in the US have no trained audio describers and there is a vast need for more people to provide the service. Image description: a white, black, and yellow flyer with geometric shapes and a photo of performers sitting on stage in a circle with their backs facing each other.

Image description: A profile image of Stephanie Hewett, a brown-skinned femme-identifying person with short, dark-brown curly hair covering her face. One arm is stretched out in front of her while her other arm is bent with her fingers resting in her hair. She wears a silver dress with black transparent sleeves. - On Friday 11th of November, we are providing Audio Description and Haptic Access Tour for Stephanie Hewett’s “(E)cho (Q)ueue”🎧🎙✨ Event description: (E)cho (Q)ueue is an experimental multimedia performance piece that reinforces techno music as an inherently Black American invention by examining its lineage and synthesizing Afro-Diasporic rhythmic and tonal forms with movement. Through visual projections, choreography, and original music composed by Hewett’s moniker, Madre Guía, (E)cho (Q)ueue aims to speak to the cultural, social, and spiritual impact of Black cultural production by elevating its past, present, and future. Joining her will be two Bay Area powerhouses Audrey Johnson and Laila Shabazz, with creative support from Abdoulie Jallow and Joslynn Mathis-Reed. (E)cho (Q)ueue is supported by the Zellerbach Family Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and Dancers’ Group, and FACT/SF. - 11th November, 7.15PM Haptic Access Tour, 8PM Audio Described Performance The Lab, 2948 16th Street, SF Ticket price: $15-$25 #Accessibility#AccessiblePerformance#AudioDescription#HapticAccessTour#SanFrancisco#Inclusion#GravityAccessServices#StaphanieHewett#TheLab

Image descriptions in the comments below: - For the second time this year, Claire Cunningham and our Jess Curtis are presenting “The Way You Look (at me) Tonight” in Germany, this time at Hellerau Dresden. We are very excited to be bringing this accessible work about access again in a German Theater. @clairecprojects @jessacurtis @hellerau_ - The Way You Look (At Me) Tonight is a social sculpture—a sensory journey, for two performers and audience. Dancing, singing, telling stories and asking questions, leading UK disabled artist Claire Cunningham and international choreographer and performer Jess Curtis, combine performance, original music, and video to wrestle (sometimes literally) with important questions about our habits and practices of perceiving each other and the world. Based on the experience of their own bodies, they discuss the ways in which disability, gender or age influence and how we perceive each other. They put theoretical considerations directly into practice. The audience is also invited to experiment with their own perception and the various senses, because everyone can access this piece in their own way: An audio description makes the movements of a danced duo audible, the conversations are translated into sign language, videos show a different perspective on what is happening on stage. Audience and performers become part of a social sculpture that practices a tender form of resistance. - 16 SEP 2022, 19:00 17 SEP 2022, 19:00 Audio Description will be provided for both nights. Hellerau Karl-Liebknecht Straße 56 01109 Dresden Image credits: Sven Hagolani #GravityAccessServicesBerlin#Dresden#Accessibility#ClaireCunningham#JessCurtis#Hellerau#AudioDescription#HapticAccessTour#Tanz

Image description: JanpiStar gracefully falls to the floor from their wheelchair as they throw a billowing blue piece of fabric in the air. Zara Anwar watches the fabric cascade above her as she leans back in a lunge. Both dancers wear all white against a blue gradient background. - On September 16th, 17th and 18th 2022 we are providing ASL Interpretation, Audio Description and Haptic Access Tour for the triple bill premiere “Adelante”, by AXIS Dance Company🎧🎙✨ Event description: AXIS Dance Company’s new Artistic Director Nadia Adame presents a triple-bill of world premiere pieces for her first home season. Named after the Spanish word for both "forward" and "go ahead," the three works in "Adelante" all find common ground in the triumph of the human spirit. Founded in 1987, AXIS is one of the nation's most acclaimed ensembles of disabled and non-disabled performers. Friday September 16th, 8-10PM - Wheelchair accessible performance Saturday September 17th, 8-10PM - ASL Interpretation Sunday September 18th, 1-4PM - Haptic Access Tour and Audio Description ODC Theater 3153 17th St, San Francisco, CA 94110 ADA accesible venue. Audio Description and Haptic Access Tour by Gravity Access Services. Tickets: $25 - 55 Image credits: David De Silva #Accessibility#AccessiblePerformance#AudioDescription#HapticAccessTour#SanFrancisco#Inclusion#GravityAccessServices#Adelante#AXISDanceCompany#NadiaAdame#ASLInterpretation#OCDTheater

Image description: Four teenage Asian girls in profile with the furthest girl screaming in rage. Illustrated in black, primary blue, and reddish orange. - On Sunday September 18, 2022 we are providing audio description and Haptic Access tour for “Man of God”, written by Anna Ouyang Moench directed by Michelle Talgarowaz, presented by Shotgun Players. 🎧🎙✨ Event description: A funny feminist thriller about that moment when girls realize the male gaze has been watching all along - and decide they are definitely gonna do something about it. Inspired by a real life incident at a Christian mission in Southeast Asia, this play delves into the lives of four young women faced with a choice. Sunday, September 18th, 3:30PM - 7:45PM 1901 Ashby Avenue Berkeley, California 94703 ADA accesible venue. Audio Description by Gravity Access Services. Tickets: $27 Use code KUNGFU for $10 off #Accessibility#AccessiblePerformance#AudioDescription#HapticAccessTour#SanFrancisco#Inclusion#GravityAccessServices#ShotgunPlayers#AnnaOuyangMoench#MichelleTalgarowaz#Ashby

Image description: Two people touch heads with their eyes closed, wearing braids and a grey-ish hat on the left and a bandana on the right, with a GUSH text logo overlay - On September 15th, 16th and 17th we are providing Audio Description, Haptic Access Tour and ASL Interpretation for “GUSH Festival” presented by Joe Goode Performance Group (JGPG) 🎧🎙✨ GUSH is a festival platform for fresh dance-theater performance and artistic exchange featuring Joe Goode Performance Group, brontë velez, and Gizeh Muñiz-Vengel & Ernesto Peart Falcón. This year's GUSH artists look at intergenerational queer lineage (JGPG), the body as a sacred home and sensual organism (Muñiz-Vengel & Falcón), and black liminality and levity (velez). Thursday, September 15th 2022, 7:30PM Joe Goode Performance Group + brontë velez
Live ASL Interpretation Friday, September 16th 2022, 7:30PM brontë velez + Gizeh Muñiz-Vengel & Ernesto Peart Falcón
Live ASL Interpretation & Live Audio Description Saturday, September 17th 2022, 7:30PM Gizeh Muñiz-Vengel & Ernesto Peart Falcón + JGPG
Live ASL Interpretation & Live Audio Description Duration of the performance: 1 hour and 30 minutes Joe Goode Annex, 401 Alabama St SF, CA 94117 ADA accesible venue. Tickets: $15-50 Free access tickets available to anyone via an online NOTAFLOF ticket or by emailing [email protected]. Audio Description by Rachael Dichter (Gravity Access Services). ASL Interpretation by Juan Ramirez, Debby Kajiyama (Gravity Access Services). Link to info and tickets on Bay Area Accessible Performances. Image credits: Melissa Lewis Wong #Accessibility#AccessiblePerformance#AudioDescription#HapticAccessTour#ASLInterpretation#SanFrancisco#Inclusion#GravityAccessServices#JoeGoode#Dance#Theatre#GUSHFestival

Image description: The image has a black background with the words Hershey Felder CHOPIN IN PARIS A Play with Music. - On September 9th, 10th and 11th we are providing Audio Description and Haptic Access tour for “Chopin in Paris, A Play with Music” by Hershey Felder, with Music by Fryderyk Chopin, directed by Joel Zwick, presented by TheatreWorks SIlicon Valley 🎧🎙✨ Event description: In a stunning, tour de force performance, virtuoso actor/pianist Hershey Felder creates Fryderyk Chopin, the “Poet of the Piano,” welcoming gifted students to his Paris salon in the 1840s. The students? You! Maestro Chopin hosts an intimate evening of enthralling music, sharing secrets of his little-known romances, exuberant personality, and intense vision of the art of the piano. Come share the spirit and insight of a genius brought to life before your eyes. Friday, September 9th 2022, 8PM Saturday, September 10th 2022, 8PM Sunday, September 11th 2022, 2PM Duration of the performance: 2 hours Mountain View Center for Performing Arts 500 Castro St. Mountain View, CA 94041 ADA accesible venue. Tickets: $25-60 Link to info and tickets on Bay Area Accessible Performances. #Accessibility#AccessiblePerformance#AudioDescription#HapticAccessTour#SanFrancisco#Inclusion#GravityAccessServices#TheatreWorks#SiliconValley#HersheyFelder#Chopin#JoelZwick

Image description: Elephant and Piggie join hands, smiling in their fancy clothes! Below, the title: Elephant and Piggie's We Are in a Play! - On September 10th we are providing Audio Description and Haptic Access tour for “Elephant and Piggie's We Are in a Play!” by Bay Area Children's Theatre 🎧🎙✨ Event description: Piggie is excited because she has no idea what is going to happen today—which means that anything is possible. Like skipping. Or ping pong. Or a party invitation! Party invitation?! Good thing Gerald knows how to party! Join Mo Willems’ two most unlikely pals as they sing and dance (well, Gerald tries to dance) through the joys and trials of everlasting friendship. Recommended for all ages. Saturday, September 10th 2022, 3PM - 5PM Duration of the performance: 50 mins Bay Area Children's Theatre 2055 Center St. Berkeley, CA 94704 ADA accesible venue. Tickets: $30-35 Link to info and tickets on Bay Area Accessible Performances. Image credits: Leah Sanginiti #Accessibility#AccessiblePerformance#AudioDescription#HapticAccessTour#SanFrancisco#Inclusion#GravityAccessServices#BayAreaChildrensTheatre

Swipe for English excerpt Image description: First image: Screen capture of Joint Adventures’ website, on Jess and Gerald’s Audio Description training workshop, held between the 8th and 12th of August. Second image: Screen capture of some more details about the workshop and the practice of AD, in German. Third image: Screen capture of some more details about the workshop and the practice of AD, in English. From the 8th till the 12th of August our Jess Curtis @jessacurtis and Gerald Pirner will be hosted by Joint Adventures @joint_adventures_ , for this years’s Tanzwerkstatt Europa, to hold our Audio Description Training workshop. Five full afternoons in which participants can experience with our Gerald, Anja and Jess the process of previewing a piece and preparing the Live Audio Description. The workshop indeed happens in occasion of Anja Flessa’s Audio Description for the piece "Fear and Greed" by Frédérick Gravel (August 11, 20.30 H, Muffathalle), and participants of the workshop can experience first hand a functioning Haptic Access Tour and a Live Audio Description. Gerald Pirner is the co-author for this Live AD. The workshop will be held in English. August 8-12 14.30-19.00 Studio B (TANZTENDENZ MÜNCHEN, Lindwurmstraße 88 / 5. Stock) Registration and further information can be found in our link in Bio. #AudioDescription#Workshop#AD#Training#Münich#Performance#Tanz#Inklusion#Barrierefreiheit#TheFutureIsAccessible#VisualImpairment