The Sound of Dance: Reimagining Accessibility in the Performing Arts with Krishna Washburn

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation recorded in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. Joy and Jenelle sit down with Krishna Washburn, founder and artistic director of Dark Room Ballet, for a fascinating deep dive into the world of audio description, blind-led arts, and what true accessibility in the performing arts really looks like.What You’ll Hear in This Episode• What audio description is, and why even sighted audience members often end up loving it• Krishna’s story of attending a live performance with audio description and realizing something fundamental was missing• Why audio description designed for television often fails when applied to live dance, and what needs to change• How Pacific Northwest Ballet is doing it right by integrating audio describers as full members of the production team• What to look for, and what to avoid, when buying tickets to an audio described performance• Krishna’s upcoming free 5-week Audio Description course beginning May 30th, open to everyone with no dance background requiredGuest: Krishna WashburnKrishna is a ballet educator, audio description specialist, and blind professional dancer. Through Dark Room Ballet, she has trained more than 1,500 dancers and developed tuition-free collegiate and pre-professional arts training for blind and visually impaired adults. She is also a contributor to the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Ballet Pedagogy.Links & ResourcesDark Room Ballethttps://darkroomballet.comEmail Dark Room [email protected] 5-Week Audio Description Coursehttps://darkroomballet.comJoy’s “Blind Dance Mom” postPacific Northwest Ballethttps://www.pnb.orgDouble Vision Bloghttps://www.doublevisionblog.comVoicemail Line949-414-8336