Hear the Flow: Report on the Rationale Method of Audio-Describing Dance Performances

It has now been ten years since Nathan Geering came up with an idea of a new method of bringing visual arts closer to people with visual impairments called the Rationale Method. The origins of his research on enhanced audio-describing techniques derive largely from his own interests and observations. First and foremost, as an artist and performer with a passion for breaking (also known as B-boying or B-girling, and referred to by the commercial public as breakdance, which is the name used henceforth in this report), he was well aware that there were not many breakdancers with any degree of vision loss at that time. For him, this void meant there was a gap that needed addressing. Second, he noticed that the majority of people with visual impairments in South Yorkshire (England) were not very keen on going to shows, since they found them inaccessible and—as a consequence—also unappealing. Moreover, many of those who attended the few performances that were complemented with audio descriptions found them imprecise and uninteresting. All these observations led Geering directly to the conclusion that there was a need not only for more audio description to be present on the stage, but also for this audio description to be more user-friendly (meaning both accurate and enjoyable); he had all spectators in mind, regardless of the condition of their eyesight. For this reason, he began exploring the possibilities of improving audio description methods, not so much in the context of visual impairment alone but as different ways of conceptualizing the world. These observations were translated into the main goals of Geering’s project on creative audio description, which is an audio description that utilizes, most of all, audio spatialization. This was at the time of his co-operation with Andrew Loretto (author, director, and producer) and Kaite O’Reilly (playwright, radio dramatist, and writer) which aimed to explore the accessibility of breakdance. Loretto and O’Reilly’s commitment to issues related to disabilities in art and culture, as well as Geering’s contacts with a neuroscientist—Dr. Aneurin Kennerley (who was, at that time, affiliated with the University of Sheffield, now at the University of Manchester) and institutions acting on behalf of people with visual disabilities (such as Royal National Institute of Blind People, RNIB) helped to lay the foundation for the