Dance performance Touching Moves

Marburg, small city in Mittle Hessen is special not just because of rich German architecture, history or as a student city, but also because of big number of people with sight impairment. In comperation with other cities is Marburg customized for their better orientation and quality life. Karin Winkelsträter works in Marburg as theater director in Theater GegenStand and also as theater pedagog in Blista - specialized school for people with sight impairment. Long years of experience co-working with blind people on different theatre projects gives her new views and ideas develop this discipline more and more.

One of very interesting projects of her activity is also dance performance Touching Moves, which is she directing and organize together with Theater GegenStandt. This projekt allow spectators untraditional experience to the World of blind people. Circa 40 minutes performance presents a small group of audience into the theater hall, where they can discover in safety platform through their another sense, than just sight. When the audience is coming in to tha hall, they get a mask, to do not be able to see and get to the situation of blind person. Performance is putting together blind, not-blind persons in the equal of the same experience. Before the audience is coming to hall, they get short instructions about the performance. And at the end of performance they are leaving even to see the space where they were all the time.
Spectacor discovers his another senses - listening different sounds and noises around him, trying different smell. He can feel in different senses whats happening around him. Very important part of performance is dance. Can we even enjoy dance, if it is mostly visual art? For audience is important to use instead of sight the touch. First audeince just feel, that someone is moving around them, but can´t be sure what exactly is going on. Later they can touch the body of actor/dancer. Through touch they are discovering the movement of actor - streching and relaxing of muscles, connections between different part of the body, princips of movement and dance. Later the spectacular himself is becoming part of the dance. He joins the actors in the dance after all in darkness.

With audience works group of 8 actors, which can see during the performance. Under Karin leading they had private workshops, where they were practising and discovering the excercises which later did with audiendce. They discovered the feelings, which can be for audience comfortable, safe, etc.  After Premiere of Touching Moves on the 18.5.2016 get Karin and actors first opinions and reactions of audience for performance. They were very excited primarily from untraditional experience. Lost of sight they didn´t percieve as handicap, but as opportunity to discover in different ways. Also the fact that the audience do not see each other, do not see, how other are behaving or moving gives them freedom of express themself without to thing of reaction of others. Every Spectacular has opportunity to complete this performance in his own way.