«WITH OR WITHOUT YOU – eine Queer-Crip-Tanzperformance»
Fia Neises

• WITH OR WITHOUT YOU lasts 60 minutes without intermission.

• The dance performance is a Relaxed Performance.

• Doors open 30 minutes before the show begins. During this time, the audience can explore and touch the stage. Additionally, everyone can choose the seating or lying.

• position where they would like to spend the next 60 minutes.

• At the entrance, Access-Friends will assist you in choosing your seat. They will also be happy to show you around the stage. Among the Access-Friends there will be communication assistant (DSGS – spoken language). You are not obligated to use their assistance under any circumstances.

• It is possible to change seats, leave the Studio and come back at any time.

• The audience can decide for themselves how they would like to follow the performance. Noises and movements in the audience space are welcome.

• The audience is asked to wear a medical or FFP2 mask out of solidarity, as long as it does not restrict their own accessibility. Masks will be provided at the entrance to the Studio.

• The dance performance is based on a dramaturgy for blind and visually impaired audiences. An additional audio description does not exist, as everything that happens can be experienced without sight.

• There is no guidance system for the blind on the premises.

  Language

• The dance performance will take place in German spoken language and will not be translated into DSGS.

• There will be German and English Surtitles. Interactive moments and interactions with the audience will also appear in the Surtitles.

• For interactive moments, communication assistance (DSGS – spoken language) will be provided for all the shows.

  Sensory Triggers

• There are two performers (Irene and Fia) and one musician (Jana) on stage.

• Now and then the performers will climb up white, about 5.50m long cloths, called silks. They let themselves hang, fall and catch themselves in the silk again.

• A synthesizer, an electric piano and an electric guitar will appear.

• The electric guitar will be played by the performer Irene and amplified by a mobile loudspeaker. Irene prepares the playing of the guitar by fetching the guitar and plugging in cables.

• The voices of the performers appear in different modes: Without amplification, with amplification via microphone, pre-recorded interludes (sometimes softly murmured between whispering and low speaking).

• As soon as the music or the lights become more intense, there is both a visual and an auditory warning signal: a triangle symbol in the Surtitles and a strike of the triangle instrument.

• The lights in the auditorium will remain dimmed so that the exit can be found easily.

• There will only be gradual light changes.

Below you find detailed information about the content and sensory stimuli in chronological order. If you prefer to let yourself be surprised, you can stop reading here.

Sequence of scenes with sensory stimuli and content summaries

• 1. Intro

• 1. The audience arrives.

• 2. Access-friends assist with the entrance.

• 3. Lounge music is played.

• 4. Twice, a voice will describe the stage space over loudspeakers. The duration of the description is 6 minutes.

• 5. The performers warm up on stage.

2. Adaptation

• 1. A sound recording with laughter and conversations is played.

• 2. Fia climbs up and down the silk once.

• 3. At the top, she strikes a bell.

  3. Welcome

• 1. The performers address the audience in a welcoming way and give instructions about the accessibility of the evening.

• 2. Irene will describe some clothes of the audience for Fia, who is visually impaired.

• 3. With an announcement, the system of triangle instrument and triangle symbol will be tested, the loudest and brightest moment in the piece will be shown.

• 4. Fia will increase in anger during the song. After the last verse, she repeats the phrase: With or Without you, without a microphone and shouting angrily.

• 5. The music will gradually become louder and more chaotic.

• 6. Irene will activate the electric guitar and the mobile speaker. Doing that, cables may hit the floor. Irene will play along with Fia loudly and with strange sounds.

4. Access Intimacy

• 1. Fia and Irene dance a duet

• 2. Jana, the musician, will improvise.

• 3. A breathy voice is recorded describing the principles followed by the dancers.

• 4. The description alternates with recordings, in which the performers talk about intimacy in moments of assistance.

5. Collective audio description

• 1. voluntary PUBLIC INTERACTION

• 2. Two sighted people from the audience are invited to describe what is happening on stage for the blind and visually impaired audience.

• 3. The description should be spoken into the microphone.

• 4. The volunteer describers are asked to come on stage themselves.

• 5. The interaction lasts approx. 7 minutes.

• 6. The action to be described is Irene acrobatically in the Silk.

• 7. Fia will ask supporting questions if the words run out.

6. Forced Intimacy (Song)

• 1. Fia will sing a song live.

• 2. In the verses to the melody of “With or Without you” by the band U2, assaultive moments of assistance are described. The atmosphere is empowering, as Fia responds to the assaults in the song with the words: WITH OR WITHOUT YOU! reacts.

• 3. The song will begin in soft tones

• 4. Fia will increase in anger during the song and after the last verse without a microphone will repeat the sentence: “With or Without you” and shout angrily.

• 5. The musician will gradually become louder and more chaotic.

• 6. Irene will activate the electric guitar and the mobile loudspeaker. Cables may hit the floor. Irene will play along with Fia at an angle and loudly.

7. End

• 1. Fia climbs up the silk with sounds of anger and effort.

• 2. Jana's synthesizer music gradually decreases.

• 3. Irene creates sounds with the guitar by sitting next to the guitar on the floor.

• 4. Fia changes the stage set around Irene with the silks.

• 5. The atmosphere relaxes visually and auditorily.

• 6. The piece ends with Irene and Fia on the floor, a final audio recording is played, and the lights get darker, but there is no blackout.

Sophia Neises is a freelance performer, theatre educator and disability rights activist. Her artistic practice ranges from process-oriented project management in dance and theatre projects with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences of discrimination to collaborations as a performer in dance performances (including with Zwoisy Mears-Clarke and Jess Curtis/Gravity). In 2019, as an artist with visual impairments, she began an intensive exploration of audio description as a barrier-free offer and art form, which she is currently bringing to theatre houses and artists in the independent scene in workshops.

Irene Giró is a Catalan performer and artist who lives in Berlin and defines herself as queer and disabled. Her artistic practice focuses on the potential of the body to make hidden stories tangible. Irene is interested in developing creative methods that focus on access, pleasure and connection on and off stage. Irene's background in movement includes contemporary dance, improvisation and aerial arts.

A production by Sophia Neises, supported by the Making a Difference network in cooperation with Uferstudios. Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion / IMPACT funding