Sensory Microphone!
‘A Blind Bit of Difference’ - our charity organisation, uses sensory art and materials to create immersive socially engaging theatre; we are now, in Senegal! We are funded by the brilliant British Council (Senegal & Nigeria). We are collaborating with a group of disabled Senegalese people, the theatre company ‘Kaddux Yarrax’ and their lead director Diol Mamadou.
TASTING COLOUR Senegal style! 🇸🇳🌍
Come and join a free Tasting Colour workshop Senegal and online! We will be sourcing lots of colourful Senegalese foods & helping you the audience learn how to taste colour, feel colour, hear colour & touch colour! This is especially designed to include those who are blind or visually impaired. There’s always plenty of food to take home! So come join our sensory community!
THE PROJECT, at large!
Zooming in & zooming out!
Our Evolutionary Sensory Mission!
The Disabled Voice: Sensory Microphone
Les Handicaps Kaddux: Sensory Microphone
SENEGAL & the UK in CREATIVE THEATRE & SENSORY ARTS FUSION!
“We are over the ecstatic moon to receive our launch funding from 'British Council' ”
- Creative Director Amy Neilson Smith,
‘A Blind Bit of Difference’ (UK Collaborator)
'Les Handicapes Kaddux: Sensory Microphone’ Senegal & UK offers the unique opportunity for new & evolving ‘disabled voices’ (18 – 35 yrs) to join local & international communities and create live theatre in Senegal & the UK. The UK Sensory Theatre & disability arts company, ‘A Blind Bit of Difference’ in collaboration with Senegal’s leading Forum Theatre company ‘Kaddu Yaarax’, are fusing an exciting “connection of the senses”, where both disabled & non-disabled people take the microphone, & seize the opportunity for their stories be experienced, across the world! The moving bodies, voices, lips & fingertips of the future are stepping up to the Sensory Microphone!
‘A Blind Bit of Difference’ are invited with open hearts and minds to deliver a “never been done before”…‘Sensory Art Training Programme’ via ‘Disability Arts Learning Films' and in workshops online, both in theatre spaces in the UK & Senegal, & digitally online in our ‘Live Interactive and International Workshops’.
In this innovative international interchange, the UK's counterpart, that is Kaddu Yaraax, is offering us their remarkable experience with Forum Theatre in marginalised communities in Senegal and other countries across the African continent. This will be a powerful tool for our work with disabled people here in the UK, enrichening their theatre practices & performing skills with new politically focussed techniques. This completely unique blend of "social" & "individual" perspectives, when combining UK sensory arts together with forum theatre, opens up an experimental & creative space to develop an entirely new genre of theatre: Sensory Forum Theatre.
First to Step Up to the Mic,
FROM THE UK:
Zara Jayne
UK Lead Disabled Artist from A Blind Bit of Difference, steps up to the mic, leading the UK team by storm to speak to you, our supporters, DIRECT!
“I am raising my voice…yes that’s right, my ‘disabled voice’ to the stage, to let you as our donors, future participants, new friends and poets, audiences and supporters know…why I know, with your help, this will be a ground-breaking, at times heart-breaking, and then most definitely heart-making project! Senegal and UK, hand in hand!
This has never, ever been done before… especially with inclusive arts! Arts for disabled people and non-disabled people to connect and share their worlds! So…for this inspiring new project, two totally different cultures will find out about each other and break as many barriers down as we can, especially through the art of live interactive theatre! This will be a great global exploration! Our project will be seeking out "silenced & unclaimed voices" & "unshared experiences", tuning in through all our differently accessed & varying human senses, both in Senegal & the UK. Why is this so important? Why are unclaimed stories not a good thing? Does it hide prejudice? Does it put people in boxes?
Well, let’s see…
First to Step Up to the Mic,
FROM SENEGAL:
Diol Mammadou
Lead Director from Kaddu Yarrax, Forum Theatre Company, steps up to the mic, leading the Senegalese team by storm to speak to you, our supporters, DIRECT!
“‘Disability Arts’ thrive in the UK; in Senegal, there simply isn’t any…YET! Director Diol Mouhamadou, co-ordinator of the politically charged activist Kaddu Yaraax - using Forum Theatre to fight ‘oppression of targeted groups’ in Senegal, states: “We are so willing to learn how to create theatre with disabled people! We have never experienced ‘Sensory Arts’; it’s never been done in Senegal! A creative demand has evolved!”.
SENEGAL & the UK in CREATIVE THEATRE & SENSORY ARTS FUSION!
INVITE YOU THE PUBLIC TO JOIN US IN PERSON!
IF YOU ARE SENEGALISE & LIVE IN LONDON, GET IN CONTACT! COME JOIN OUR BUZZING COMMUNITY! If you are from the surrounding African countries, come join our buzzing community! If you are disabled in the UK, come join our BUZZING COMMUNITY! And please, all readers, share this widely!
Workshops will be open to the UK & Senegalese audiences - this international ‘exchange of skills’ will open pathways to explore different experiences of what it means to live as a disabled person in their own individual cultures and how they express their stories through their differing artforms; we can’t wait to hear your stories & meet our disabled artists in person. You will be given the space & time to explore your very own voice & learn new sensory skills! How will you use your senses to create your story? There has never been more of a time in the world than now, that we need to work together in creative alliance!
The Senegalese disabled community faces a much more extreme reality of challenges than in the UK: they are often completely marginalised, both culturally and socially – often facing complete exclusion, and have very little, often no support from the state. Our ‘Sensory Art Training Programme’ will provide them & their non-disabled community with new communication tools & a space in which the Senegalese disabled people are given the space to share their experiences. We aim to create a space in which disabled & non-disabled Senegalese community members can co-create together.
The incredible 'British Council' is kick-starting this exciting evolution! But there is more fundraising to do!
EVOLUTION: After UK & Senegalese disabled participants complete the innovative ‘Sensory Art Training Programme’, a group of selected (newly skilled) ‘Sensory Performing Artists’ will gain commissions for the ‘Live Interactive Digital Spoken Word Showcase’. We already have funds secured for three disabled artists from each country. We are going to be raising more funds from you, the public audience, to largely increase the number of commissioned disabled artists! Your support will boost our disability commissions to new heights & extend the size of the new & exciting international disability arts company that is evolving as we speak! New disabled artists are platformed on a global level!
THE TEAM: THE incredible Zara Jayne will be our Lead UK Disabled Artist, having training, and shadowed Sensory Arts practises with Artistic Director Amy Neilson Smith from the very birth of #ABlindBitofDifference. THE incredible Gustavo Dias, who has now been appointed our new UK Associate Artist & is a fantastic arts facilitator, performing artist, activist & works in the UK with refugees & activist arts! (Gustavo): "Having collaborated on both ends of this project, previously in Senegal & now in the UK, I see this as an extraordinary opportunity to bring these two worlds together. There are so many beautiful differences between these two poles, yet there's so much potential for common ground and common growth by merging Sensory Arts and Forum Theatre. It's truly ground-breaking, and I can't wait to see the artistic outcomes of this!!" THE incredible Kate Dangerfield, our Head of Accessible film, will be integral in Senegal to document & share our work online globally! (Kate): “This is the first time that the UK will be working with Senegal to develop accessible filmmaking practices. We will be sourcing a Senegalese filmmaker in a highly-paid position (already in the secured budget) & a disabled British intern who will learn Accessible Film techniques for the very first time. Rather than access being an afterthought, which is typically the case, we will be considering access from the outset, particularly focusing on how audio description, subtitles and sign language can be part of the Spoken Word pieces themselves! Made into exciting, accessible dramatic dialogue & visuals, with Senegalese ‘disabled voices’, at the forefront!” THE incredible Creative Director Amy Neilson Smith. Amy is the UK’s first Sensory Poetry Educator - a role she founded on her master’s at Goldsmiths: (Amy): “ ‘Sensory Microphone’ and our DREAM-MAKING TEAM will travel to Senegal to infuse, build & develop sensory disability arts in Senegal, for disabled people, for the very first time, who have never experienced the life-changing joy of using touch, smell, sound & taste to communicate their individual experiences with the world!”
A PASSIONATE WORD (OR THREE) FROM OUR CREATIVE DIRECTOR BEFORE CLOSING WITH OUR POEM-MANIFESTO…
Amy Neilson Smith:
“As Creative Director, I will be collaborating with & facilitating the INCREDIBLE Director & Environmental Activist Diol Mamadou in learning & exploring Sensory Arts & practises with disabled people in his community for the first time in existence! There are not yet any ARTS at all that the disabled community can access & enrichen their lives with! That made me determined to alter and empower their experience! And now, with your help, that’s all about to change! In a CREATIVE EXCHANGE & totally original collaboration, we will be learning & taking part in live Forum Theatre, out in the streets & on stages in Senegal! We will be merging Sensory Interactive Arts with tastes, smells & movement with activist & political Forum Theatre, Senegal! To create SENSORY FORUM THEATRE for the first time on this planet! Our UK disabled artists need to learn the Senegalese Forum Theatre company's skills to upskill & charge their stories with political drive! The Senegalese company are experts! There has never been a time more than now that our disabled artists need to hold their ground & speak out! They need to charge their ‘unheard stories’ & raise their voices! The world is in flux & we are here to earth it through the freedom of self-expressive theatre arts & real ‘in life’ human connection! Every step of the way, you can join us through the wonder of online streaming! Come and join our journey and empower us with your own stories!”
The Disabled Voice: Sensory Microphone, Poem-Manifesto
Pick up the Sensory Microphone!
There are unshared stories
sheltered, hiding inside us;
inside the fortress of our bodies,
I sense things I dare not share…
Pick up the Sensory Microphone!
My voice, my ‘disabled voice’,
a wordless box, without vibrations…
Once buckled shut,
now my stories start to open…
Are you ready to start listening!?
Raise your head, inhale!
Can you sense there are invisible alphabets…?
letters turn into lyrics in the air,
grow in your newfound
reverbs and rhythms…
Rising, it’s time to rise!
Reach out those fingertips…
Pick up the Sensory Microphone!
There are silenced echoes,
hiding in our mouths,
behind the fortress of our teeth,
I feel things I am not free to speak of…
Echoes that long to sail across seas, become free…
Yours, mine, ours,
otherness, cast out,
all of us, united, cast up on stage in…
Les Handicaps Kaddux; The Disabled Voice!
We pick up the Sensory Microphone!
Cross seas to sense stories without boundaries,
smell and taste each other’s childhoods,
hear shrill sirens resounding the same
on far off continents.
We take our stories out of boxes,
unpacked, unbuckled and let free;
run your fingers over my story,
watch us rise; together we rise…
getting high on our senses,
on the heights of our tectonic stage!
Different hands in this picture
are no longer pixilated,
are no longer blind
to feeling and knowing we share one skin,
hand in hand, we hold one mic
hold one story, one…
Sensory Microphone!
by #TeamSensoryMicrophone
#TeamUKSenegal
#LesHandicapsKaddux
#DreamMakingTeam
The Core Team
Creative Director
Amy Neilson Smith
ID: A Photograph of Creative Director Amy Neilson Smith holding a copy of the A Blind Bit of Difference book. She is wearing pink, sparkley eye makeup and her red lips are pursed into a playful pout. Her Blonde curly hair is pulled back from her face.
Head of Accessible Film
Kate Dangerfield
ID: Head and shoulders portrait photograph of Kate Dangerfield, Head of accessible film. Kate is looking into the camera, wearing a big smile and a purple top.She has shoulder length blonde hair and bright, brown eyes.
Lead U.K. Disabled Artist
Zara Jayne
ID: Head and shpulders portrait photo of Zara Jayne, Lead UK Disabled Artist. Zara has dark hair that reaches her shoulders, pale blue eyes and a subtle but warm smile.
Director of ‘Kaddux Yarrax’ Senegal
Diol Mamadou
ID: Black and white portrait photograph of Diol Mamadou, Director of ‘Kaddux Yarrax’ Senegal. He is looking down to his left, away from the camera. He has dark sin, short dark hair, and appears to be wearing headphones in one ear.
Associate Artist
Gustavo Dias Vallejo
ID: Black and white photograph of Gustavo Dias Vallejo’s face, smiling closed-mouthed at the camera. He has short, dark hair, light skin and dark eyes. He has stubble on his face and neck, and we can see a shirt collar over a T-shirt before the photo crops.
THE BRITISH COUNCIL
We are funded by @ngBritishArts.
#westafricaarts
