Waggle Ballet: Increasing Access to Ballet Performance for Blind and Visually Impaired Audience Members with Wearable Sonification

Waggle Ballet explores the possibility of increasing access to ballet for blind audience members by using a combination of live music, accessible choreography, a sensory based workshop, and wearable sonification technology. Waggle Ballet is a classical ballet excerpt that addresses the limitations presented by audio descriptions. Where audio descriptions serve to describe exactly what can be seen on stage for audience members with blindness or vision impairments, Waggle Ballet uses other sensory elements to trigger the imagination and create a sound environment that is generated through ballet movements with the help of motion capturing sensors and thematic sound outputs. The piece was performed in front of a live audience of varying sight abilities with the live musical accompaniment of the bass clarinet. A mini workshop was given that incorporated storytelling and touch to help audience members become familiar with the environment created in the piece. With all the elements coming together, Waggle Ballet hopes to evoke a unique experience that draws from the aspects of ballet performance beyond purely visual aesthetics.