World of Art | 20th Generation
Online workshop
Thursday, 29 January 2026, 18:00–20:00 CET
Image description: Krishna Washburn, a blind ballet educator, is balanced with her upstage arm lifted up in high fifth and her downstage arm reaching out in second. She is located in the corner of her dance floor, with a curtain on one side and a brick wall on the other side. Hanging on the brick wall is a small black and orange sign in the shape of a luggage tag that says Dark Room Ballet (a gift from her student, Morgaihne). She is wearing a black sequined dress, and a silver hair ribbon. The photo is framed with a black border, with the word maska (event co-organiser) written in white multiple times.
When developing audio descriptions for dance, audio describers are often trained to “describe what they see,” even with choreographies created by artists who are blind. This instruction misunderstands the nature of dance as an art form and often results in ineffective and inaccurate audio descriptions that fail to express the artistic ideas of the work. What approaches can audio describers and dancers use instead? In this workshop participants will learn four strategies for moving beyond the “say what you see” framework and also learn about a popular but probably best avoided audio description method.
The workshop will be led by Krishna Washburn, a blind dancer, dance teacher and founder of Dark Room Ballet, an educational programme designed to support artists who are blind or visually impaired and artists working in the field of audio description. The workshop is intended for choreographers, dancers, producers in the field of dance and contemporary art, audio describers, people with blindness and visual impairments interested in dance, and anyone wanting to learn more about accessibility and art for all audiences.
The workshop will be held in English and is free of charge.
Online registration required: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Kb9tjUqiQZKeEFZKLEh4fw
Krishna Washburn is the artistic director of Dark Room Ballet, a pre-professional, comprehensive, tuition-free educational program designed for the educational needs of blind and visually impaired adults, taught by master teaching artists who share their disability. Krishna teaches ballet class using traditional blind dance techniques, dancer’s anatomy, and audio description for dance. She is a sought-after audio description for dance consultant and educator, partnering with institutions and artists, not limited to but including Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Abilities Dance Boston, ShaLeigh Dance Works, Davian Robinson, Toby MacNutt, Emilee Lord, and more. Along with choreographer and filmmaker Heather Shaw, Krishna is also the co-director of Telephone, an educational documentary about audio description for dance. She lives in Harlem, New York City.
Organisation: World of Art/SCCA-Ljubljana, Maska, Bunker
Support: Municipality of Ljubljana – Department of Culture
