Theatre and dance with deaf students: researching performance practices in a Brazilian school context

ABSTRACT

The article presents performance practices created with deaf students in the project ‘Theater and dance with deaf students’, an outreach activity of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). The project took place in the Bilingual Deaf Municipal Elementary School Salomão Watnick in Porto Alegre, Brazil from 2013 to 2015. The activities developed in the workshops are based on Contact Improvisation (Paxton, Steve. 1997. A Definition. Contact Improvisation Source Book: Collected Writings and Graphics from Contact Quarterly Dance Journal 1975–1992, 37–38. MA: Contact Editions) and theatre games (Boal, Augusto. 2012. Jogos para atores e não atores. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira; Ryngaert, Jean-Pierre. 2009. Jogar, representar: práticas dramáticas e formação. Translated by Cássia Raquel da Silveira. São Paulo: Cosac Naify). Our work over three years recognised that a more flexible approach to performance practices was needed, in relation to existing Brazilian pedagogy. This article considers the structure of workshops surrounding the project, the practical activities performed with students, and the techniques developed to enable participants to create their own activities according to their individual skills and interests.

KEYWORDS:

• Performance practices with deaf students
• Brazilian pedagogy
• Brazilian disability studies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Marcia Berselli (1987/Brazil), professor and actress. Master (2014) in Performing Arts from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), with PhD in progress by the same university. Professor at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), Department of Performing Arts. The most frequent terms in the context of production are: Theatre, performance practices, education, actor’s creative process, deafness, Brazilian Disability Studies.

Sergio Andrés Lulkin (1958/Brazil), actor and drama teacher. Master (2001) and PhD (2007) in Education from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching, School of Education, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).

Notes

1. This guide is available from the group in a printed format (please contact [email protected]), and in digital format on www.teatroflexivel.com.br

2. We emphasise that bilingual education for the deaf in the context of public education is not predominant in the Brazilian context, despite the struggle of deaf movements and professionals linked to deaf culture (Brasil 2014). In addition, we highlight that the school mentioned here is located in a state capital.

3. We emphasise that at the moment there is no evidence of the possibility of theatre classes being taught by deaf teachers, given the low access of these subjects to graduation in the area of the performing arts.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by PROREXT – Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.