November 29, 2006
For Immediate Release
For more information:
Will McKinnon
(801) 863-8922
Kathie Debenham
(801) 863-7129
Documentary Featuring UVSC Dance and ASL Students to Premiere
UVSC’s documentary, “Beyond Words,” documents the creation of a performance piece combining American Sign Language Poetry and modern dance. The film will premiere Dec. 5 at 2 p.m. in the Ragan Theater.
Kathie Debenham, associate dean in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, had the idea and brought together students from the Synergy Dance Company and students in UVSC’s ASL classes, and together they decided to perform a work of ASL poetry at the Deaf Studies Today! Conference, held April 6-8 at UVSC.
“ASL poetry is a heightened form of sign language combining ASL, dance and theatre,” Debenham said. “There was a wonderful exchange that happened between the two communities. The ASL students taught the dancers sign language, and the dancers were able to bring their use of the body as expression to the project. Everyone brought a richness and perspective to the project that was shared, valued and respected by all who saw the final product.”
Besides students, Debenham collaborated with several faculty members to complete the project. She worked closely with Bryan Eldredge, ASL & Deaf Studies program coordinator and Minnie Mae Wilding-Diaz, associate professor of ASL. Wiling-Diaz chose the poem and introduced it to the performers while Eldredge worked with the students and helped get funding for the project. Both worked to ensure that the piece would not in any way disrespect the Deaf culture.
“There’s always uncertainty with how an audience is going to respond to any artistic piece,” Eldredge said. “That’s one of the reasons Wiling-Diaz, who is Deaf herself, became involved in the project. I felt completely confident that if she was comfortable with it then so would the rest of the Deaf community.”
Debenham also commissioned faculty composer Marden Pond to write a score to accompany the poem. Synergy Director Amy Markgraf assisted with the movement and choreography.
After a few initial meetings about the project, the group of faculty decided the process should be documented. Debenham approached Will McKinnon, director of Studios and Engineering, about filming the process and turning it into a documentary.
“We wanted to do the film because it sounded like an interesting concept,” McKinnon said. “It was fun to see how the two communities came together to make everything happen and how the audience reacted.”
McKinnon and others have worked hard to accurately document the creative process from start to finish with footage of concept meetings, rehearsals, the performance at the conference and interviews with students, faculty and audience members after the performance. The one-hour documentary will premiere Dec. 5, after which it will be shown at various times on UVSC’s cable channel. McKinnon also plans to submit the documentary to various film festivals so others will share in the enlightening experiences of all who were involved in the project.
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College Marketing Contact:
Megan Laurie
(801) 863-7149
Written By:
Valerie Chapman
(801) 863-8504
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