Beyond Sight: The Making of enVISION by Argyle Rebel Films
enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight filmed by Palani Mohan
Last summer, ShaLeigh Dance Works premiered enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight to live audiences opening the 89th American Dance Festival’s Season with five sold-out performances at The Fruit in Durham, North Carolina. Talented videographer Palani Mohan captured the show with high-quality multi camera shoots of the live performance. While creating this collaborative dance-theatre work, filmmaker Michael Washington of Argyle Rebel Films added another layer of collaboration: he documented the process.
In September 2022, we invited the audience to join us both onstage and behind the scenes through this double premiere to take a closer look at what went into its making and to experience the virtual premiere of enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight. We were thrilled to premiere the documentary and performance virtually with an artist chat-back directly following the documentary premiere.
The Virtual Premiere of enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight, filmed by Palani Mohan, was an immersive interdisciplinary performance that did not solicit the viewer’s sight but rather all their other senses. Specifically conceived with and for individuals who are low-vision and blind, the work proposes a new sensorial experience of dance and theater. The work was presented to a live audience who could choose to experience the show blindfolded and invited six audience members to join the experience onstage. It premiered virtually on September 17th, and the audio description of the event was released on October 15th.
The documentary Beyond Sight: The Making of enVISION, was presented both virtually and in person at Westgate Wine Bar in Raleigh, NC on September 10, 2022 and with a virtual audio described release on October 8th, 2022. Michael Washington, the filmmaker, described the work as “a one of a kind documentary that showcases the creative process behind ShaLeigh Dance Works’ newest masterwork. Told by the artists themselves, ‘Beyond Sight’ is an unflinching look at what it takes to push boundaries and change the landscape of live performance forever.”
Chatham Life & Style called it “a new evolution in dance.” IndyWeek praised it as “astounding” and a “bold, immersive performance.” CVNC described it as “a sensational and poetically eye-opening performance,” and Beltline to Broadway chronicled it as “a new sensorial way to experience dance and theater.”
enVISION: Sensory Beyond Sight by ShaLeigh Comerford was co-commissioned by the American Dance Festival with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works and was supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, MAP Fund, the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, the Durham Arts Council’s Annual Arts Fund and the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. www.NCArts.org
Premieres were screened globally as a YouTube Watch Party. The links below were used to access our pre-show materials: