
Photo via @isitmodern
I’ve just returned from a week of intensive work in Washington DC at Dance Place through their generous Alan M. Kriegsman residency program. On Friday I will be dancing with my mother Carolyn Brick, who turns 79 years old this month. We are working with Maiko Matsushima who has been creating a riveting visual landscape.
Here is a picture of Carolyn is talking about her experience 56 years ago as the subject of a 1960 Academy Award nominated documentary about Gallaudet College, a college for deaf students:

Carolyn, past and present. Photo via @isitmodern.
I recently found the movie and translated the heavy, unseen voice-over which revealed to her a much different movie than she remembered– one that in its time was never captioned or translated for her, though she is in nearly every scene.
Island of Signs takes as a starting point a language that my mother and I share and one we don’t. We are eager to share our work with you and hear your thoughts as we continue working on it.

Body language/language of dance. Photo via @isitmodern.