It feels like someone is calling me—
In a dream.
A soft voice.
Like the wind carries me.
My hands begin to move.
It feels like being born again—
To become the same.
The same as I was before.
The same Jelena.
And my heart—
It is in its place.
Jelena Stefanoska
The Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian Version of Dis Giselle as an Artistic Result of Doctoral Research
“Address: Fabrika, Bulevar Despota Stefana 5, Novi Sad. Ask the taxi driver or driver to stop at the pedestrian crossing near SKCNS Fabrika. The sidewalk is level all the way to the entrance door of Fabrika. There are traces of snow and ice on the sidewalk.”
This was the first information provided to the audience in the accessibility document for the premiere performance of the audio performance Dis Giselle in Serbian, held in Novi Sad on January 18, 2024. All visitors with disabilities from Novi Sad and Belgrade, as well as their companions, received reimbursement for taxi or car transportation costs, as well as train and bus fares for arrival and departure from the event. For some visitors, transportation to and from the event was also directly organized by my colleagues and me. From the very first point of contact regarding the event, information was provided about the accessibility contact persons, including their email addresses and mobile phone numbers.
“Approach to the entrance door. Walk straight for 15 meters from the pedestrian crossing, then turn right. Continue straight for 25 meters to the entrance door of Fabrika. About halfway along this route, on the left side, there is a low metal fence surrounding a large metal sculpture mounted on the building wall. The entrance door is on the left in the direction of movement. The door is made of glass. At the entrance, there is a small ground-level wheelchair ramp, 60 cm long. The door opens outward and to the left.”
Further in the text, information followed about the vestibule area.
“The vestibule measures 13 meters by 10 meters. Along the left side, a curtain runs the length of the space. Do not lean on the curtain, as there is no wall behind it. The visitor area in the vestibule is 13 meters long and 7 meters wide. Coat hangers on a vertical metal rack are on the right side. The floor is level and covered with concrete tiles.”
This was followed by information about the audio performance and installation space itself.
“The entrance to the sound installation space is on the left side, at the end of the curtain in the vestibule. The entrance is open and 1.5 meters wide. The audience area measures 10 by 10 meters. The floor is level and covered with concrete tiles. The space is bordered by curtains on the left and right sides. Do not lean on the curtains, as there is no wall behind them. The other two sides of the room are walls. In the center of the space, arranged in a circle for the audience, there are 30 wooden chairs with seat pads and 5 armchairs. The speakers are positioned at a distance from the audience, arranged around the perimeter and on the ceiling. To the right of the entrance, there is a table with the sound mixer and the sound technician.”
The same document also included information about access to the restrooms and a description of their layout and organization. In conversations with some blind and partially sighted attendees, we concluded that it would be useful for some users to have accessibility information available in audio form as well, in the form of one or several shorter recordings organized by descriptions of spatial units. This format would make it easier and faster to access the content and navigate information about different spatial areas. The first public announcement and invitation for Dis Giselle included information about the title, duration, and language:
“Dis Giselle is an audio performance. Duration: 45 minutes (no intermission). The performance is in spoken Serbian. The title is pronounced: /dis ʒɪˈzɛl/. Dis Giselle contains the Latin prefix ‘dis-’, which, among other meanings, denotes negation, an opposite meaning, or the absence of something. In this case, it refers to an ethics and aesthetics of work grounded in care, solidarity, and accessibility, positioned in contrast to the normative principles of contemporary dance and to the absence of a disability perspective in dance history. The work itself is an intervention in the current dance scene and its history from the present-day perspective of the artists and the audience it addresses. The Serbian translation of the French ‘Giselle’ is ‘Žizela’. Žizela is a Romantic ballet created in 19th-century France and one of the most famous classical ballets.”
Later in the text, I provide more information and analyze the libretto of the ballet Giselle in the context of this research. Here, I continue with information about Dis Giselle.
The announcement and invitation also included a description of the audio performance:
“Dis Giselle is an audio performance that describes the performance Жизела/Giselle by Jelena Stefanoska. Audio description, typically used as an accessibility tool, is employed here as an artistic method for developing an aesthetics of accessibility and exploring new artistic forms that would make dance and choreography accessible to blind and low-vision persons. The descriptions are set into motion through voice, music, and sound choreography within a spatial sound installation. The performance Жизела/Giselle is based on Jelena Stefanoska’s idea of interpreting the tragic character of Giselle from the ballet of the same name through contemporary dance. Through dance, Jelena examines similarities and differences between Giselle’s life and her own, within a society governed by strict rules that prevent individuals from living with dignity and happiness.
In the audio performance Dis Giselle, dance is translated into sound and description, and the choreography of bodies and movement on stage into choreography of sound. Dis Giselle consists of four sound scenes based on various danced, written, and spoken materials that Jelena proposed during rehearsals, as descriptions and stagings of Giselle’s and her own feelings and bodily states — those she highlights as essential human values: honesty, loyalty, and forgiveness, as well as those that bring pleasure, joy, and meaning to life, such as connection with nature, passion for personal (artistic) expression, the need to love and be loved, and above all, to live with dignity.”
Dis Giselle was developed through an artistic collaboration with Jelena Stefanoska, a dance artist with Down syndrome based in Novi Sad. She has been a member of the Per.Art group since 1999, alongside Olivera Kovačević Crnjanski, a non-disabled former ballet dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher, and a co-founder of the Per.Art organization. Frosina Dimovska, a non-disabled dance artist and teacher, and a member of Per.Art, joined Jelena and me in the vocal performance of Dis Giselle. The following credits, also shared with the public in Novi Sad in January 2024, illustrate the collaborative structure of the project and the roles and relationships involved in its preparation, research, production, and public performance.
Credits:
Concept and artistic direction: Saša Asentić
Artistic collaboration: Jelena Stefanoska, Olivera Kovačević Crnjanski,
Text: Saša Asentić with Jelena Stefanoska
Voices: Jelena Stefanoska, Mandana Kouros, Frosina Dimovska, Saša Asentić
Collaboration on audio description: Violeta Vlaški, Boris Dončić
Consultation on the accessibility of visual content: Emmilou Rössling, Violeta Vlaški, Boris Dončić
Selection of motifs from the libretto, music, and choreography of “Giselle”: Jelena Stefanoska
Recording, editing, and sound design: Rastko Ilić
Musical improvisation in the fourth scene: Dunja Crnjanski
Collaboration on vocal performance of traditional songs: Mirjana Raić Tepić
Care for access needs in the recording sessions, rehearsals and shows: Olivera Kovačević Crnjanski, Nataša Murge Savić, Saša Asentić
Development of the Final Work Dis Giselle in Three Different Languages: English, Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian, and Persian
This Serbian-language version of Dis Giselle is one of the artistic outcomes of my doctoral research project. Because the PhD Programme in Artistic Research (The Norwegian Artistic Research Programme) requires the final submission to be in English or Norwegian, I decided to further explore accessibility through linguistic translation in relation to the social and cultural context of Oslo. At the same time, this decision was made in accordance with the principles of my work and research, as well as in relation to specific collaborators and the importance of long-term collaboration, continuity, and redistribution of material and financial resources, in order to enable colleagues with disabilities to work in different and new artistic and cultural contexts.
Because I did not have sufficient funds to produce a Norwegian-language version of Dis Giselle, I decided to create an English version. A key element of this decision, in line with a disability-led (Vladisavljević, 2021) and accessibility-led approach, was that the person performing the parts of the text originally created with and by Jelena and participating in the understanding and adaptation of the English text should also be an artist with Down syndrome who speaks English. Jelena agreed with this idea. Following these principles, I invited Mandana Kouros, a visual artist, poet, and performer from Tehran, Iran, who speaks English and whose performance Liberation I presented in 2022 at the Dis Festival in Novi Sad, a work that Jelena herself greatly appreciated. Mandana Kouros is a multidisciplinary artist and performer with Down syndrome based in Tehran, Iran. She collaborates with the Tan.Arts collective in Tehran. This invitation also included collaboration with non-disabled colleagues Leila Jelalian and Miad Nohekhan, both initiators of Tan.Arts—who develop inclusive performing arts practices with disabled and non-disabled artists in Tehran, with whom I have been collaborating since 2018.
I further proposed that, since we would be working on the text through spoken and written communication in English and Persian, we should document the process and simultaneously develop a Persian version of the text. The reason for proposing that the final work in Oslo not exist only in English is also accessibility-related, for at least two reasons. First, the PhD Programme in Artistic Research (The Norwegian Artistic Research Programme) itself does not offer translation support but limits artistic language or expression to spoken English or Norwegian. My doctoral project, through Dis Giselle, addresses this structural issue and offers one possible solution through three different language versions. Second, Oslo and Norway include large diasporas from the former Yugoslav region, as well as communities from Iran, and I consider it important to offer contemporary art content in multiple languages, including those of migrant communities and other minorities. Therefore, Dis Giselle exists in Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian, that is, in a shared polycentric standard language spoken by several peoples across several states of the former Yugoslavia, as emphasized in the Declaration on the Common Language, as well as in Persian and English (Jezici i nacionalizmi, n.d.).
Work on the English and Persian Versions of Dis Giselle: Similarities and Differences in Relation to the Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian Version
Mandana, Leila, and Miad accepted the invitation with enthusiasm and strong interest. Working sessions took place during the first half of 2025. Because we were on different continents, I proposed conducting the preparatory phase online, given our experience collaborating through online workshops and research sessions, and I allocated research budget funds to bring them to Novi Sad for studio recording. Online sessions took place between Oslo and Tehran, as well as locally within Tehran. Jelena did not actively participate in the online meetings because working in a foreign language online, even with translation, is not sufficiently accessible to her. We agreed that I would update her periodically in person and through Olivera. We organized video calls via Google Meet for connection stability, while written and voice messages, visual materials (photos of drawings and screenshots from online research), and audio content (links to various pop, folk, and traditional songs) were exchanged via Telegram and WhatsApp. Translations of performance text segments for all four scenes of Dis Giselle were exchanged via email.
Since Mandana was unfamiliar with the key reference, the tragic character Giselle from the ballet of the same name, and had only heard about the dance performance Жизела/Giselle that Jelena and I created in 2021 with Olivera Kovačević Crnjanski and other collaborators, we began by introducing these two central references and the idea of creating an audio performance for blind, partially sighted, and sighted audiences. I proposed incorporating drawing and painting into the process, Mandana’s primary media alongside poetry and performance. The ballet libretto of Giselle, visual representations of the character online, and descriptions of Giselle as a fairy in the second act inspired Mandana’s drawings, first made with markers on paper and later, during the July 2025 military invasion of Iran, in exile, as digital drawings on a tablet. During the war, contact was intermittently interrupted by internet shutdowns in Iran and reduced to brief messages and calls during short connection windows.
Mandana expressed a wish to continue creative work despite the circumstances, and Leila and Miad agreed. By then, the Serbian-to-English translation and English adaptation, as well as much of the Persian text development, had already been completed. We focused on a task I gave Mandana to create drawings inspired by the titles of the third and fourth scenes, Something is Tightening in My Chest and She Becomes a Sad Kind of Nature. Conversations about and analyses of these drawings generated text that we incorporated into the English translation and the Persian version. Personal descriptions of the face, hair, body, and costume followed Jelena’s descriptions and were translated into English accordingly, whereas in Persian they refer to Mandana and were developed from her self-descriptions. Work with Mandana’s drawings developed as a kind of reverse ekphrasis.
Therefore, in developing the Persian version of the text through drawings, rather than the text describing an already existing image, visual sketches and digital drawings became the starting point for the emergence of the text’s language, rhythm, and dramaturgy. In joint sessions, the drawings were first described in detail—lines, colors, the relationships between bodies and the landscape, the spatial arrangement of figures, facial expressions, the position and condition of the body, as well as moods—and then these descriptions were translated into expressions, images, and metaphors that enter the text of Dis Giselle as verbal pathways or lines of movement of the drawing. In this way, the writing process relies on a circular movement between seeing, speaking, and listening: visual material is turned into language, language into voice and sound, and sound then creates new ‘inner images’ in the minds of listeners. Here, ekphrasis is understood as a transmedial accessibility tool, not just a literary device. I will discuss this further later in the text, in relation to audio description. In general, the English version of Dis Giselle represents a translation of the Serbo-Croatian version, while the Persian version represents a new text, that is, a new version in which the first and the fourth scenes are fundamentally different. The first scene in the Persian version differs due to different examples of women and their visual descriptions, then due to a different selection of popular music in relation to the cultural context in Iran, and it also differs because of Mandana’s poetry at the end of the first scene; the fourth scene differs in relation to Mandana’s imagination of nature and the environment in which Giselle appears as a fairy, as a supernatural being. The first scene, My Giselle, in the Persian version is based on images of women in various traditional costumes in Iran, which Mandana found on the internet, as well as contemporary actresses and pairs of actors and actresses, on the basis of which descriptions of the images were made. In the Serbo-Croatian version, the first scene My Giselle is based on Jelena’s selection of images of contemporary actresses, singers, models, sportswomen, as well as celebrity couples, actors and male models, which she cut out from fashion, art, and popular magazines from Serbia, Germany, and France. The English version refers to Jelena’s examples and is in fact a translation from the Serbo-Croatian.
The text for the fourth scene in Persian, She Becomes a Sad Kind of Nature, is based on work with Mandana’s drawings inspired by the title, which was the initial task for developing the text of this scene. Through conversations about the drawings and their descriptions, we selected sentences and fragments that became the text of the scene. Jelena’s poem was retained at the end because Mandana agreed that it fully fits into the text of the entire fourth scene, with the modification that, instead of Jelena’s name, she inserted her own name in the verse “And to be the same. The same as I once was. The same Mandana.”
The second scene, Eternal Love, in Persian is identical to the Serbo-Croatian and English versions, except that it includes Mandana’s self-description. The third scene, Something is Tightening in My Chest, also includes Mandana’s self-description and, in the Persian version, contains only one traditional song from southern Iran, Agar Yar Mara Didin be Khalvat (If You See My Beloved in Solitude), by the singer Soheila Khajeh. By contrast, the Serbo-Croatian and English versions include three different traditional songs in the Serbian language from different regions of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The difference in the selection of traditional songs arose from the intention to follow the model of the Serbo-Croatian version and to search for original songs of the peoples in Iran that sing about unrequited love or fairies.
In the Serbian-Croatian version and the English translation, three traditional songs I performed and recorded are used: Ajde dragi d’imo bliže brega (Come, darling, let's go closer to the hill) from Homolje in Serbia, about a fairy condemned for love; Zaspo mi je dragi (My darling has fallen asleep) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, about loss and distance; and Ova brda i puste doline (These hills and desolate valleys) from Serbia, about solitude and longing tied to the landscape. The English version includes an audio introduction and explanations of these songs. For the Persian version, based on theme, emotional charge, and the fact that it is performed by a woman as an act of resistance within a patriarchal order, we selected a traditional song from southern Iran about unrequited love, performed by an anonymous singer and available online. I will discuss the music in Dis Giselle later in the text.
After the preparatory phase, immediately after the military invasion ended and Tehran’s airport reopened, I arranged, together with my colleague Nataša Murge Savić, for Mandana, her mother Avid, Leila, and Miad to arrive in Novi Sad for a studio recording of the English and Persian texts. The recording and residency lasted two weeks in late August and early September 2025. Olivera participated in rehearsals and the recording. Jelena was unable to attend for health reasons, so the planned direct studio collaboration between Mandana and Jelena with consecutive translation did not take place.
Technical direction for recording, post-production, editing, and sound design was handled by Rastko Ilić, a collaborator I brought on board in 2021 who has since served as technical director for disability-led and Deaf-led performances. I have simultaneously trained and sensitized him to accessibility across organizational and artistic aspects across productions and tours in Germany, Serbia, and France, as well as guest performances in Novi Sad within the Per.Art program.
The three-language versions of Dis Giselle, the original Serbian-Croatian version created as an artistic outcome of the doctoral project, and the English and Persian versions developed through further artistic research, together constitute the final doctoral work. The Serbian-Croatian version is performed by Jelena Stefanoska, Frosina Dimovska, and Saša Asentić. The English version is performed by Mandana Kouros, Frosina Dimovska, and Saša Asentić, who are not native English speakers but use it as a second foreign language in their work in contemporary performing arts. The Persian version is performed by Mandana Kouros, Leila Jalalian, and Miad Nohekhan.
The Trilingual Version of Dis Giselle at the MUNCH Museum as the Final Work within Doctoral Studies
Information about the performance of Dis Giselle at the MUNCH Museum in Oslo, presented as part of the final appraisal event of the PhD Programme in Artistic Research at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, was published on the MUNCH Museum website on January 6, 2026.
“Dis Giselle
Saša Asentić & Collaborators
Performance
Shaped by accessibility, Dis Giselle unfolds as a sound choreography that invites audiences to experience dance through sound, storytelling, and imagination.”
In addition to this short description displayed on the left side of the page, the right side featured the following image as visual promotional material for Dis Giselle:
© Excerpt from poem by Jelena Stefanoska for Dis Giselle. Saša Asentić & Collaborators: Dis Giselle (2026). Performance, 45 min. Commissioned by MUNCH, co-produced by MUNCH and Per.Art. Courtesy the artists
Below the image, the following information appeared: Excerpt from a poem by Jelena Stefanoska for Dis Giselle. The alt text, that is, the short image description, read: White bold text on a gold-brown background reads: “It feels like someone is calling me in a dream. A soft voice. Like the wind carries me. My hands begin to move.”
For accessibility, the following extended image description is included in this text: The image features a solid warm gold-brown background. Large white capital letters fill most of the space, arranged in short lines like a poem. The text reads: “IT FEELS LIKE SOMEONE IS CALLING ME—IN A DREAM. A SOFT VOICE. LIKE THE WIND CARRIES ME. MY HANDS BEGIN TO MOVE.” The typography is bold, slanted, and evenly spaced, creating a strong visual rhythm.
Further below, the following information appeared:
“The performance lasts approximately 45 minutes with no break. The performance exists in three language versions: English, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and Persian. The performance will take place several times over three days. During the performance, the lights will be dimmed to a minimum. The audience will be offered space for wheelchairs, as well as chairs. The audience area is arranged in a circle in the center of the space. Sound moves through the space. The door opens 30 minutes before. There are no loud, deep, high, or sudden sounds. There are no strobes or flickering lights. On Friday, following the English premiere, there will be a round table conversation moderated by artist Saša Asentić.”
This was followed by the performance schedule, with links for ticket purchase for each individual performance in one of the languages:
20.03.2026 18:00 English premiere
21.03.2026 13:00 Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian premiere
21.03.2026 15:00 English
21.03.2026 17:00 English
22.03.2026 13:00 Persian premiere
22.03.2026 15:00 English
Accessibility information about the MUNCH Museum was available via an additional link on the page. This was followed by the English description of Dis Giselle:
“In the audio performance and installation Dis Giselle, Saša Asentić explores how accessibility tools can become both an aesthetic and political gesture. When sight is not the determining factor, sound can become a crucial element in experiencing dance. Dis Giselle places accessibility at its centre – not as an addition, but as the artistic expression itself. The work is presented at MUNCH in three language versions: English, Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian, and Persian. Asentić describes his practice as being ‘disability-led’, where collaboration and allyship are essential. Dis Giselle is developed in collaboration with the artists Jelena Stefanoska and Mandana Kouros. The work is part of Asentić’s PhD research fellowship at Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
In an audio choreography in four scenes, created for blind, partially sighted, and sighted people, dancer Jelena Stefanoska gives a new interpretation of Giselle, the tragic heroine of the famous Romantic ballet. Stefanoska weaves in her own stories, poems, and fragments from magazines and music, from pop to ballet. In the Persian version, Mandana Kouros enriches the work with additional references to Iranian pop and traditional culture. Dis Giselle challenges established notions of the body in dance. By making accessibility into an artistic language, Asentić centers disabled bodies and minds and makes visible how ideologies and social norms shape our understanding of art, dance, and disability. The result is a poetic and political audio journey that allows the audience to experience dance – not with their eyes, but through listening and imagination.”
The description of Dis Giselle, as well as all other information on the website about this event, was also available in Norwegian:
“I lydperformancen og installasjonen Dis Giselle utforsker Saša Asentić hvordan verktøy for tilgjengelighet kan bli en estetisk og politisk gest. Når synet ikke er en forutsetning, kan lyd bli et avgjørende element for det å oppleve dans. Dis Giselle setter tilgjengelighet i sentrum – ikke som et tillegg, men som selve det kunstneriske uttrykket.
Verket presenteres på MUNCH i tre språkversjoner: engelsk, bosnisk/kroatisk/serbisk og persisk. Asentić beskriver praksisen sin som «disability-led» der samarbeid og solidaritet er grunnleggende. Dis Giselle er utviklet i samarbeid med kunstnerne Jelena Stefanoska og Mandana Kouros. Verket er del av Saša Asentićs PhD-prosjekt på Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo.
I en lydkoreografi i fire scener skapt for blinde, svaksynte og seende – gir danser Jelena Stefanoska en ny tolkning av Giselle, den tragiske heltinnen fra den kjente romantiske balletten. Stefanoska fletter inn egne historier, dikt og fragmenter fra magasiner og musikk – fra pop til ballett. I den persiske versjonen tilfører Mandana Kouros referanser til iransk pop og tradisjonell kultur.
Dis Giselle utfordrer etablerte forestillinger om kroppen i dans. Ved å gjøre tilgjengelighet til et kunstnerisk språk, setter Asentić funksjonsnedsatte kropper og sinn i sentrum, og synliggjør hvordan ideologier og sosiale normer former vår forståelse av kunst, dans og funksjonshemming.
Resultatet er en poetisk og politisk lydreise som lar publikum oppleve dans – ikke med øynene, men gjennom lytting og forestillingsevne.”
The descriptions of Dis Giselle in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian and Persian were available as PDFs. Alongside the Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian version, there was a language note: “Ijekavian was used as one of the equal variants of our shared language, while respecting its diversity.” This was followed by information about Dis Giselle, translated into Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian:
“Oblikovana tako da je pristupačna za sve – one koji ne vide, slabije vide ili vide – Dis Giselle je zvučna predstava koja poziva publiku da ples doživi kroz zvuk, pripovijedanje i maštu.
Saša Asentić u Dis Giselle pokazuje da zvuk može biti glavni način za doživljaj plesa, a ne samo vid. On istražuje kako pristupačnost za osobe s invaliditetom može postati istovremeno i estetski i politički gest, odnoso kako sama pristupačnost postaje umjetnički jezik.
Dis Giselle se izvodi u Munch muzeju u tri jezičke verzije: engleskoj, srpsko-hrvatsko-bosanskoj i perzijskoj. Asentićevu praksu određuju dugogodišnja solidarnost i bliska saradnja s umjetnicama i umjetnicima s invaliditetom. Dis Giselle razvijen je u saradnji s umjetnicama Jelenom Stefanoskom i Mandanom Kouros, a rad je dio Asentićevog doktorskog istraživačkog projekta na Državnoj akademiji umjetnosti u Oslu.
U zvučnoj predstavi u četiri scene – stvorenoj za slijepe, slabovidne i videće osobe –Jelena Stefanoska daje novo tumačenje Žizelе, tragične junakinje poznatog romantičnog baleta. Stefanoska donosi svoje vlastite priče, poeziju, isječke iz časopisa i omiljenu muziku – od popa do baleta, dok u perzijskoj verziji Mandana Kouros obogaćuje rad referencama na iransku pop i tradicionalnu kulturu.
Kroz estetiku pristupačnosti Dis Giselle poziva na preispitivanje ustaljenih shvatanja o tijelu u plesu te ukazuje kako ideologije i društvene norme oblikuju naše razumijevanje umjetnosti, plesa i invaliditeta.
Rezultat je poetsko i političko zvučno putovanje koje publici omogućava da doživi ples – ne gledanjem, već slušanjem i maštom.”
Below this PDF link, there was a link to the Persian translation:
دیس ژیزل
ساشا آسنتیچ و همکاران
اجرا
20 الی 22 مارس 2026
پاراگراف آغازین:
دیس ژیزل، که بر اساس دسترس پذیری شکل گرفته است، در قالب یک طراحی رقص صوتی ارائه می شود که مخاطبان را به تجربه رقص از طریق صدا، داستانسرایی و تخیل دعوت میکند.
ساشا آسنتیچ در اجرای صوتی و چیدمان «دیس ژیزل»، بررسی میکند که چگونه ابزارهای دسترسی میتوانند هم به یک ژست زیباییشناختی و هم به یک ژست سیاسی تبدیل شوند. وقتی بینایی عامل تعیینکننده نباشد، صدا میتواند به عنصری حیاتی در تجربه رقص تبدیل شود. «دیس ژیزل»، دسترسی را در مرکز کار خود قرار میدهد، نه به عنوان یک چیز افزودنی، بلکه خود به مثابه بیان هنری.
این اثر در MUNCH به سه زبان انگلیسی، صربی/کرواتی/بوسنیایی و فارسی ارائه شده است. آسنتیچ شیوهی کار خود را «هدایت شده توسط معلولیت» توصیف میکند، جایی که همکاری و اتحاد ضروری است. دیس ژیزل با همکاری هنرمندان یلنا استفانوسکا و ماندانا کوروس توسعه یافته است. این اثر بخشی از بورسیهی تحقیقاتی دکترای آسنتیچ در آکادمی ملی هنر اسلو است.
در یک طراحی رقص صوتی در چهار صحنه - که برای افراد نابینا، کمبینا و بینا ساخته شده است - رقصنده یلنا استفانوسکا تفسیر جدیدی از ژیزل قهرمان تراژیک باله رمانتیک معروف ارائه میدهد. استفانوسکا داستانها، اشعار و قطعاتی از مجلات و موسیقی خود را - از پاپ تا باله - در هم میآمیزد. در نسخه فارسی، ماندانا کوروس با اشاراتی به فرهنگ پاپ و سنتی ایران، اثر را غنیتر میکند.
دیس ژیزل مفاهیم تثبیت شدهی بدن در رقص را به چالش میکشد. آسنتیچ با تبدیل دسترسیپذیری به یک زبان هنری، بدنها و ذهنهای دارای معلولیت را در مرکز توجه قرار میدهد و نشان میدهد که چگونه ایدئولوژیها و هنجارهای اجتماعی درک ما از هنر، رقص و معلولیت را شکل میدهند.
نتیجه کار یک سفر صوتی شاعرانه و سیاسی است که به مخاطب فرصت اجازه رقص می دهد - نه با چشمانشان، بلکه از طریق گوش دادن و تخیل.
At the bottom of the page, there were also links to audio flyers in English, Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian, and Persian, primarily intended for blind and partially sighted audiences, as well as for anyone for whom audio is more accessible.
The credits were also listed on the website, highlighting both the Dis Giselle team and the MUNCH team, who collaborated to bring the trilingual version of Dis Giselle to Oslo.
Credits:
Concept and artistic direction: Saša Asentić
Artistic collaboration: Jelena Stefanoska, Olivera Kovačević Crnjanski, Mandana Kouros, Leila Jalalian, Miad Nohekhan
Text: Saša Asentić with Jelena Stefanosak, Mandana Kouros
Voices: Jelena Stefanoska, Mandana Kouros, Frosina Dimovska, Saša Asentić
Collaboration on audio description: Violeta Vlaški, Boris Dončić
Consultation on the accessibility of visual content: Emmilou Rössling, Violeta Vlaški, Boris Dončić
Selection of motifs from the libretto, music, and choreography of “Giselle”: Jelena Stefanoska
Recording, editing, and sound design: Rastko Ilić
Musical improvisation in the fourth scene: Dunja Crnjanski
Collaboration on vocal performance of traditional songs: Mirjana Raić Tepić
Care for access needs in the recording sessions, rehearsals and shows: Olivera Kovačević Crnjanski, Nataša Murge Savić, Leila Jalalian, Miad Nohekhan, Saša Asentić
MUNCH:
Curator: Katrine Elise Agpalza Pedersen
Project Manager: Jonas Juelsrud Vebner and Ingeborg Husbyn Aarsand
Producer: Sara Kazimierski
Public Programme Coordinator: Marie Saxeide
Technical Manager: Lasse Baklien
Head of Sound: Eivind Sten Johnsen
Sound Technician: Synne Stenersen
Light Technician: Anders Skinstad
PR & Marketing: Selena Sefany, Hanne Marie Os and Elise Finstad
Text Editor: Hanna Hille Stoltenberg and Rob Young
Head of Discursive Programme: Tove Aadland Sørvåg
Translation to Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian: Saša Asentić, Jon Kværne
Translation to Persian: Miad Nohekhan, Amir Mirzai