Come As You Are #2 – mit Rita Mazza (Berlin/Turin)

Audio Description in German.

December 2022. The artist Rita Mazza takes over the festival centre for a week. A black dance floor has been laid out for them there. Visual poetry is an art form that originated in the Deaf community and refers to poetry in Sign languages. Since Sign languages consist of a system of movements and expressions that are communicated physically, the comparison between visual poetry and contemporary dance techniques may seem obvious. However, choreography and Sign languages are subject to different codes and systems whose rules and structures are not directly comparable. What emerges when choreographic means such as rhythm and repetition come into contact with signs from the system of Sign languages? What traces of choreography can be found in the signs?

During their residency, Rita Mazzas studied a choreographic variation on the Italian sign for “Once upon a time”. A recording of the study can be found here.

Rita Mazza (they/she) is a freelance artist working as an artistic director and performer in visual sign performances. Rita was the artistic director of Festival del Silenzio, an international performing arts event focused on sign language and deaf arts. now Rita collaborates with Theaterformen Festival as guest curator for Deaf art. Rita is a native signer – they ‘speak’ in Italian Sign Language, and they are fluent as well in German (dgs), French (lsf) and International Sign.