Scottish Ballet

Scottish Ballet remains committed to supporting the visually impaired community and delivers Touch Tours and audio described services at a Saturday matinee at their narrative ballets in all cities.

To deliver audio-described performances our education officers spend hours in the dance studio watching rehearsals and creating the script, the key being to find the right balance between having enough well chosen words for patrons to visualise the dance and emotion on stage but leaving enough space to hear the beautiful and evocative music.

These performances are audio described by Paulene Laverty. Paulene was a dancer with Scottish Ballet for eight years and currently teaches some of our community classes. She was the first person in the UK to audio describe ballet and now has 22 years' experience of delivering audio descriptions for ballet, theatre and pantomime. She has a deep understanding of Scottish Ballet and its performances and, as such, provides the highest quality descriptions for our audiences.

In advance of the performance a CD is produced in which short musical extracts are played, a synopsis is given and character and design highlights are described. This is sent out to all visually impaired patrons.

A free Touch Tour is held before each audio described performance. Here costumes and props are brought out and patrons are invited to find out for themselves the intricacies and weight of the costumes and the character of the props. Headsets or loop systems are provided by the theatre. Tour Tours are free but tickets must be booked through your preferred venue's box office. Times vary by venue, please check each performance for further details.