Ruido

After a trip to Mexico in 2014 with her partner Rufino, Lucy was inspired to explore language barriers, translation and communication in a studio based context. In 2016, with support and funding from Leeds Inspired and Arts Council England, Lucy undertook a 6 month research and development project, which drew together professional dance, community practise and academic research.

Ruido (meaning noise in Spanish) saw Lucy work with several refugee and asylum seeker community groups as well as Deaf community groups across Sheffield and Leeds, all who experience language barriers either by living in Britain where English is not their first language or through hearing impairments. Lucy also collaborated with a BSL awareness consultant and academics from the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, whose research in language acquisition and 2nd language learning informed the project.

Informed by research gathered from the refugee and BSL communities in Yorkshire, academic research and Lucy’s own experience of language barriers, the project culminated in a dance theatre solo, Ruido.

Read blog post of creative process here

Ruido was performed at the University Of Sheffield’s Arts and Humanities Festival and at Migration Matters Festival, part of National Refugee Week (both in 2017) as well performed back to the communities who took part in the project and inspired the work.