ammar  and  rachel nip/Hello,  how  you  move?

String 5enses is a new project conceived by Hello, How You Move? in which participants and audiences explore sound through the sensation of touch and feeling of vibrations in the body and in the air. Our project is based on how D/deaf dancers associate sounds and music with sight and touch.

Hello, How You Move? is a collective of two choreographers/performers Ammar and Rachel Nip. They believe in collaboration among Deaf and hearing performers and have interest in creating site-specific dances and films that reflect the narratives, relationships and opportunities in Deaf and hearing communities.

Ammar is a Deaf dancer, choreographer and filmmaker. He has been passionate about dance since he was 17 and joined Redeafination, Singapore’s Deaf dance crew in 2010. Ammar has toured and led hip-hop workshops in Hong Kong, France, Norway and Myanmar. As a filmmaker, Ammar creates original content to highlight stories of people with disabilities.

Rachel is a hearing choreographer, dancer and actor. She has performed and directed dance and theatre productions in the United States and Singapore. Rachel returned to Singapore in 2018 to create original works that speak to her cultural experiences. She enjoys her current practice which combines theatre, dance and singing.

One important aspect of our research looks at sound as communication. We draw on Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) and various sign languages around the world to look at communication through hands, movement, and facial expressions. We will experiment with how movement impulses can come from and evolve from sign languages.