CONCERT IN THE DARK

Concerts and performances in the dark are an immersion in a new space and the discovery of new facets of yourself. When the external light turns off, the internal light turns on. The visual channel of perception is not always the most truthful. Once you close your eyes, the world becomes completely different.

In short, it's cool. Not to say that you will see something completely new. You won't actually see anything. Because it's dark. But what happens in the dark is admirable. The performance «Demon» is about sounds, music, words, and a constant feeling that you are right on the stage, in the center, alone. And everything is happening around. Horses gallop, a demon hisses, someones bargain in the market (it smelled of tangerines), they fight with sabres. I don't know how many pictures were drawn in my head during the performance. But the pictures were beautiful and lively. And there was a very nice concert of Georgian music about Tbilisi. It's like sitting in a dark room with the city living behind the walls. People sing songs, beautiful Georgian songs, talk about something, and you are an unwitting witness. It is very beautiful.

Recently, I received a completely unexpected gift for my birthday — a ticket to a concert in the dark!

Doubts, skepticism, even distrust — these are the feelings that arose in my soul at the first moment. However, having overcome internal resistance (and I did not want to offend the friend who gave me this gift) on February 6, after a hard day of work, I was in the very centre of Moscow, on Tverskaya street, 14.

It is very difficult, almost impossible to describe all the feelings and emotions that I experienced that evening to the music performed on the DUDUK! A tornado, a tsunami, just a storm of sensations swept over my troubled soul! My whole life flew by in less than an hour of the concert! I wiped away a tear, remembering happy childhood, and smiled at the emotions of the youth…In the dark, there are no limits to our imagination, only music and... you.

Work problems, household chores — so small and insignificant in the dark.

Now I know exactly where I will rush if I need to clear my mind and rest my soul.

Complete and dense darkness. Somewhere you can hear the Megrelian «Asho Chela», the Gurian song of farmers, the folk Suliko and other impeccable Georgian chants. Clean and curly songs like a vine. Your senses are calmed, you can hear your heart beating, and you know that if you try to look up, God is there. The world of blind people is quite different.

Today I was invited to report on the project «Concert in the dark», where the vocal ensemble Saqartvelo performed.

All concerts of this project are held in absolute darkness, where no one and nothing distracts. The project is implemented by the team «Dialogue in the dark. Moscow».

Blind people meet and accompany you. There is nothing to be afraid of, except to be alone with yourself and the music.

At the entrance, you must hand over your phones, watches, and anything else that might distract you in any way. In the dark, there is only you, the music, and... your imagination.

I definitely recommend visiting. You won't see it, but you will feel it.

It was an amazing journey inside yourself! Or a trip to another world, or another life, or a country... No matter how to call it, but the impression from #concertinthedark #dudukist are incredible! It was a dream in reality, because when the blind guides very confidently, with jokes, brought us to the hall and sat us down, leaving us in complete darkness, I blinked my eyes several times to understand whether they were open or closed! I moved my hands in front of my face, hoping that my eyes would adjust and I would see at least the outline of my hands, but in vain... I sat there all the concert, listening to the amazing music (I have a special, tender love for DUDUK, which arose after traveling in Armenia) and seeing pictures-dreams with my eyes open! This is a must-experience, because when one sense is blocked, others become more acute... and everyone has their own! By the way, the entrance to the hall itself is already a small adventure, because for some it is very difficult to trust someone else, and even a blind person, to take you somewhere, just putting your hand on your shoulder. Before entering, you will be asked to leave your personal belongings (including your watch) in the storage rooms so that nothing can disturb the absolute darkness of the concert hall! Thanks to «Dialogue in the Dark» for the excellent implementation of the project! It's a pity that concerts are so rare and it's almost impossible to get tickets! In my case, it was a gift for birthday, I myself was already desperate to buy!

In the dark, I stopped adding pictures to the sound and stopped hearing music with my ears. The perception of sound has become physiologically different. Not single-channel. It's as if there's been a drastic compensation. Touch, vision began to work on the perception of music.

The most amazing, absolutely crazy moment was when during one song the audience began to applaud in time. This was a new level of «feeling» and intimacy. People who didn't see each other were synchronized in their reactions, actions, and attitudes to what they were hearing.

Those images and pictures that appeared in my head in the dark, due to the lack of real ones… I'm not even sure that in a normal situation my imagination can work like this. Colours, emotions, feelings. This is all our internal, it is not necessary to have a picture.

The darkness really brings us together. So quickly dialogues between strangers in the light do not start! And the laughter begins to pour out so loudly that in the light you would definitely be embarrassed for your uncontrollable state!

Here you can fully feel the completeness of music that penetrates you without the participation of other senses, such as vision, when you look at the performers and get into their emotions…so here you rely mainly on hearing and touch... when you start to feel the touch of the bow with the strings, and the voice sounds so piercing that goosebumps begin to rush in a panic from the top of your head to the carpet!

Before entering, all guests are asked to close all items in the lockers that can emit at least some light. Then the guides (all of them blind) accompany the guests to the hall. Behind the curtain is not a hall, but a dark maze that blocks your connection with reality and plunges you into the world of the blind, where you have to trust completely different feelings... and then everything collapses!

Yes, it was so dark that the eye wouldn't get used to it in a few hours...nothing at all... And even if I wanted to turn around and get out now, I couldn't do it, because I didn't know where the exit is anymore.... The only thing that calmed me was the thought that people don't die of panic. But the body said otherwise..my heart was pounding, and I was panting and thirsty. And when I groped for a chair, I wanted not to sit down, but to lie down next to it and crawl in the direction from where we came. It was complicated by the fact that I couldn't remember where we were coming from…

The first thing that caught my eye is the depth of penetration of the authors of the action into the meaning of what is happening.

From the very entrance, we moved in the semi-darkness, gradually sinking into the atmosphere of mystery, and found ourselves inside of the amazing world presented to us by the authors and organizers of the project. This is a special experience. We had guides in the Dark, guides for whom it is familiar and friendly. We trusted them when they met us at the entrance to the Darkness, although the guide is only a voice, a name, and a warm shoulder on which we put our left hand.

When the voice of the host appeared in the Darkness, I wanted to burst into tears from the rush of emotions. Then came the music… At first, no visual images appeared before the eyes, or rather in the imagination. As the musical events unfolded, a blurry string of amazing images ran before my mind's eye.

When the concert came to an end, we again went the same chain, but in reverse order: the voice, the name and the warm shoulder are also in front, we are behind him. At the exit from the Darkness we were greeted with words: "Welcome back to the light!" If only we could say the same to them in gratitude…

I listened to every sound and seemed to lose myself in it! (I melted in it like a snowflake falling to the ground).
I gave myself up to the flight of word and thought.
I found myself in the lines of poems and songs.
I was present at the center of the events! And that's probably the best part!

This is a visual weightlessness, where everything becomes thinner, is perceived more sharply and very vivid images appear…

This is really cool!)) After the concert, I even tried to feel the absence of an image a couple of times…at least mentally…

Look
Not see
To be afraid
Listen
Visualize
Sink
Lose
Travel
To fly
Admire
Feel
Feel

We have an incredible luxury to soak up the beauty of the world around us, but we do not pay attention to this routine. Imagine for a second that you are plunged into a darkness that does not exist in nature. I will remember my personal feelings about this for the rest of my life. I couldn't see the people sitting next to me, but I could feel them. There is a mad desire and childish curiosity to touch everything around. And when the music starts playing, something new lights up in you, as if you've never heard or felt anything like it before.You begin to feel the sounds as something alive and something that can be touched by invisible hands…

The love of those people who make this amazingly sensory and emotional project is felt straight «from the hanger» and sounds in every sound and word.
This is a culture that you want to share…

It is absolutely DARK. You open your eyes, you close your eyes, nothing changes.

These wonderful people [blind guides], they actually create that very special, intimate atmosphere, an atmosphere of calm and no fear for musicians and spectators. They are guides to a world without light and they do this job perfectly.

This concert is not only about the darkness and the music: to get to the hall, we had to go through a small maze, which was also immersed in darkness. And in this we were helped by blind guides — people who are oriented in such conditions, and, perhaps, feel in their element there. This way of "holding" a concert draws attention to the problem of accessibility of the environment and equality of opportunities. Unfortunately, we do not know how to interact with people whose perception of the world differs from ours, but thanks to such meetings, it seems that positive changes will not be long in coming.

It's more than music. More than a way to integrate and develop empathy for people who live in the same world, but in a different way. This is a project about emancipation, about switching the focus of attention from reflections in mirrors to a wide range of ways of knowing time, space, our own capabilities and what human civilization has given us. And there is no physical awkwardness.

The darkness contributes to the activation of the imagination — there «optimists have dreams come true, the pessimists see nightmares». And under no other circumstances people are able to recognize the positive and negative aspects of their previous behavioral habits so quickly. This new and unexpected awareness serves for subsequent changes.

It seemed that if the artists suddenly fell silent and in addition to complete darkness, there would be complete silence — our communication would still continue. Because souls understand each other without words. Emotions so overwhelmed us all that we came out of the dark dumbfounded, unable to contain our emotions. It was... COSMICALLY beautiful!

It was an absolute process. Immersion in the sound, in yourself, the opportunity to stop the hustle and bustle of life for a moment and just be yourself, relax and enjoy the music.

This a good life hack for a date :)

Total darkness. It is also called pitch black. This is wildly unusual. There is a feeling of complete helplessness. Although there are other people and blind guides nearby. How they navigate in the dark is a mystery to me. Yes, I understand that they are used to walking stick and skills... But still... Such strength of spirit!

The sounds took on a different meaning, a completely different one, from what we hear in the light.

Not a single speck of light — just music.

As soon as you sit down in your seat "according to the purchased tickets" and the concert begins, you forget about all your worries and enjoy live music.

Touch and hearing become more acute, you begin to feel your body in order to somehow understand where you are — at least according to your body.
Space and time disappear and you completely trust your senses, not your brain.

It's magic — all the barriers between music and you are erased.

Personally, I have not experienced so many different emotions in 1 hour for a long time: from fear to utter delight and then peace. Darkness is a great way to discover yourself, although the approach is not quite standard.

You reach a new level of perception, not just listening, but feeling the music with every cell of your body.

This is something absolutely cosmic!

The music seems to penetrate you.

I would call this experience at least amazing — hearing and smell are sharpened, and the border between dream and reality is blurred. This is almost a meditative state in which you hear familiar music, and it switches you to a completely different mode.

Be prepared for the fact that phones and watches will have to be left in a special locker so that they do not glow and do not distract you from the dive. Also check your shoes and clothing for fluorescent properties. As it turned out in the course of experiments, shoes can also accumulate light, and then...

This release of the program "Everyone is different. Everyone is equal" Zhenya Voskoboynikova decided to devote to life of blind people. We discussed how blind people participate in cultural projects, conduct special trainings for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSO, ROC and major Russian companies, work as tour guides and create VR performances…

Moscow hosts musical events and performances in the framework of the project "Concert in the dark", the peculiarity of which is that it will be held in the complete absence of light.
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Now you can not only listen to music in the dark, but also "watch" performances there. Before the start, the audience is given a black mask-glasses that insulates all light. And then you are proposed to train three senses: smell, hearing and touch ...

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