Accessibility takes centre stage at Estonia's 16th Disabled Song and Dance Festival

Estonia's 16th Disabled Song and Dance Festival, titled "Hold One Another," took place on Saturday at the Viljandi Song Festival Grounds, bringing together singers and dancers from across the country. To reach a wider audience, organizers provided Estonian Sign Language interpreting, live captioning and audio description, alongside a livestream on ERR's Jupiter platform.

Kai Kunder, who served as an audio description consultant for the event, said that despite shifting weather — rain and wind early on, followed later by sunshine — the atmosphere stayed positive throughout the day. She described attending and experiencing the festival in person for the first time, noting that hearing the crowd sing the national anthem at the opening gave her goosebumps. She said the audience was appreciative and that the event ran smoothly.

Preparing audio descriptions takes considerable work ahead of time. Describers study rehearsal footage and analyze choreography, including steps, turns, gestures and lifts. Kunder explained that the aim isn't to narrate every movement but to capture the main steps and emotional tone, while also highlighting small details such as swirling skirts or flower wreaths worn by performers.

From theatre to paintings

Several dozen people in Estonia have trained as audio describers, though only around 20 currently work actively in the field, covering theatre, film, museums, song and dance festivals, exhibitions and other cultural events. Kunder noted that each describer tends to have particular strengths — some avoid live events or describing paintings due to lack of experience, while others enjoy museum work.

She emphasized that audio descriptions must accommodate people with very different visual experiences, from those blind since birth to those who once had sight and retain strong color associations, requiring describers to strike a careful balance. Kunder's next project will be as audio description consultant for Rakvere Theatre's "Autumn Sonata" at next month's Drama Festival in Tartu.