Very cool: Sign language covers of 10 seminal songs

Deaf actor and dancer Mervin Primeaux-O’Bryant and hearing dancer and choreographer Brandon Kazen-Maddox have started a new project producing sign language covers of 10 seminal musical works recorded by Black female artists. The two men sing with their hands, giving the song a special structure, as the New York Times notes: "A good A.S.L. performance prioritizes dynamics, phrasing and flow. The parameters of sign language — hand shape, movement, location, palm orientation and facial expression — can be combined with elements of visual vernacular, a body of codified gestures, allowing a skilled A.S.L. speaker to engage in the kind of sound painting that composers use to enrich a text".