Blind and deaf dancers

[pygmalion]

I was on the IDTA website today, and found links to societies for blind, deaf and dyslexic dancers. That made me wonder about dancers with disabilities. Does any of you have experience with blind or deaf dancers, or dancers with other physical or mental challenges? Comments, anyone?

[Adeline]

I know of an ice skater who is deaf and mute but he seems to get on fine... very well in fact... everyone loves him... He's competed and won before too... :D

[MadamSamba]

I only know of two people with disabilities who dance. One seems mildly retarded and, sadly, people avoid dancing with him.

The funny thing is that he's amazingly dedicated and adores dancing. I often drop into workshops and mini-courses on dancing styles I'm unfamiliar with just to get a taste for everything that's out there and, low and behold, who's at many of the classes but this guy. It's quite admirable, really.

The other guy is mildly deaf. I think he's missing his middle ear, which affects his balance, so he has a little difficulty dancing certain dances, but he tries and that's all that matters at the end of the day.

[peachexploration]

Yes, my niece is deaf and is a very good dancer believe it or not with a terrific sense of rhythm. :D She dances by the vibration of the music (feels the music by touching the speaker). Really beautiful to watch and really adheres to the statement "feeling the music". Also, there is a lady who is deaf in one of my salsa classes. She too has a great sense of rhythm and adheres to the statement "following the lead". :D I wish I could follow as well as she does.

[dancersdreamland]

Yes, my niece is deaf and is a very good dancer believe it or not with a terrific sense of rhythm. :D She dances by the vibration of the music (feels the music by touching the speaker). Really beautiful to watch and really adheres to the statement "feeling the music".

How beautiful and amazing...this must be a site to behold. Congratulations to her for finding a way to do what she enjoys.

[MadamSamba]

Oh, peach...that's sooo nice. Good on her for not letting it get in the way and stop her enjoying something she's obviously great at.

[Vince A]

peach,
You must be very proud of her.

In the UCWDC, there is ayoung blind man named Greg. My wife matched up with him once in Intermediate Jack and Jills.

The only thing Greg says to his partners is "How are you?" That is his "connection" (you all know what that is, right?) to you . . . then he tells you to keep returning your hand to just in front of your face so he cna always find your hand after a pattern.

You'd never know that he is blind by only watching him dance.

By the way, some 5 months later, we were getting on an elevator at antoher event. Greg happened to already be in the elevator. As we entered the elevator, my wife said, "Hi Greg." He replied, "Hi Carolyn." Amazing voice recall . . .

[peachexploration]

Thanks guys. :D I am so very proud of her. She's is college now studying education. It is amazing how one disability truly enhances the other or doesn't get in the way achievement. Vince, that's amazing that he recognized Carolyn just by her voice. Just awesome. :D

[tsb]

I was on the IDTA website today, and found links to societies for blind, deaf and dyslexic dancers. That made me wonder about dancers with disabilities. Does any of you have experience with blind or deaf dancers, or dancers with other physical or mental challenges? Comments, anyone?

drat. i have to retype this post. %$#@ thing barfed. :(

i think every leader should at least once with a blind follower just to remind themselves of how careful they should with every partner they dance with.

i went to a dance camp that had exercises that included role reversal and followers dancing with their eyes closed. the size of the followers steps were directly proportional to the amount of trust they had in their partners. the fun part came when the exercises were combined and i got to follow a good leader. the experience was pretty exhilarating.

maybe about a year & a half ago, a friend approached me at a dance and asked me to dance with someone she'd brought to the dance. it wasn't until we got into closed position that i realized that this person couldn't see. as with any partner i've never danced with before, i started with basic figures to gauge her proficiency and increased the complexity of the moves as she mastered the previous figure. eventually i decided to try a release move and i prepped her into a one and a half left chaine turn out of a grapevine, caught her at the end of the turn and used her momentum to segue into another figure as smoothly as i would have with any sighted dancer. it was pretty amazing.

[pygmalion]

That's a cool experience, tsb.

Have you ever tried dancing or having your partner dance blindfolded? I know it's off topic, but there's a lot to be learned from the blindfold exercise.

[tsb]

Have you ever tried dancing or having your partner dance blindfolded? I know it's off topic, but there's a lot to be learned from the blindfold exercise.

i'm not sure i'd want to lead blindfolded, even though other leaders seem to appear to do that on a consistent basis! :) the only thing that following with a blindfold might add (vs. merely closing your eyes) that i can see is a potentially greater sense of loss of control.

[jon]

The only thing Greg says to his partners is "How are you?" That is his "connection" (you all know what that is, right?) to you . . . then he tells you to keep returning your hand to just in front of your face so he cna always find your hand after a pattern.

How can he manage navigation in progressive dances like Two-Step and Waltz? It's hard enough navigating on a crowded floor when you can see where other people are!

[Vince A]

The only thing Greg says to his partners is "How are you?" That is his "connection" (you all know what that is, right?) to you . . . then he tells you to keep returning your hand to just in front of your face so he cna always find your hand after a pattern.

How can he manage navigation in progressive dances like Two-Step and Waltz? It's hard enough navigating on a crowded floor when you can see where other people are!
jon,
I've seen him do it, and my wife always go go get him to dance . . . including a 2 Step . . . I don't recall seeing him Waltz, but I'm sure he does!

I think he leaves it up to the follower to do that part! I'm guessing . . .

[pygmalion]

Have you ever tried dancing or having your partner dance blindfolded? I know it's off topic, but there's a lot to be learned from the blindfold exercise.

i'm not sure i'd want to lead blindfolded, even though other leaders seem to appear to do that on a consistent basis! :) the only thing that following with a blindfold might add (vs. merely closing your eyes) that i can see is a potentially greater sense of loss of control.

Try it as a follower sometime, tsb. It really helped me actually feel and follow the leads, rather than just take visual signals and do the pattern I assumed was being led.

[SwinginBoo]

I was at a dance one night and saw a young girl, probably teenager who was deaf. I watched her dancing earlier in the night and thought how beautifully she danced. It wasn't until later that I found out she was deaf.

But I have a question. I read Vince's post about the man who was a blind dancer. How would the leader who was blind avoid bumping into other couples on the dance floor? This would seem very problematic since I'm not blind but I sometimes knock into people when I'm leading (and following too) :?

[bee_kisses]

My neighbors are deaf... and they are really quite nice... kinda "too" nice! :? But having a disability certainly doesn't stop someone from doing something. I would like to think that having a disability would make a person more determined. When I started to dance, I couldn't do a spilt... For a straight week I stretched for a hour every night, and I got it. :lol:

[tsb]

Have you ever tried dancing or having your partner dance blindfolded? I know it's off topic, but there's a lot to be learned from the blindfold exercise.

i'm not sure i'd want to lead blindfolded, even though other leaders seem to appear to do that on a consistent basis! :) the only thing that following with a blindfold might add (vs. merely closing your eyes) that i can see is a potentially greater sense of loss of control.

Try it as a follower sometime, tsb. It really helped me actually feel and follow the leads, rather than just take visual signals and do the pattern I assumed was being led.

i guess that it isn't clear from a previous post that i've already done exercises like that where i closed my eyes as a follower; i don't see how the distinction of wearing a blindfold would make much difference.

[Sagitta]

I'm resistant to closing my eyes. If it is something like bachata or zydeco or NC2S where one is grooving to the music, connected to the floor and each other I can, BUT otherwise I'm a hopeless case!! :( :) Whatever the benefits this is something that will just have to wait for quite a while. I think it has something to do with what tsb said about being a leader. On a crowded dance floor it's not a good idea. Follows often will close their eyes, but they can as they are being led.

[tsb]

I'm resistant to closing my eyes. If it is something like bachata or zydeco or NC2S where one is grooving to the music, connected to the floor and each other I can, BUT otherwise I'm a hopeless case!! :( :) Whatever the benefits this is something that will just have to wait for quite a while. I think it has something to do with what tsb said about being a leader. On a crowded dance floor it's not a good idea. Follows often will close their eyes, but they can as they are being led.

not using visual input (combined with having a good leader) led to a great experience for me; not having to worry about contributing to the floorcraft, i was able to concentrate more on enjoying the dance. but i think i need to include the caveat that we were dancing a waltz step that consisted on a crossover on '1' - i didn't need to think of any rhythm in terms of slows/quicks/cha-cha triple steps, etc. otherwise, i think there'd be too much effort spent on overcoming muscle memory doing the part you're dancing most of the time - like starting on the other foot!