Anything that takes a dancers attention away from their hands four ,I think
would be detrimental to a deaf dancer. As with new dancers a hands 4 gives
lots of visual cues and your partner offers the best ones..
Fir example hands in the middle , star, outstretched arms , circle, facing
across with outstretched arms, long lines, twirly finger in the air, DSD, to
name a few that I use with new dancers. Robins chain could be a signed "R"
and the right arm reaching out. It would be fairly simple to think of others.
Pairing them with a solid partner who can give visual cues seems best, imo.
DonnaEmail: [email protected]
On Friday, September 29, 2023 at 08:43:26 AM EDT, Allison Jonjak via Contra
Callers <[email protected]> wrote:
I've been part of dance communities where blind dancers are easily
accommodated (with claps during heys etc). Deafness seems like it will take
extra brainstorming to make useful accommodation. (Not only because some deaf
people lip read preferentially over sign language.)
Is it possible to let a deaf dancer take a look at the caller's card before a
dance is taught, to help orient a bit?
Pardon brevity; sent by smartphone.
On Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 7:22 AM Mary Collins via Contra Callers
<[email protected]> wrote:
We have not encountered this but I have friends who sign, having been teachers
who worked with the deaf. Both dancers. I am going to talk with them about how
this could work.
I think signing during the dance would be problematic as the dancer would need
to see the signer and that would take their attention away from the dance floor.
The caller surely would find it difficult as well. I used to sign well but lost
some over the years; once had a group of deaf tourists ride in my tour
carriage, even signing, holding reins and being aware of traffic, tour sites
and passengers was hugely difficult.
Having a trained -for- dance interpreter might just work for the walk through
and occasional prompting.
Definitely looking into this.
Mary CollinsNear Buffalo NY
On Fri, Sep 29, 2023, 7:40 AM Allison and Hunt Smith via Contra Callers
<[email protected]> wrote:
I recently had a conversation with a dear friend in NH, a long-time contra
dancer, who has an adult daughter who is deaf (who lives in SF, CA if that
helps). Daughter doesn't dance, because she can't hear the calls and gets
confused on the dance floor. She wishes that, during walk-throughs, the calls
could be signed as well as spoken. I'm writing to ask if any of you have
encountered this request? AFAIK there are no deaf dancers in my community in
the Maine highlands, but I'd be willing to learn some basic signs to go along
with my teaching. I think it would be challenging to sign as I call once the
dance gets started, though. Thoughts?
Allison Aldrich Smith
--
www.huntandallison.net
[email protected]
www.centralhallcommons.org
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