9/24/12 Due ASL 2

Directions: You will read the folling chapter from "For Hearing People ONly" book (written by Matthew S. Moore & Linda Levitan). You will post you "journal." You will write a paragraph putting down your thoughts/ideas/opinions about this chapter. How does it make you feel? What did you already know? What was new to you? Imagine yourself ... ? This sections needs to be approximately 8 - 10 sentences. After you do this post you will then read your peer students post. You will then reply to their post ... do not just say "nice job," or "I agree;" you can say that but tell me why! These reply's to your peers should be between 3 and 5 sentences.

Chapter 64.

At my daughter’s wedding, I saw my nephew dance for the first time, and I was surprised to see him dancing so beautifully.  How could he do that if he’s deaf?  My sister tried to explain how that could work.  I still don’t understand.  Can all deaf people dance like him?

We personally enjoy seeing people doing what others imagine unthinkable – wrecking stereotypical notions of what’s normal “handicapped” behavior.  But the fact is that deaf people are very much individuals, and exactly like hearing people in that respect.  And while some hearing people are terrific dancers and some are incredible klutzes, the same applies to deaf people.  Some are just so beautifully coordinated, so creative with movement, so physically free, they’ve made professional or quasi-professional careers out of dance, while others equally deaf are stiff and awkward – hippopotami on skateboards.  Since deafness can affect the sense of balance whose center is in the inner ear, many deaf people must struggle especially hard to achieve coordination and grace – and sometimes this makes them better, more motivated dancers!

We can learn to dance very well without being able to hear the music.  What’s required is a sharp eye, alertness, sensitivity to rhythm, and coordination – the same skills any good dancer develops.  Dance classes set up for deaf students use visual cues, amplified music (with a vigorous bass section), and a lot of percussion – like tambour drums – that sends strong vibrations through the air and can be felt in one’s bones (particularly the breastbone).  On stage, without the help of the drum, they can keep mental count.

That deaf dancers “feel the vibrations through the floor” is something of a misconception.  Since their feet are not in contact with the floor at all times, it’s more accurate to say deaf dancers feel vibrations of the music through their bodies.  They learn to keep a sharp eye-corner on what’s happening, as well as developing and refining their intuitive, “internalized” sense of rhythm.  Your nephew was keenly alert to what was going on and used his own everyday skills to keep perfect pace with the others.

He has some distinguished company.  As an example of what a deaf dancer can achieve, consider the remarkable career of Frances Woods (real name:  Esther Thomas).  She was born totally deaf in 1907, yet became a professional dancer in 1926.  She and her hearing husband, Billy Bray (real name Anthony Caliguire), formed a team, dancing in hotels and taverns during the Depression, then in vaudeville (live routines) at the R.K. O. chain of theaters.  Their routines included acrobatics, mime, and a variety of elements from popular dances of the day (such as the “Apache”).  Both of them developed tremendous strength and endurance.  One of Woods’ celebrated routines concluded with her pretending to shoot Bray with a tiny pistol, then lifting him off the floor and carrying him offstage, slung over her shoulder.  Woods designed and made all her own costumes.  Robert L. Ripley (of “Believe It Or Not!” fame) called them the Wonder Dancers.  Woods and Bray performed throughout the 1930’s, 1940’s, and 1950’s, in many famous nightclubs and hotels, accompanied by some of the great bands, in the States and Europe.  They even performed in London’s famed Palladium.  Long after retirement, they were still dancing together.

What about dance troupes?  Gallaudet University has the well-know Gallaudet Dancers, who have performed publicly on and off campus.  Yacov Sharir (hearing) founded the American Deaf Dance company in 1976.  Featuring a “mixed troupe” of deaf and hearing dancers, the ADDC enjoyed a promising but brief career.  Musign, a Deaf comedy-dance-sign-music troupe, began touring in 1982.  The American Dance Theatre of the Deaf was founded in 1982.  The American Dance Theatre of the Deaf was founded in 1986 by Adrienne Ehrlich (also hearing).  Unlike the ADDC, this was an all-deaf troupe.  ADTD’s choreographer, Michael Thomas, was a progressively-defeaned professional dancer who had once been the premier danseur (leading male dancer) of the San Francisco Ballet Company and suffered from attacks of vertigo and a progressive loss of balance.  Thomas taught dance to deaf and hearing students and directed the RIT Dance Company from 1988 until his untimely death from AIDS in 1997.  All of these Deaf-dance companies have disbanded, but the Gallaudet Dancers are still going strong, and dance continues at NTID/RIT.

Elsewhere, opportunities for deaf students are limited.  The Joffrey Ballet once offered a class for Deaf students (in Manhattan, naturally).  This was immortalized in Silent Dancer (1981), written by Bruce Hilbok and photographed by Liz Glasgow.  The dancer was Bruce’s sister Nancy.

A good number of deaf people love going to bars with well-amplifies disco music.  They love to dance to the loud, very loud bass section and the booming percussion.  Many Deaf festivals and gatherings feature a disco-dance party, and these are typically well-attended.  Even those who can’t dance well have a great time.

Anyone who says that deaf people can’t dance is a dolt.  And anyone who says that all deaf people are good dancers is a bigger dolt.

 

Chapter 66.

Do signsongs make sense?

1.        It seems that many hearing children (and adults) are learning signs from their (hearing) teachers in order to sign and sing sons for (hearing) audiences.  I am bothered by this.  Do Deaf children and Deaf adults enjoy seeing hearing (people) sign and singing songs?

2.       If Deaf Children learn to voice songs for Deaf audiences, would this make sense?

3.       Anyway, signing songs word-for-word is just a string of vocabulary words, not a translation.  Where’s the meaning?

Signsongs are an artistic hybrid, borrowing the concept of choral signing from Hearing culture and the signs (more or less) from Deaf culture.  The idea is to present a visual harmony and counterpoint that complements the purely auditory dimension of a voice choir.  It’s a new twist on a traditional musical genre.  Signsongs can also be performed by trios, duets, or soloists.

We’re not sure who developed signsong, or when, but it has become a staple of Deaf-culture festivals.  It plays a part in church services (signed hymns and psalms), public gathering and concerts.  Deaf/hard-of-hearing sign choirs that perform publicly come and go.  There’s an annual Sign Choir Festival in Texas (sponsored by the Sign Music Foundation based in Denton) that emphasizes imaginative approaches.  Deaf artists participate, and not just those who perform signsongs either.  It’s a popular event. 

So … are signsongs okay?  Those who perform and enjoy watching them don’t see any problem.

So why do some Deaf people have negative feelings about signsong?  Several reasons.  They’re not a traditional pare of ASL culture, not the way ASL sign-mime performances are.  Sign mime, albeit a relatively new genre, utilizes elements of mime, borrowed from the Hearing tradition.  In the hands of a skilled performer, sign-mime can be a tremendously exciting experience.  The audience is invited to participate in the performance, using their eyes, emotions, and imaginations.  It is very hard to draw lines of demarcation between sign-mime, ASL poetry, storytelling, and drama, because each may contain elements of the other genres.  ASL is a powerful artistic medium – even for audiences who may not understand ASL.  Such forms of performance art are seen as organic outgrowths of ASL.

Signsongs, then, are more of a hearing form of expression than a Deaf one.  So is it okay for hearing choirs to perform signsongs to hearing audiences?  As Ms. Roth’s questions suggest, some Deaf people (by no means extremists or linguistic fanatics) are bothered by this.  Because signed songs utilize elements of sign language transposed to a musical genre, there’s a political dimension.  Deaf people who dislike the idea of signing songs simply avoid attending such events.  Some have gone further.  In the late 70s, Audree Norton, Gregg Brooks, and Julianna Fjeld publicly protested the use of a group of hearing students signing a song at an Academy Awards event. For one thing, they felt that it would have been more appropriate to let Deaf students sign the song.  Give them the opportunity to show the beauty of sign language – their language.  For another, they were concerned about the authenticity, distortion, and misrepresentation involved.

But … are signsongs really sign language?  “Where’s the meaning?”  asks Ms. Roth.  Meaning isn’t the most important consideration here.  Signsongs look pretty, which is, we suppose, why uninformed hearing audiences like them and why they have endured.  Certainly, it can look nice if it’s done well.  But is it a legitimate means of artistic expression?  Is there a taint of cultural piracy about it?

Most signsongs are performed in straight signed English – sung lyrics with signs pasted onto them, word for word.  It’s a dry approach, and tends to leave Deaf audiences bewildered.  They don’t understand this approach at all.  Hearing audiences (especially those unfamiliar with real ASL) applaud, cheer, and think it’s absolutely beautiful. 

We suspect that some hearing teachers have their hearing students rehearse and perform signsongs to give them something to do with their hands while they’re singing … i.e., to prevent fidgeting.  Instead of having the choir stand immobile with only their mouths moving, they sign in synchrony with what they’re singing.

Lest you think that we’re “against” blending signs and song as a matter of principle, we hasten to add that we’re not.  There is a well-known signsinger named Sherry Hicks who performs ASL songs beautifully.  She’s a hearing woman – a CODA.  And she performs for Deaf audiences, who are delighted, even enraptured, by the beauty of her songs.  Since she has a strong native-ASL background, she understands what she’s doing, and what Deaf people want.  Her songs aren’t cross-cultural pastiches; they bear the stamp of her artistry.  That’s an example we wish could be more widely emulated.