What It's Like to Move to Music You Can't Hear

Gallaudet Dance Company has been performing for 65 years. Dance Magazine takes a look at the performance troupe here.

Meet the Dance Company

Upworthy posted a video yesterday Gallaudet about the dance company.

Viral Video: Deaf Mom dancing with Son

A video of Mark Villaver and his mother, Emilia,  dancing has gone viral. Their moves set to Usher's "She Came to Give It to You" has racked up more than 200,000 views. Mark is the professional dancer who has performed with the likes of Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. But it's clear where he gets his talent. Emilia

STOMP performers visit Gally

Performers from the touring company STOMP introduced their beat to students at Gallaudet University this week. STOMP is a stage show mixing foot stomps, hand claps and percussion instruments, performing at the National Theater in DC through this weekend. WJLA-TV has a video report of the Gally visit below (no captions but some text is posted here).

ASL Acrobatic Dance

"As the listener or the experiencer of the song, you don’t have to hear the music, but you can feel it through the choreography.” Read more here or watch the video below to better understand what Brandon Kazen-Maddox likes to call American Sign Language Acrobatic Dance.

The City Exposed: Music for the deaf from San Francisco Chronicle on Vimeo.

Deaf Woman Wins Dance Contest

Judy Hodak took home top honors at the Buckeye Ball with the help of her dance instructor, Travis Manero. The contest took place in Independence, Ohio (near Cleveland). The pair performed a rumba-style dance without music to accompany them because they wanted to give spectators a sense of how the 58-year-old Hodak lives. Manero owns part of the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Boardman. Below is a video report from WFMJ-TV. You can read the story here.

Dancer's Story

Read a profile of a deaf ballet dancer in Indianapolis is here.

So You Think You Can Dance

A deaf Texas dancer was sent packing from So You Think You Can Dance: Season 6. Allison Becker was one of 152 finalists, hoping to make the Top 20 and the live show.

Deaf Dancer Wows Judges

A deaf dancer auditioned for season 6 of So You Think You Can Dance. Allison Becker tried out in Phoenix, Arizona. The deaf contemporary dancer showed her skill to the sounds of The Fray's You Found Me. When she finishes her routine Nigel blew her kisses and signed that he loves her. He told Allison she lacked some technical skill, but her dance was beautiful and moving. Mary Murphy agreed and burst into tears, saying "Though I am crying, I want you to know how happy you just made me." She told the audience her cousin is deaf, so Allison's passion really touched her. Allison was given a pass to Las Vegas and assigned choreography. Her response to the judges: "I'll be great in choreography!" Here's a video with her (captioning included).

Dancing with ASL

Cruz Lane pairs his dance moves with ASL. His interest in music developed during his time at the Texas School for the Deaf. Lane was one of the top five finishers at the National Association of the Deaf Conference dance competition last year. This fall, he'll head to the Rochester Institute of Technology to work on a degree in music performance.

NTID Dance Company

The NTID Dance Company, established in 1984, is open to the entire RIT community whether the person is deaf or can hear. The group consists of about two dozen dancers who practice together about six days per week in the weeks leading up to a show.

Wild Zappers

The Wild Zappers is a dance company made up of deaf, male dancers. Irvine Stewart first put the group together in 1989 in Washington, DC with help from Fred Michael Beam and Warren “Wawa” Snipe. Now there are ten members in all. Some are staff members with Fred’s non profit group called Invisible Hands.

Matlin Hangs Up Her Dancing Shoes

Marlee Matlin was voted off Dancing with the Stars tonight. She thanked the judges, her family and Henry Winkler for his support. She also thanked Fabian her partner "for giving me the most beautiful art of dance in my life." The deaf actress will appear on Jimmy Kimmel live later this evening.

Ballroom Dance Winner

Heather Wagley has won more than 50 ballroom dancing contests in the last decade – and the judges never know she is deaf. Her next competition will be the San Francisco Open DanceSport on March 28. Heather partners with instructor Larry Nemeth of Cleveland’s American Dance Exchange. She count steps and looks Nemeth for guidance, watching his lips for instructions, like slow or quick.

Marlee Dancing

If you missed seeing deaf actress Marlee Matlin on Dancing with the Stars you can watch her first dancing effort online.

Matlin on Dancing with the Stars

Marlee Matlin got the third most points of the women contestants on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars last night. The 42-year-old deaf actress has an Oscar to her credit but has never danced professionally. She’s been working seven hours a day with partner and show newcomer Fabian Sanchez. The professional dancer says Matlin is great to work with because she is very sensitive to his lead, since she is not trying to follow the rhythm herself. One of Matlin’s daughter (she has four) is a devoted fan of the show and encouraged her mom to become a contestant. Matlin is competing against radio host Adam Carolla, magician Penn Jillette, pro football player Jason Taylor, tennis champ Monica Seles, Olympic skater Kristi Yamaguchi, singer Mario and actors Steve Guttenberg, Shannon Elizabeth, Christian de la Fuente, Priscilla Presley and Marissa Jaret Winokur.