A Pleasant Surprise

The interpreter service called to confirm the lesson for Jillian and Garri.  I thought, “That’s strange, why would you need a service to confirm a dance lesson?  Oh, well this will be interesting. I wonder what language they speak.”

As I walked in the studio and met Jillian and Garri, I found out both are hearing impaired and communication was through the written word and sign. They were here for their wedding dance lesson.

I have taught deaf kids back in Australia and understood that they can feel the vibration of the music if played loudly enough. Jillian and Garri had selected Shania Twain’s “From this Moment” for their wedding dance song.

All the couples that come into Dance Bethesda to learn a wedding dance show the love they have for each other and this young couple was no exception. In fact the connection between them was a total joy to behold.

As I showed them the steps to the Rumba, demonstrating the actions and steps, Jillian and Garri quickly mastered the basics. With Garri feeling the rhythm from me, he was able to dance to the music very quickly; guiding Jillian into the box step, an underarm turn, and shoulder to shoulders with a dip for dramatic effect gave me a wonderful feeling of satisfaction.

Then we choreographed their entrance with Garri watching me as the D.J. for a nod when I hit the play button. He rose from his chair, offered his hand to his bride and gallantly led her to the middle of the floor to begin their dance. Jillian ever so graceful, walked around Garri looking lovingly into his eyes, then spun in for a sideways lunge, up and facing each other, they kissed then into dance hold, and off they went dancing.

Jillian and Garri had only had one major concern of whether or not they were dancing at the right speed to the music. They were with Garri doing an excellent job of leading Jillian around the floor. The delight in Garri being able to dance with Jillian was wonderful to watch.  Like all soon to be married couples, they had their disagreements which were fun to watch, their gestures to each other, then writing it down for me to adjudicate. The expression on their faces when one was right and the other corrected was always softened by a hug, a kiss or a poke of the tongue.

From a teaching stand point, it was curious to watch the reaction from other students sharing the floor with them. You could see that Jillian and Garri were hearing impaired but no one saw my slight nod to Garri to let him know to start. So there were some baffled looks from others trying to figure out how he knew the right time to go.

While working with Jillian and Garri we were able to develop a complex routine because they practiced at home. Their lack of hearing was no way a barrier to them succeeding in becoming good dancers for their wedding day. They are a very attractive young couple and watching them practice over and over again,  seeing the love that they share, the pride in each other in achieving their goal of learning to dance and making it look so graceful and fluid in motion had me reaching for the tissue box.

On their wedding day, their dance will empower everyone watching, step by step.

Yours truly,

Michael Rye