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"Deaf theatre may be the best opportunity that hearing people have of glimpsing the richness of the visual life that is the gift of the Deaf experience."

This blog was created specifically to incorporate hip hop and the Deaf world together.  Although it was done for a class, I think the videos and quotes on it serve a meaningful connection.

https://deafhiphoptheatre-blog-blog.tumblr.com/

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The importance here is to really understand why sign language is more than just a language and has a whole history and culture attached to it.  Sign language is what helped the Deaf community be seen and heard as people and to gain a place in a hearing dominant world.  For along time deaf, dumb, blind, disabled, etc. were all clumped into one looked down upon group.  With sign language, individuals were able to communicate what they were feeling, what they wanted, and they were able to communicate with other deaf members.

 Additionally, before sign language was taught and accepted, it was looked down upon as well. There were many different methods in which doctors and speech therapist tried to take someone who was deaf and make them hear. Sign language was prohibited and not taught because of the idea that it would decrease the likeliness of one being able to hear.

While researching the connection between hip hop dance and Deafness, in the same way we learned about the history of hip hop I see importance in knowing some back history of Deaf culture.

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Shaheem Sanchez is Deaf individual making moves in the hip hop arena. He is a Deaf hip hop dancer and he teaches dances with a little bit of sign language incorporated in them. 

The link here goes into detail about Mr.Sanchez and his history being Deaf as well as with dance.  At a young age he became deaf, when learning choreography for dance Mr.Sanchez uses his memory and skill to flow with the beat of the songs. Common things he comes across from other people is there skepticism of how he can dance to music if he cannot hear the music. First he feels out the music, feels out the beat, memorizes it, and turns it into movement.  Mr.Sanchez really takes both dance and ASL to new levels. 

As an ASL student I enjoy watching his videos and I have become accustom to signing while listening to music.  As I took more classes in ASL I also learned what poetry and story telling in ASL look like and both look like beautiful dances. With sign language being a visual language it’s no wonder why creating a story in ASL and performing it would be like doing a dance.  You are bringing pictures to life in a very unique way. Mr.Sanchez is very unique and I love the fact that he continues to teach not only Deaf but hearing students both hip hop and sign language. Mr.Sanchez a great a successful teacher, as one of his students, his hearing brother Kida the Great won on “So you think you can dance.”

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The gentlemen here is Matt Maxey, he is a Deaf individual who is known for his videos and performances at concerts.  He is an individual who is a part of DeafinitelyDope organization. During live performances of artists like Chance the Rapper Mr.Maxey interprets, in American Sign Language (ASL) the lyrics to the song. What is really amazing is the way he signs and interprets the song.  

When you interpret things in spoken languages the meaning of the sentence and the words don’t really change, and they shouldn’t otherwise there could be a misinterpretation.  What I find interesting when combing sign language and hip hop dance is that the interpretation in a sense NEEDS to be changed around a bit for the right emotion or point to come across.  

The basics of ASL has 5 main parameters 

1) HANDSHAPE 2) (palm) ORIENTATION 3) LOCATION 4) MOVEMENT 5) FACIAL-EXPRESSIONS (Non-Manual Markers)

If you change anyone of these slightly it could change the meaning of the sign dramatically. When Mr. Maxey and others interprets music they change some of the signs to better suit the song.  The example in the video use “turn-up” as Mr.Maxey shows how to exactly sign “turn” and “up” then show the sign that he uses in Chance the Rappers song to make it fit more into context with what the song is saying. It takes great skill to be able to interpret at that level.

Here is a link to Deafinitely Dope’s website

https://www.deafinitelydope.org/

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FAMILY HISTORY 

This is a dance workshop video of my cousin, Careesa and her then dance partner Jeremiah.  Before coming onto this video I did look at one other video as I was trying to go for a more islander style of hip hop.  In thinking more about this class, though, I am not only connected to her on a blood and cultural level but when thinking of dancing she is always one that I think of, especially in hip hop.  She being in California and myself in Washington we did not grow up together, in fact I only became close to her my last couple Summers in high school when I would spend it over there.  I would hang out and watch her dances and at the time be a pretty awkward kid that wasn’t too into moving. She wouldn’t try to get me to dance, she could see I was comfortable watching and she knew I was more of a volleyball player.  With that being said, this is the first time I have ever seen this video and I re-watched it many times with intrigue.

At the beginning I was drawn to finding a dancer that I could connect to culturally, then became into one that I ultimately have a deeper connection and history with.  From Camille Brown’s video she talks about young woman gaining the freedom to express and dance after dances became known in more areas.  I love seeing my cousin dance and seeing the joy that she has while doing.  It maybe because we look alike but watching her gives me the feeling to want to get up and move.  I thought that was significant in regards to the social dance we learn about and moving together meaning that you’re connected together.  I think that it being an instructional video as well, contributes to the idea of social dances because that whole room is learning the same routine and once they come out of that workshop they will have a whole new set of, emotions, ideas, and experiences, while having also shared their own experiences, expressions, and interpretations. “Social dances are about community and connection, if you knew the steps that meant you belonged to a group,” I think that speaks loudly here as everyone comes together to dance as a group to learn the steps. 

Since growing up from all those summers ago I have grown more of a likeliness towards dance and expressive movement and taking this class has increased that curiosity even further.  I am interested to find out where this curiosity takes me and hope I can someday express that same emotion of joy in hitting those smooth rhythmic movements and beats.