Music and dance
are like two peas in a pod. Music sets the mood for dancing to take place. It creates the motivation that is needed for one to start moving. Additionally, music can also make one feel a certain way. This explains why it plays such an immense role in the dance. According to Veblen (243), different people seem to process music differently. Witek et al. (1000) state that dancers also tend to react differently to music. This is because their brains can respond slightly faster to sudden changes in a song. However, for deaf people, the experience of music and dance is somewhat different from the non-disabled people. While many people assume that they cannot enjoy music, it is rather apparent that they experience the music and enjoy it to full capacity. They experience music and sound differently. Nevertheless, to understand the aspect of dance among deaf people, it is imperative to understand dance as a study of movement and not just about the music accompanying it. It is also about understanding the quality, technique, time, and space of dance as an entity that is often paired with music.
One way that deaf people experience music is through the vibrations of the music itself. They can feel vibrations from the music being played. They consume the sound waves through their body. They can easily feel the boom of drums or the humming sound made by picking a bass string. When a musical instrument generates a sound, waves are produced. It is these waves that cause the eardrums to vibrate and send the signals to the brain to process the kind of sound produced. While deaf people may not hear the sound, they sense the vibrations from the sound waves. If they read the lyrics, they may be able to display some types of feelings, which, when combined with the vibrations, helps them to enjoy the music. It is these vibrations that help deaf people to be able to dance. Additionally, since deaf people lack one of the five senses, the other four senses often work together to make up for the loss due to brain plasticity. However, Shiell et al. (155) state that the different parts of the brain that are reactive to music do not change despite the loss, which implies that deaf people experience music and dance in much the same way as the hearing people.
There are four fundamental elements of dance – time, space, force, and technique. Space defines how a dance occupies and interacts with the physical world. Time is about how the dancer interacts with time, such as the tempo or rhythm of the music. It deals with whether the dancer moves with the beat or against it. Technique is the most fundamental element in dance. It is about how one holds their body while performing and executing the skills in a routine. A technique extends to all areas of dance regardless of the style of the routine. To fully utilize these elements of dance, deaf people pick specific cues from the music to help them know where they should be in a dance (Vavougios, 200). In addition to this, they may also observe from the hearing individuals and pick cues that would assist them in dancing.
In conclusion, many people assume that deaf people do not experience music. However, it is evident that they experience it and enjoy it in the same way. Deaf people are able to pick cues from the music and their physical world to utilize all the elements of dance and dance to music. Losing one sense also raises the responses of the other four that can assist in experiencing music and dancing to it.