The deaf dance against AIDS

The national finals of the Deaf Dance Competition, organised by the Claro-sponsored Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), were held at the Little Theatre on Saturday.

This year's competition was particularly significant because the Jamaica Association for the Deaf (JAD) decided to use the medium of dance to spread the message of HIV/AIDS prevention to the deaf and hearing-impaired community.

In her opening address, Iris Soutar, the JAD's executive officer, explained that the messages in the various media campaigns were lost on the deaf and hearing impaired.

"They obviously cannot hear what is on the radio, and they are often unable to understand the messages in the print media due to illiteracy," she said.

Soutar also said messages transmitted via television failed to make a connection because deaf people were never represented in any of the images.

Thirteen items were presented during the competition and were well received by the audience of mostly hearing-impaired.

Terrific performances

The dancers were so in tune with the rhythm, it was hard to believe they could not hear.

Through their movement, they offered praise to God, showed how choices impact one's life and, in one particularly poignant piece, called 'Viral Destruction', demonstrated how HIV attacks and destroys the body.

'Viral Destruction' was done by students from the Danny Williams School for the Deaf in the Class Three (ages 10-12) modern contemporary category.

The girls, dressed in white and silver, represented the body's cells, while the boys, dressed in red, yellow, green and white, represented the virus. Both groups of dancers started out at opposite ends of the stage and gradually began to intermingle. Thunderous applause erupted from the spell-bound audience when all the dancers wrapped themselves together with a piece of red cloth and then transitioned into a sequence of intricate movements on the floor. Eventually, the 'virus' overpowered the 'body', leaving the girls writhing on the floor.

At the end of the piece, the audience jumped to its feet and cheered wildly. Not surprisingly, the piece was awarded the gold medal in the category. Along with 'Choices', another gold-medal piece, done by Lister/Mair Gilby School for the Deaf, 'Viral Destruction tied for Best Dance Skit.

The choreographers, some of whom are also deaf or hearing-impaired, participated in two workshops guided by Howard Daley, a dance lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. Attendees were taught about various dance styles and techniques, as well as HIV/AIDS and how to express messages about the disease to the deaf and hearing-impaired through movement.