Strictly pro Giovanni Pernice has told how Rose Ayling-Ellis is “making history” as the show’s first deaf contestant.
The dance ace told how he has been inspired by the EastEnders’ actress and is determined to continue learning sign language.
Giovanni, 31, said: “Working with Rose on Strictly has been just incredible.
“Of course she’s an absolute inspiration to me, but also for so many in the deaf community and beyond.
“The reality is, she’s making history as the first deaf person to compete on Strictly – what an achievement. What a brave thing to do.
“Of course it’s about the dancing, but the show is about so much more, and that’s what Rose represents.
“Yes, the hearing is a difference but we are not letting it stop us from progressing each week and Rose is determined to keep pushing herself.”
The duo will dance to Alicia Keys’ romantic song Fallin’ on Saturday’s upcoming show.
Viewers saw Giovanni demonstrate his beginner signing skills on last weekend’s show. But he said his strong Italian accent was causing some issues.
The Sicilian dancer said: “Of course, being Italian and having different pronunciation can be tricky but we have a laugh. Rose’s interpreter has been amazing too and between us we make a great team.
“Ultimately this process and partnership has really opened my eyes into Rose’s world and the deaf community.
“I’ve been learning sign-language – it’s early days but it’s important for me to put in that effort for Rose, the same way she is putting in effort for me.
“Learning the sign for ‘again, again’ as she practises the steps over and over has been very useful – and pretty funny.”
Rose, 26, and Giovanni are the current favourites to win Strictly Come Dancing, at odds of 6-4 with bookmaker Coral.
Rose has previously told how she was “proud to be smashing the stigma around deaf people” and said she hoped viewers realised “it’s a normal thing” for deaf people to enjoy music.
Speaking last week, Rose said: ”I am proud of that, but what I really want to happen while I’m in this show is the conversation around deaf people with music will move on.”
Giovanni agreed and said it was an “honour to be Rose’s partner and experience this journey with her”.
He added: “She’s a great role model, a hard-worker and a true professional. She’s a real fighter in life, and this is what creates magic.”
Rose making deaf community proud
Performing in front of the dance studio mirror, I try to keep up with everyone’s perfectly-timed pirouettes and jumps.
I’m the only one who can hear the music playing, but if there was an audience they would never know.
For it’s something many of us might never have thought about –how it might feel to dance without being able to hear.
But thanks to EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis that is changing.
The actress, who is deaf and a user of British Sign Language, has been wowing audiences on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.
And after a sizzling routine with pro partner Giovanni Pernice last week, she’s now the current bookies’ favourite to win the show.
She’s been adamant she wants “to do the deaf community proud”.
And for choreographer Mark Smith and members of his dance company, Deaf Men Dancing, she’s doing just that.
“I am so pleased to see her on Strictly, because she will change perceptions of what being deaf or hard of hearing means,” he says, while putting me through my paces.
“It’ll show people that she is the same as other celebrities on the show and the professionals.”
Today I have joined Mark’s dance company. I have some experience having done dance classes before – but now, I have more to think about than just the steps.
I’m using BSL for the first time to sign along to the lyrics as I move my feet. Having to remember so many things at once means things aren’t coming as easily as they usually do.
But for Mark and those he dances with, this is all par for the course.
“When I set up the company in 2010, I had the idea of using BSL in the choreography because it is part of deaf culture and part of our identity – it’s our language,” says Mark, who has been profoundly deaf since birth.
“I got the dancers together and we tried it out alongside everybody’s different styles from jazz to contemporary and it worked really well.”
Mark, 50, was inspired to set up his London-based dance group after he saw a gap in the market for hard of hearing and deaf performers to showcase what they can do onstage.
“When I was working as a professional dancer, I had a lot of people asking me if I was the only deaf dancer in the UK,” he says.
“It gave me the idea of having a group of deaf and hard of hearing dancers rehearsing and performing together in one room.
“Because of doing dance and theatre, we’ve all learned to blend and fit in and never really talked much about our deafness. In our industry, being deaf was seen as a taboo - many of us have been told told to leave it off our CVs as it may stop us being hired. People get worried about the health and safety side of things, or wonder how the cast will be able to communicate with us.”
But things are slowly changing. Rose becoming the first deaf contestant in Strictly’s 17-year history, is a huge leap forward for representation.
Tomorrow night she is set to perform a romantic rendition of the Alicia Keys song Fallin’. Meanwhile her and Giovanni’s recent Titanic-themed Foxtrot for Movie Week put them in the top three on the leaderboard and brought the judges to tears.
It’s safe to say, her skills are a little more advanced than mine.
Today, I am learning a routine to the song I Got a Feeling by deaf musician DeafBoyOne, which the company have performed in a previous show called Hear! Hear!.
Mark is joined by two of his company’s dancers Joseph Fletcher, 33, and Aaron Rahn, 26, who both live in London and perform professionally in West End musicals.
We start off with Mark teaching me the sign language for the lyrics of the first two verses and the chorus. And, once I’ve mastered that, it’s time for the tricky part - learning the steps for my legs while I sweep my arms around to sign more fluidly.
Giovanni initially said Rose has learned to dance via “muscle memory”, doing the moves over and over again, as well as feeding off his body language.
And more recently, Rose said: “It is a common misconception that deaf people can’t enjoy music. I have a hearing aid, so I can hear the beat.
“I can hear someone singing, but I can’t identify exact words. I also feel the vibrations and count in my head to help me with timing.”
But not all deaf dancers rely on the same cues while performing. Mark, who wears hearing aids in both ears and is fluent in BSL tells me that he is unable to hear high-pitched sounds, but like Rose he feels the vibrations and counts.
“With choreographing this song, it’s mostly about vibrations and feeling the music rather than listening with our ears,” he says.
Meanwhile, Joseph, has severe hearing loss in his left ear and profound hearing loss in his right (people with this can only hear sounds of around at least 90 decibels, equivalent to the revving of a motorcycle at 25ft). He listens to the natural rhythm of his heartbeat and that musically, he taps into what the orchestration is telling him.
“When I’m learning to dance to a new song, I can’t necessarily hear what the song is about lyric-wise, so I tap into what the orchestration is telling me, whether it’s a happy song or a sad song,” he adds.
“I can also hear the bass layer, which helps me understand what the piece is telling me musically.”
Out of the three, Aaron is able to hear the most sounds. He has a degenerative condition in his ears which means he is able to hear 40% of sounds in his right ear, and 80% in his left.
Aaron says he can hear middle to low sounds. “High stuff varies,” he adds. “I often have the music on very loud, and use the bass and metronome of the track I’m dancing to to help me stay in time. I also always try to listen to music numerous times beforehand to be able to learn the melody before even approaching trying out any movement to it.
“For me, the voice is mainly the overpowering thing I will hear which is what I’ll follow but that is completely different to the other dancers.”
When Mark asks me how I listen to the music and I tell him that I am listening to the lyrics to tell me what step to do next, he has an idea - getting me to try and dance a different way, by trying to tune out the words of the song and instead listening for the bass or feeling the vibrations.
It’s borderline impossible for me to dance in this way.
“You were a lot better before,” laughs Mark - and I can’t argue with that as I am very aware I spent the last two minutes stumbling over my feet.
Joseph admits the predominantly hearing audiences they get at Deaf Men Dancing shows often initially come in with a “low expectation” but realise they were wrong to do so.
“When people come to a Deaf Men Dancing show for the first time, a lot of them are surprised,” says Joseph. “They come away thinking, ‘wow, they can really dance in time’, and loads of questions start surfacing about how we can do that.”
The group actually see being deaf as a positive rather than a hindrance.
“I often let the dancers lead in rehearsal, and they communicate so much with each other, helping each other to follow different sounds and watching body language for cues to stay in time,” he says. “So there’s a lot of unity in Deaf Men Dancing, which is what I think makes them unique and stand out from other dance companies.”
He’s hoping Rose being on Strictly will help spread this message to others.
“It shows people that she is the same as other celebrities on the show and the professionals,” he says. “Hopefully Rose will show young people who are deaf that they can start dancing and performing. I also hope that the fact that she speaks and signs will encourage more people to be inspired to take up BSL.”
He adds: “Other people’s perceptions are the biggest obstacle to deaf dancers.
“They are no different to hearing dancers - they just do things in a different way.”
*For more info on Deaf Men Dancing, see deafmendancing.com. The class took place at Pineapple Dance Studios, see pineapple.uk.com
