My spouse is an ASL interpreter and long-time contra and swing dancer, so what follows are my thoughts informed by her experience.

I'm less concerned about deafness than the mobility and coordination issues we get all the time. Given that several deaf dancers have been on Dancing with the Stars and one even won (Nyle DiMarco in 2016), I wouldn't underestimate what's possible.  It would take quite a lot of focus and dedication, of the sort that deaf people are quite used to bringing to bear on a daily basis.  Google and you'll find lots of deaf dancing.

The main thing I'd do differently for a deaf dancer is something I SHOULD be doing for everyone: for new moves, ditch the danged speech, do a demo, and give them reps! Also, ensure they have an experienced partner, probably even if the person they walked in with is a beginner who knows ASL (unless that makes them uncomfortable). Again, that should be SOP.

The other is something NOT to do differently. As Michael said, don't draw attention to them. The caller leads the mood in the hall. Treat the person as a welcome new community member, not a problem to solve. Have a happy face that expresses confidence in everyone! Model normal human interaction, both at the mic and away from it. Make friends with them and introduce them to others, as you would with any new dancer. Not all deaf people speak ASL, but it's a good bet in the US and Canada. Organizers should know which regulars do.  It's worthwhile learning to fingerspell, which is quick and easy. Do it!

In many social situations, deaf people get ignored because hearing people think they can't communicate with them. If you both understand English, you have more communication pathways than with a hearing person who speaks only languages you don't. You can text with them, or type into an app and show each other the words.  You can even do that through a translation service.

Ok, how do deaf people dance?

You only need two kinds of information to dance a contra: the beat and the sequence of moves. There are TONS of cues to both.  

The beat is all around us.  You can feel the beat in your feet and body, especially when dancing on a sprung floor or if the venue has a subwoofer. As a hearing dancer, subwoofers are awesome!!!  Just don't overdo it on the sub.  

You can also SEE the beat. Most feet move to it, there are many upper-body cues as well, and there are eleven or more people nearby to pick it up from, visually.  Just as a blind person's senses of hearing and touch gain acuity in compensation for the lack of vision, so does a deaf person's ability to process peripheral vision and vibration felt in the body to gain information about the environment.  Deaf people move their heads more than hearing people do to scan the environment, too.

For the moves, experienced dancers easily jump on the end of the set after calling is done and get the sequence by looking at other dancers. Other dancers may help them with shouted calls, or may not.  We do the same when we're lost, looking at the neighboring minor sets or the next line.  Our partners and neighbors give helpful tugs and nudges. All of that is available to deaf dancers, as well.

For verbals, while an ASL-using caller could be helpful in the walkthrough, looking at the caller during the dance would be a disaster for anyone.  Instead, lipreading what a partner or neighbor says would be a better solution if verbals are involved at all.  There is a very limited dance vocabulary, which should help lipreading a great deal. If you're that neighbor or partner, just enunciate clearly, but don't exaggerate. And remember, to a deaf person, your face is your voice. Smile!

--jh--


On Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 1:35 PM Michael Barraclough via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
There have been lots of useful suggestions. I have never called contra dances for deaf people, but I have danced contra with blind people (they are amazing) and I have called barn dances for deaf people. Based on this I would suggest:
  1. Do not single the person out in any way
  2. Have a really heavy electric bass in your band(s). The vibrations will transmit through the floor and the deaf person should be able to "hear" them. This will give them the most consistent guide to where they are in a sequence.
  3. Consider having a large screen on stage where the dance card is projected

Michael Barraclough, Manchester (UK)
On 29/09/2023 13:43, Allison Jonjak via Contra Callers wrote:
I've been part of dance communities where blind dancers are easily accommodated (with claps during heys etc). Deafness seems like it will take extra brainstorming to make useful accommodation. (Not only because some deaf people lip read preferentially over sign language.) 

Is it possible to let a deaf dancer take a look at the caller's card before a dance is taught, to help orient a bit? 

Pardon brevity; sent by smartphone.


On Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 7:22 AM Mary Collins via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
We have not encountered this but I have friends who sign, having been teachers who worked with the deaf. Both dancers. I am going to talk with them about how this could work. 

I think signing during the dance would be problematic as the dancer would need to see the signer and that would take their attention away from the dance floor.

The caller surely would find it difficult as well. I used to sign well but lost some over the years; once had a group of deaf tourists ride in my tour carriage,  even signing, holding reins and being aware of traffic, tour sites and passengers was hugely difficult.

Having a trained -for- dance interpreter might just work for the walk through and occasional prompting.

Definitely looking into this.

Mary Collins
Near Buffalo NY

On Fri, Sep 29, 2023, 7:40 AM Allison and Hunt Smith via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
I recently had a conversation with a dear friend in NH, a long-time contra dancer, who has an adult daughter who is deaf (who lives in SF, CA if that helps). Daughter doesn't dance, because she can't hear the calls and gets confused on the dance floor. She wishes that, during walk-throughs, the calls could be signed as well as spoken. I'm writing to ask if any of you have encountered this request? AFAIK there are no deaf dancers in my community in the Maine highlands, but I'd be willing to learn some basic signs to go along with my teaching. I think it would be challenging to sign as I call once the dance gets started, though. 
Thoughts?

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