One-of-a-kind dance camp for the deaf
San Antonio.- Students learn the moves to one of 15 different dances they will perform as part of the San Antonio Deaf Dance Company Summer Dance Camp.
You don’t have to hear the music in order to learn to dance. The San Antonio Deaf Dance Company Summer Dance Camp is proof of that, plus so much more.
For 17 years the SADDC camp has provided a unique and personal learning experience for students in San Antonio as the only dance company of its kind for the deaf and hard of hearing.
The month long camp serves 40 students, 5th to 12th grade, from various school districts in and around San Antonio, along with the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin. The guest choreographers teach the kids 15 different dances with hip hop, jazz, African dance, sign lyrical, and skits, which they will perform in August.
“When I was a student at Gallaudet University I was a part of the Gallaudet Dance Company. When we graduated, a lot of the students who were with me, some of the men went on to form their own troop called The Wild Tappers,” Carol Ann Broderson, director of SADDC, explained. “They were an all male troupe that was really popular in the late 90s to 2000s. When I moved here I noticed that the kids weren’t involved. They had no self esteem. Almost none of the kids went to any kind of college programs, but they all loved and knew about The Wild Tappers. They just worshipped the ground they walked on.”
“So I asked the school district if they would be willing to provide some money to bring them down to work with our kids,” Broderson said. “And they did, and from there on it just exploded. Now it’s a four week program that’s held in the summer, and it’s almost all supported by the Northside Independent School District, but we did get two grants from the Office of Cultural Affairs and San Antonio Area Foundation.”
The dance company has gained a lot of publicity over the years, which has really helped in finding choreographers.
“Our name has just gotten out there, and people would contact me and say, hey I’m a choreographer, I’m a dancer or I’m an actor, and then I would say okay, I’ll hire them,” Broderson said. “Even the big names like Marlee Matlin and all them, they know about this program, because it’s the only one of its kind in the world. There’s no other program like this.”
Broderson herself is deaf, and the majority of the staff is deaf and hard of hearing as well.
While all of the students are hearing impaired, this doesn’t stop them from learning to dance along to the music. When the music is played loud enough, they can feel and dance to the beat of the songs.
“Most of them follow the beat but people don’t understand it’s also the count; everything by eight, everything by the count of eight. When they first start the dance they count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and then as they memorize it we take that away. They have to do it in their head,” Broderson explained. “For all of these kids this is probably the one and only time they’ve learned how to dance, or been in extracurricular activities, because most of these kids do not have the opportunity because of transportation and all that stuff. Or they have to rely on interpreters. And that’s the neat thing about this. It was founded, it was created by a deaf person and almost all the staff here are deaf and it’s just so deaf oriented. And that’s what’s so unique about it, because these kids do not have to depend on a third person. For the first time it’s full access to them.”
Best friends Dominique Jimenez and Viviana Plata are two such students who benefitted from the camp. While they are now both college age, they have come back for the past few years to volunteer.
“In 5th grade [Carol Ann] came up to me – she was my deaf councilor – and she said come to this camp, you’ll enjoy it. I already had a bad experience with another camp, but I loved it,” Jimenez said.
“This is the only camp I would come to,” Jimenez added. “I went to volleyball camp, basketball camp, and I just couldn’t understand anybody. So this is the only camp where I feel welcome. That’s why I like to come here.”
Before coming to SADDC, Jimenez didn’t know any sign language, but she quickly picked it up.
“This is the first time they have deaf interaction,” Broderson said. “Most of them are the only [deaf] student in the class all day just with an interpreter. And here it’s just like constant and so they learn other uses of sign language. Some people may use different signs for the same word. It’s just a feeling of camaraderie. It’s like oh, these are my people. I’ve had a student in the past run up on stage and say, these are my people.”
“You feel more involved with everything because everyone is the same as you are,” Plata said. “It’s nice to see everybody get together. And these kids don’t have a lot of kids to hang out with at school, so during the summer they look forward to coming so they meet more people outside of the Northside district.”
“My favorite part [about the camp] is dancing, and especially getting to know the dance artists, because they show you that you can grow and do something more than just sitting there, even though you’re deaf,” she added. “They’re out there, they’re travelling, they’re deaf, and some of them are actors in like CSI. It inspires you to do more.”
Students apply to the program through the applications Broderson sends out to the various school districts. Applicants must be independent and have some sort of hearing impediment. Broderson usually accepts the first 40 applicants.
On August 2 at 7 p.m., the students will have a final performance at Warren High School that is open and free to the public. However, donations are accepted.
Among the ten largest cities in the U.S., San Antonio is the only one with ‘AAA’ ratings from all three major rating services.
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