Deaf performer draws crowds with inspiring dance routines
Cruz Lane shares music by signing, singing, dancing around Austin
Rachel Meador
Daily Texan Staff
Published: Monday, May 11, 2009
Cruz Lane turns up his iPod to near-maximum volume and shoves the
buds into his ears. Blaring Eamon’s “I Don’t Want You Back,”
one of several hip-hop songs he performs, the fit 19-year-old begins
dancing with Usher-like smoothness.
Lane’s moves, however, come with a twist: He’s pairing his
dancing with American Sign Language.
“The first thing you must do when you choose a song is read the
lyrics so you understand what it means,” Lane says of performing
songs as a deaf entertainer. “You feel the music by speaking the
words.”
Lane’s hearing began to fade at age 3. Now, when he doesn’t wear
his hearing aid, he hears what he describes as echoing sounds. He
moved to Austin from Greenville to attend the Texas School for the
Deaf at age 14, where his interest in dance and music began to
blossom.
Now, he performs around the city in groups or by himself, singing,
signing and dancing to popular music.
“A lot of deaf people come to me because they feel frustrated that
hearing people don’t think they can interact in listening activities
like signing and dancing,” Lane said. “I tell them the bottom
line: Just do it. They know that they know about music and love to
sing and dance, and if they show it — people will talk about it and
they will know too.”
UT deaf education and deafness studies junior Eve Robinson saw Lane
perform with a friend during class this semester and found the
experience inspiring and encouraging.
“A lot of hearing people just assume that deaf people live in a
silent world and they can’t experience music or sound, but that’s
not the case,” Robinson said. “It is an easy conclusion to make
that if you’re living in a silent world you’re missing out on a
lot of information and have a limited world view. But take Cruz for
example — just because he experiences music in a different way than
us doesn’t mean he has a lesser understanding of it. He breaks it
down on the floor.”
Last summer Lane was invited to New Orleans to compete at the
National Association of the Deaf Conference. Though his favorite genre
is R&B because it “inspires people to feel,” he performed a
routine to Taylor Swift’s “Do I Make You Proud,” which earned
him a place in the top five contenders.
Now he is working on a video with Pat Green, who watched him perform
and, after wiping the tears from his eyes, asked him to be a part of
his upcoming show and single.
“Sometimes people need some love,” Lane said of his routines.
“So I give it to them.”
In August, Lane will move to New York to attend the Rochester
Institute of Technology, one of two prominent deaf colleges, where he
will continue to pursue his goals and work toward a degree in music
performance.
“I love music and I love performing. I feel so relaxed,” Lane
said. “Not a lot of deaf people go down this path, so it means a lot
to me to make the Deaf community proud.”