Blind or Deaf... Which would you choose?

"Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind and therefore is winged cupid painted blind" a midsummer night's dream

This is the quote that stoked the conversation which led to the following... I spent an hour being blind while Claudia Nobauer from Vancouver spent an hour being deaf, and then we swapped. Being Blind... Sucks in the real world! I was totally dependent upon my helper to get me around, I couldn't play pool (or most games for that matter), and eating was a challenge. But... Being Blind... Rocks in the dance world! I felt so much better blindfolded. I had better posture because I didn't have to look away from my partner to avoid the awkward stare moments and I was forced to really rely on my other senses to dance with my partner. Which made me realize how often I must rely on visual when I should be relying on feelings (just like I am always telling the follows in class)! Hmmm, I should take more of my own advice! Being Deaf... Not nearly as bad in the real world. I could still get around pretty easily. I could talk to people as long as they were looking at me, speaking slowly and gesturing. But... Being Deaf in the dance world SUCKS!!! This was frustrating. Partly because the closest thing to really being deaf was to play really loud music thru headphones to block out other noise. Try dancing to a nice slow bluesy song when you have Shout n Feel it racing thru your head. It's frustrating, however, it is something you can learn to block out. Being Deaf was mostly frustrating because I could not hear the melodies, phrasings, and mood changes in the songs. I could have someone tap out the beat on my shoulder, so I could be "on time" but it just didn't feel like dancing anymore.

Labels: blind, claudia, deaf, herrang

posted by Andrew Sutton @ 2:36 AM