Rebecca A Withey: How has Strictly’s Giovanni adapted to teaching deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis?

Ever since it began back in 2004, I’ve watched every single episode of Strictly Come Dancing without fail.

I’ve seen the professionals come and go and I’ve certainly had my favourites in terms of their choreographic skills and overall charisma. I was gutted when Brendan Cole left, I must say.

So when deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis was partnered up with Giovanni Pernice for this years series, I was intrigued as to how the pro dancer would embrace this new challenge.

I knew Rose would be fine. Deaf people tend to have lifelong experiences of adapting to new situations and working hard to be understood, so I knew that Rose would take the Strictly challenge all in her stride.

The biggest hurdle, from my perspective, was how her hearing non-signing dance teacher would overcome his own assumptions about deafness and dance and approach working with her.

Now we are currently in week seven of Strictly and I could not be happier with how Giovanni has adapted and grown as a teacher in order to get the best out of Rose’s performances.

I was a little concerned to begin with. When the opening show aired back in September and all of the celebrities took part in a group dance, the newness of Giovanni and Rose’s partnership was evident.

Giovanni had his hand on Rose’s shoulder as they strutted onto the dance-floor rhythmically and they counted aloud for several weeks during performances to keep each other in unison.

These methods – of physical touch and counting aloud – work to a degree but shouldn’t be the sole methods used when training a deaf dancer.

You cannot always be in physical contact to remain in sync and constantly counting detracts from the facial expression and emotion you’re trying to portray.

Giovanni described in a recent interview how he’s realised Rose learns routines through muscle memory. They rehearse a sequence so often it becomes ingrained in Rose’s body and she is then able to repeat it easily without an audible musical cue.

This ability to use kinaesthetic memory is what anyone who doesn’t have access to sound uses when they dance. It’s why most of us can reenact the moves to the Macarena in time without hearing the music! Yet this skill is just a stepping stone to the real magic that Giovanni has discovered with Rose.

This ‘special thing’ influences both the timing and performance level of a dance. In last Saturday’s Tango – which got them the earliest score of 40 in the history of Strictly(!!!) – I knew that Giovanni had found the key to teaching his deaf student and I could’ve cried with glee.

It’s all about connection.

As Rose and Giovanni began their Tango at a distance from each other, their eyes remained transfixed on one another. As anyone who communicates with a deaf person will know, eye contact is vital and a deaf person can read so many cues from you just using their eyes.

Also, the act of lipreading and having to focus on being understood constantly is also so much more intense than a typical interaction between two people easily sharing the same language.

This intimacy and time spent together explains why Rose and Giovanni bonded quickly and have such natural chemistry.

Their connection to each other is solid and this is paramount to a good dance partnership.

Giovanni’s solo performance in the Tango was notably impressive too – the best I’ve ever seen him dance. The musical accents were pronounced through his actions and the intensity of the music poured from his body. I could ‘hear’ the music through his movements.

Giovanni is using his own connection to the song to create choreography that emphasises the musical dynamics and this works superbly for Rose to see and feel the rhythm!

Throughout the routine Giovanni emphasised every step, tap and placement and this power managed to keep Rose in time musically and also ramp up her performance energy in order to get those marvellous 10’s from the judges.

Rose fed off Giovanni’s energy and reciprocated it effortlessly. It was Giovanni’s clever use of choreography and his clear performance style that communicated the essence of the music to Rose and connected her perfectly to the song.

I can really see how Giovanni is evolving as a teacher and choreographer and the results of his methods – along with Rose’s hard work and talent – are evident with the fantastic scores they are getting.

Giovanni isn’t working in spite of Rose’s deafness, he’s working with her ability to receive visual, physical and energetic cues from the environment around her. He uses this to her advantage by choreographing dynamic routines and maintaining a close level of trust between the two of them.

Prior to Strictly, there was a widely known misconception that deaf people can’t dance but as Rose is demonstrating, that is clearly not true. Given the right environment with the best tools and teachers, deaf people actually can do anything at all.

I am certain that Giovanni is learning just as much from this years competition as Rose is, and I hope to see the world of dance teachers take heed of the brilliant adaptability that Giovanni is showing with Rose.

Now, go get that glitterball Rose and Giovanni! We are all behind you.

Rebecca Anne Withey is a freelance writer, performing artist and consultant. She is also profoundly deaf, a sign language user and pretty great lipreader. She writes on varied topics close to her heart in the hope that they may serve to inspire others.

Images courtesy of Digital Spy.