Deaf dancer Billy Read tells us about his career in dance and his company Def Motion

Eleven years ago, Billy Read approached me about setting up an all deaf dance group to deliver Michael Jackson style dance performances. At the time I had been touring with my own company, RAW Dance, which performed dance and sign song pieces across the UK and Billy started coming to my classes.

Billy and I discussed setting up an exclusive all deaf group of strong performers and so we put some feelers out and a group of us came together from across the UK and formed Def Motion. Our debut performances took place at Wolverhampton’s Deaf Film Festival, Deaffest and the response was overwhelmingly positive.

The original Def Motion crew was made up of Billy, myself, Chris Fonseca, William Johnson, Nathan Read and Semhar Beyene. Later on we were joined by Emma Withey, Mhairi Simpson and Donna Mullings too.

Def Motion performed live at various events across the UK and we were even invited to be a supporting act for Finnish rap artist Signmark when he headlined in London.

As the years went by the group drifted apart but frontman, Billy Read has taken Def Motion from strength to strength and worked across the globe, partnering up with Ariel Fung, a talented deaf dancer from Hong Kong. I caught up with Billy to reflect on the last decade and find out what he’s been up to since!

So, Billy, can you tell us what your exposure to dance was like growing up?

I actually had no introduction to dance when I was growing up. My first exposure to dance was later on in secondary school when I discovered Michael Jackson’s music; I was blown away by the iconic dance moves and the illusions and tricks that he did on stage. I started collecting his music at that point and began studying all his videos which really inspired me.

Following that, I had a brief stint in your company RAW Dance which was the first time I ever took part in a dance performance to an audience. I enjoyed working in your company and was excited when we began to discuss the potential of an all-Deaf dance crew doing MJ-inspired dances, which eventually led to the formation of Def Motion.

Do your family dance? What were their thoughts on you going into dance? 

Not as far as I know. They seemed surprised although they did come to watch a couple of times.

How did you eventually train in dance and what made you move into this? 

At the start it was more of a hobby but after a few years I began to realise the potential of performing art and teaching dance as a career. So I tried out mainstream classes in street dance and urban dance genres as I enjoyed these.

I also took up an NATD dance teaching course for a professional teaching qualification. I was doing all this at the same time as performing and teaching my own classes.

What inspired you to form your own dance crew?

The idea was brewing for a while and the opportunity finally arose when Deaffest got in touch about getting a fresh new group ready for their show in May 2011. I had four months to prepare something.

I loved the idea of an all-Deaf, MJ-inspired dance troupe and since I was an MJ impersonator with no other dance experience, I played to my strengths by using what I knew and teaching it to the group. I also had your support (Rebecca), being the only dancer with professional training and experience in the group, which was really useful.

What sort of things have you been up to with Def Motion over the years? 

So much has happened over the years – the original team has since gone separate ways but the name Def Motion has stayed, there’s been new faces and many collaborative artists (Deaf and hearing), however most of the performance projects have been solo and duo collaborations.

 I’ve also been very fortunate to travel the world and teach or perform at events in places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, India, the USA and all over Europe.

Even after all these years, it’s still really difficult to put together an all-Deaf dance group, not only because of the challenges of getting availability and the costs involved, but also the fact that there are stillnot that many Deaf dancers actively working in dance in the UK.

Has Def Motion changed in style / aim? Can you tell us more about these changes or how it’s evolved?

It’s much more flexible these days in the types of performances we do – such as different dance styles and not so much MJ-themed anymore.

Another thing we do is infusion of different art forms – dance with theatre, sign language, visual vernacular. One of my aims is to combine dance with VV as it’s something I’ve never seen before.

What sorts of dances have you trained in? What are your favourites and why?

I have explored styles such as contemporary, hip hop, popping, tutting, footwork and locking. My favourite is popping and tutting, I feel these styles match me well and are great for story-telling too. Krump is a popular style in hip hop and it’s extremely aggressive in appearance, I’ve tried it and it’s something I’d love to master although it’s quite difficult.

How important do you think dance is for young deaf people? What has your experience been like working with young deaf dancers?

I’ve been really lucky to teach a lot of young Deaf people in schools and colleges around the country, providing them with workshops and week-long residencies, and I used to do regular zoom classes with schools in 2020-2021.

One of the best things about teaching young Deaf people is seeing the joy and inspiration in them as they learn and engage with a Deaf role model like myself. I feel this is really important also because many of these Deaf kids come from hearing families where they are very isolated at home – not being able to have a simple conversation with their parents and siblings simply because their families don’t sign. Having been through that myself I’m aware of how lonely the experience is.

Plus, bringing out the confidence in young people is really important – I’ve had staff from SEN schools tell me how surprised they were that some of their most painfully-shy pupils were able to find confidence within themselves for the first time ever after my team and I had worked with them.

 

How have you overcome any barriers into dance as a deaf person? 

One of my strengths as a dancer is my early experience of music – I used to play drums in the school band. This has been invaluable in dance as I’m able to memorise the structure of music for dance performance, so I know where every movement fits into a piece.

When working with hearing professionals I always have a BSL interpreter with me. It’s really important because it means hearing artists can employ me to work on their projects, and also I can employ hearing artists in my projects which are always Deaf-led.

How do you get around these barriers when working with students who don’t hear music at all? 

When performing with music I rely on visual cues, for example I always count in (5, 6, 7, 8) on one hand to signal the start of a movement piece. Most of the time I won’t play any music, I just teach the routine broken down into parts, I go through each part slowly and repetitively so it’s memorised, then I speed it up when everyone’s confident.

 Rhythm is also important – it’s basically creating our own access to music without hearing it, so once rhythm is established, the music doesn’t matter.

What are your career ambitions? 

I am still keen to continue teaching dance and doing outdoor performances although I’d like to return to indoor performances when things return to normal. I have a good relationship with a lot of schools and organisations which I hope to keep up over time.

With regards to performing, I’d like to continue developing my current projects including some personal projects which tell stories about growing up Deaf in a hearing world.

Looking back over the last ten years, can you tell us about the highs and lows you’ve had?

The whole experience has been surreal in a sense as I never expected it. One of my favourite highlights was being part of an Erasmus+ funded project from 2014-2018, when I was a dance facilitator teaching young people in Bosnia, Serbia, Italy and the UK, and despite being the only Deaf person in the whole project, my colleagues and students were incredibly friendly and supportive which boosted my confidence.

The lows I’ve had include the stresses that come with preparing for a show, and also the frustration of not being able to find more local Deaf dancers able to actively tour as a team.

I’ve always been able to find hearing dancers, but it’s something special when a show is made up completely of Deaf dancers, led by Deaf dancers in all aspects (including direction, music, choreography etc.) because people wonder, how do these Deaf dancers perform in sync to the music? Especially when there are no hearing people involved for support.

I think the fact I had an all-Deaf dance crew at the beginning, readily available and committed to shows for the first two years, was an achievement in itself, and I’m really pleased that dream became a reality.

What’s next for you, anything in the pipeline you can share with us? 

I am currently still touring my show: Forbidden Identity, which is based on mine and my brother’s childhood experiences of growing up in a hearing family.

 I am also developing a brand new show called Cog In The Wheel, which shines a light on the hidden world of modern slavery in smartphone factories, and the dilemma that Deaf people face due to their reliance on smart phone technology for video calls. The show will begin touring in summer 2023.

Billy Read is a profoundly deaf performing artist and dance teacher.

You can follow Billy and Def Motion here:

twitter: @DefMotion

instagram: @DefMotion

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DefMotion