This Deaf Folk Dancing Group Has Amazing Moves

Think deaf people can't dance? This Mexican troupe will prove you wrong.

Transcript

00:00With saying that it's a deaf group, they think they don't dance, they think they don't look good,

00:07but when they see them on stage, it's another way of thinking about people.

00:14My mission is that my boys are recognized, not so much here in the state.

00:20I hope that at the national level, they see them dancing. That's what I want.

00:31The members are made up of two couples who have the disability of a deaf person,

00:39who are profoundly deaf, from 15 to 20 years old.

00:46More than anything, it's the schools that call us because they admire seeing the boys' work,

00:52and sometimes they don't think they're deaf, but when they look at them and see that they communicate,

00:59that they communicate in sign language, they are very surprised.

01:14It's been very difficult for me, because at first I didn't know anything about sign language.

01:23And to do some steps, I said, how am I going to teach them? How do I teach them if I don't know?

01:29And I asked them to teach me, and there are some things that are still difficult for me.

01:38That everyone coordinates and goes according to the music. It's very difficult.

01:54There are many deaf people here in Oaxaca, but they don't get the support that they should get.

02:03Very few are supported by their parents, and many don't receive any support.

02:15In itself, there is no support from any institution or something that opens up a space for them to present themselves.

02:30There are many people who dance it, but they are people of the third age, people who are already old,

02:35and there are young people who don't like it.

02:38They don't like it, but when they start dancing it, they start getting into the dance.

02:45At least here in Oaxaca, we are very traditionalists in our dances, and it is to preserve it.

02:53Because in several places, the boys are no longer interested in what dance is,

03:00and we are going to try to rescue it so that they continue, generation after generation,

03:05dancing and preserving it.

03:07For me, the most gratifying thing is to see the work of the boys put on stage,

03:14and that the group is recognized, and that the public likes what the boys dance,

03:21and that they are applauded.

03:23That, for me, is very gratifying, personally. It's a challenge, and it's very gratifying.

03:31I would like other people to know what deaf boys, deaf people, can and know how to do.

03:39Not just artistically, there are countless things they can do.