2022 May
““I was always being asked if I was the only deaf dancer. I knew there were others, but we didn’t talk about it. I thought: what happens if I put them all together?
Brighton-based choreographer Mark Smith was 4 years old before he was diagnosed as deaf. He had not spoken to that point but was a quick learner thanks to speech therapy. Through very cumbersome hearing aids, he was able to hear a piano and also decided to take up dancing: “two new experiences for me”, he told me.
” It was a way to express myself”, he added. After attending an all-deaf primary school he went to a regular comprehensive, where he joined 9 other pupils some of the time in a partially hearing unit, where sign language was banned.” It was to make us speak. I carried on with the dancing and was successful on getting into the Royal Ballet School as a Junior Associate. There were 100 kids and I was the only deaf boy”. Click here to read more