Deaf Coloradans Regain Confidence Thanks To Dance Studio
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (CBS4) - Music helps fill in the empty spaces in our lives. If we like a song enough, we might just get up and dance.
"That beat is within us all. We just believe everyone should be able to dance," said Julia Faliano. She is the co-founder of "Feel The Beat," a dance studio in Wheat Ridge for deaf and hard-of-hearing kids.
Kids like Madison Dewoody takes dance classes at Feel The Beat. On Saturday, the nonprofit celebrated its 2nd anniversary.
Madison thinks it's made her a better dancer.
"Yes, tremendously."
That's because there, she can hear the music and feel the beat better than anywhere else.
Madison is hard of hearing and Feel The Beat has a dance floor that uses bone conduction technology to help their students hear the music.
"Our students who have a middle ear hearing loss are able to circumvent the deficit part of their hearing so that this music playing from the floor is something that they can hear through their auditory system," Faliano said.
It's a technology Jari Majewski and Faliano developed themselves. They were inspired by students they teach in a classroom.
"Our own students who are in our deaf and hard-of-hearing classroom had bone conduction hearing aids and so we tried to recreate that idea," said Faliano.
Madison could hear music already, but she says now she can feel the rhythm. Her mom Karen says learning to dance at Feel The Beat has transformed her daughter.
"The more that she learns that she can do it, the more confident she becomes. So, that just spills over to every part of her life," said Karen. "This has been a blessing."
Feel The Beat is still developing tools to bring deaf people music. They've recently developed a portable floor so they can bring the music and dance to people who can't make it to their studio.
If you want to get involved with Feel The Beat or donate to their mission visit: feelthebeat.dance/
