Kevin Jewell and Deaf Men Dancing

Kevin Jewell, who joined the staff of the Legat School of Dance in September 2010, has been deaf since birth.

He became interested in dance at the age of six after seeing his sister in ballet class and he began copying the dancers. Eventually Kevin began ballet classes, and classes in Jazz, Latin and Contemporary dance, culminating in a BSc Sport Science and Dance degree at the University of Brighton. He joined Signdance Collective and FrontLine Dance Company after graduating, touring with the former to Austria, Slovenia and Italy.

Kevin’s teacher training began in 2006 and since then he has had posts in Kent, London and now Sussex. Alongside his teaching he has been working over the summer of 2010 with Mark Smith, who he met four years ago at the Komedia Arts Centre, Brighton, at the South East Deaf Arts festival where he performed his solo ‘Mis match’, which later represented England at the European Deaf Arts Festival in Paris.

Kevin’s work with Deaf Men Dancing is both exciting and engaging, having opened a door to something accessible and also relatable, taking the language of sign into the language of dance.

In the classroom Kevin has specific strategies to help him cope with the music and students being far away at times. He loves loud music that floods the body with rhythm. Vibrations through the floor are not always that practical so clear beats and accented music allow him to distinguish the mood of a piece.

The following article, Deaf Men Dancing, was written by Hannah Wheeler who may be contacted at www.hannahwheeler.co.uk. The article may also be found at www.londondance.com. The photographs of Deaf Men Dancing were taken by Rog Palmer.
We thank them both for permission to use their work on our website

Deaf Men Dancing

Q: What happens if you put 6 deaf men, with 6 different dance backgrounds, together in a rehearsal studio?

A: The result is an exciting fusion of contemporary, classical and commercial dance, incorporating sign language, into a rich and diverse movement vocabulary.

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