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A Roanoke dancer's vision - a ballet for the deaf

Members of the Roanoke Ballet Theatre rehearse 'Poetry in Motion' at the RBT Studios in Roanoke.
Jeff Bossert/Radio IQ
Members of the Roanoke Ballet Theatre rehearse 'Poetry in Motion' at its studios in Roanoke. Through ASL, the position of the dancers means poetry or expression.

For the Roanoke arts community, this fiscal year is “Year of the Artist” a grant-based program that provides a little funding for new ideas.

One local dancer challenged himself, and after months of trial and error, has developed an evening of ballet for the deaf.

When given a chance to do something completely original, choreographer Will Smith says Ralph Vaughn Williams’ "Lark Ascending" - a song about a skylark - was hands down his top choice.

That piece, and the George Meredith poem that inspired it, will both play a role in a production called ‘Poetry in Motion." The performance is May 13 at The Trinkle Stage at Roanoke's Center in the Square.

Smith says there have been a few ballet performances elsewhere using American Sign Language, but likely not in the way he’s creating it.

“Nobody was actively trying to take one piece – a format of something – a poem, turning it into ASL, and then trying to figure out ‘how can we fit this in the vocabulary of ballet?" he said.

Smith’s pitch to the city of Roanoke netted a little over $3,000 in grant money to choreograph something of his own. A few years back, the seed was planted when watching a deaf interpreter in church.

“We (he and wife Caitlin) sat behind this deaf couple," he said. "And I thought it was amazing – they can interpret the singing. That is the part that always got me. And that’s how my mind eventually started down that road.”

Choreographer Will Smith works with the dancers in Poetry in Motion.
Jeff Bossert/Radio IQ
Choreographer Will Smith works with the dancers in Poetry in Motion.

But his initial plan of translating a poem to a choral work – and then to ASL – proved, as he explained it, ‘clunky.” Instead, Smith focused solely on the music, with a collaborator who best understood what a deaf audience needed.

Betsy Quillen, who’s interpreting the ASL for the production, lost her hearing at age 16.

“As my ears went away, my eyes picked up, and so I have ability to see things visually, and see the concepts being performed, knowing this movement alone from the body is so mimicking of this sign, because the concepts are the same,” she said. “ASL is a concept-based language. The signs themselves are based on the actual thing they are describing.”

The dancers include Caitlin Smith – who was concerned at first they would have to pause while dancing, and sign with their hands.

“In ballet, we have very specific vertebrae and very specific that we’re doing with our hands & fingers, and we sort of had to forget about that in order to make the signs happen," she said.

The production will also include some original music, inspired by the poem and Ralph Von Williams piece. Even Odson composed the music for a small choir.

“It’s broken into a few different chunks of the poem,” he explained. “I took the bits that inspired me the most – and due to the nature of the project, doing it on a neutral syllable, so as much of it could be communicated as possible.”

The first time this choir and dancers will work together - is this weekend’s dress rehearsal, and the end of a long process for Will Smith.

“I just want to get this in front of as many deaf eyes as possible – that’s my absolute goal with this," he said. As Smith explains, the very essence of dance is creating something that stays with the audience. He's anxious to see reactions to show.

“We’re you’re on stage performing, you’re giving everything of yourself to the audience," he said. "And as a choreographer, I just want to be able to do that one more time, and give something to somebody who couldn’t get it any other way.”

The Saturday performance will include a reading of the poem Lark Ascending, a new ballet entitled "Lark", choreographed by Smith, and a preview of a new movie about a deaf ballet dancer.

But there’s no letup in the schedule. When the dancers, including the Smiths, are not working on ‘Poetry in Motion’, they’ve been rehearsing for The Roanoke Ballet Theatre’s production of Giselle, scheduled for next month.

Jeff Bossert is Radio IQ's Morning Edition host.