Miss-Delectable
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Born to dance | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
As slow music plays, 16-year-old Annette Tavernese moves gracefully across the studio at Jackson Dance Center.
Her muscular legs carry her in fluid backward or forward steps. Her back arches, her head falls back, her arms float.
The 5-foot-1-inch, 114-pound teen has danced since she was 5: ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary and more.
"I don't have any extra qualifications to teach the deaf. We don't use an interpreter, and I don't know sign language. We just welcome everyone," Pawluk says.
"A lot of times, I turn the music up so they can get it or I write the lyrics down so they can follow. But I often forget Annette doesn't hear, and with Stephanie, the same thing. They have to remind me if I'm talking too fast or not looking at them," Biedermann says.
"Annette doesn't see being deaf as an obstacle. Her biggest obstacle is conquering the triple pirouette, a turn," Pawluk says.
"Angela and Aimee have been a big factor in the person Annette is now. They treat her like every other kid. They've given her such confidence," Tavernese says.
"Annette's our most enthusiastic student. She's the one to keep trying until she gets it exactly as she wants it to be," Biedermann says.
"She's very driven, extremely hard working," Pawluk says.
"She's been like that her whole life, even when she was learning to tie her shoes. Nothing stands in her way. Annette is fearless," Tavernese says.
Annette was diagnosed as deaf at 10 months old, but hearing aids at age 1 didn't help, adds Tavernese, an administrative assistant at a doctor's office.
"She went to a little transistor in a harness with hearing aids. She hated it. She was about 2. Nothing was helping. Her audiologist said to think about a cochlear implant," she says. "It took me a long time to decide. I read books, articles. I read about the deaf culture. The cochlear implant is not accepted by a lot of the deaf community... I had to do the best for her, and to me, the best for her was helping her to hear."
A cochlear implant has an external part behind the ear and a part implanted under the skin on the head. Unlike hearing aids, which make sounds louder, the implant stimulates the auditory nerve, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders in Bethesda, Md.
Annette had the surgery at 3. When the implant was first turned on, she cried because the sounds startled her, her mom says.
"With it, I hear pretty much what I need to hear. Without it, I hear nothing at all,"
Annette says.
"'Even though she can hear quite well, she does miss a few things. She must have been 4 when it all started coming together, the hearing and speaking. Then it snowballed," Tavernese says, smiling at her daughter. "I think back to thinking she'd never talk, and now!"
"I'm a happy person, and I see the positive things about being deaf. I have deaf friends and hearing friends," Annette says. "Every person has something different about them. I'm deaf, and that's what's different about me. Being deaf doesn't make me what I am. It's a part of who I am."
As slow music plays, 16-year-old Annette Tavernese moves gracefully across the studio at Jackson Dance Center.
Her muscular legs carry her in fluid backward or forward steps. Her back arches, her head falls back, her arms float.
The 5-foot-1-inch, 114-pound teen has danced since she was 5: ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, contemporary and more.
"I don't have any extra qualifications to teach the deaf. We don't use an interpreter, and I don't know sign language. We just welcome everyone," Pawluk says.
"A lot of times, I turn the music up so they can get it or I write the lyrics down so they can follow. But I often forget Annette doesn't hear, and with Stephanie, the same thing. They have to remind me if I'm talking too fast or not looking at them," Biedermann says.
"Annette doesn't see being deaf as an obstacle. Her biggest obstacle is conquering the triple pirouette, a turn," Pawluk says.
"Angela and Aimee have been a big factor in the person Annette is now. They treat her like every other kid. They've given her such confidence," Tavernese says.
"Annette's our most enthusiastic student. She's the one to keep trying until she gets it exactly as she wants it to be," Biedermann says.
"She's very driven, extremely hard working," Pawluk says.
"She's been like that her whole life, even when she was learning to tie her shoes. Nothing stands in her way. Annette is fearless," Tavernese says.
Annette was diagnosed as deaf at 10 months old, but hearing aids at age 1 didn't help, adds Tavernese, an administrative assistant at a doctor's office.
"She went to a little transistor in a harness with hearing aids. She hated it. She was about 2. Nothing was helping. Her audiologist said to think about a cochlear implant," she says. "It took me a long time to decide. I read books, articles. I read about the deaf culture. The cochlear implant is not accepted by a lot of the deaf community... I had to do the best for her, and to me, the best for her was helping her to hear."
A cochlear implant has an external part behind the ear and a part implanted under the skin on the head. Unlike hearing aids, which make sounds louder, the implant stimulates the auditory nerve, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders in Bethesda, Md.
Annette had the surgery at 3. When the implant was first turned on, she cried because the sounds startled her, her mom says.
"With it, I hear pretty much what I need to hear. Without it, I hear nothing at all,"
Annette says.
"'Even though she can hear quite well, she does miss a few things. She must have been 4 when it all started coming together, the hearing and speaking. Then it snowballed," Tavernese says, smiling at her daughter. "I think back to thinking she'd never talk, and now!"
"I'm a happy person, and I see the positive things about being deaf. I have deaf friends and hearing friends," Annette says. "Every person has something different about them. I'm deaf, and that's what's different about me. Being deaf doesn't make me what I am. It's a part of who I am."