Miss-Delectable
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Six-year-old Julie Spigner sat before the TV set in 1995 watching the broadcast of the Miss America pageant.
As one of the contestants danced a ballet, Julie noticed the young woman was wearing a hearing aid. The girl turned excitedly toward her mother.
"Deaf, deaf, same as me," she said.
"That was the first time she had seen a deaf person dance," recalls her mother, Sherri Spigner.
A decade later, Julie Spigner, along with fellow Lakeland resident Rachel Reeves, follows the example of Heather Whitestone, Miss America for 1995. Spigner and Reeves are members of The Dance Troupe at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, where both are juniors.
The troupe travels the state, performing for schools, veterans groups and civic organizations.
Like some other members of the dance crew, Reeves, 17, and Spigner, 16, have limited hearing.
The Dance Troupe at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind (FSDB) has been around for 35 years, according to Cheryl Johnson, the troupe's director. Johnson says the squad includes boys and girls, some profoundly deaf and others with partial hearing. The dancers experience the accompanying music on different levels.
"Some kids will only know there is something else as distinguished from no noise," Johnson says. "Others have good enough hearing with amplification to pick up the music but not the words, and some can pick up the words."
Johnson says the completely deaf students follow her cues to remain in rhythm.
Julie Spigner, after drawing inspiration a decade ago from the Miss America contest, begged her mother to let her take dance lessons. Sherri Spigner had difficulty finding a dance school that would enroll a deaf student.
The Carol Grayson School of Dance in Lakeland welcomed Julie, and she took lessons there for the next nine years. She also played drums in the band at Southwest Middle School.
Though she's not fully deaf, Spigner struggles to process music. She must study printed lyrics and listen intently to a song several times before can recognize the vocals against the aural backdrop.
"When Julie listens to music, it's a tedious process for her," Sherri Spigner says.
But Spigner has learned to enjoy music, even attending some concerts.
Last summer, she and her mother saw country singer Kenny Chesney perform at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. The arena, in a service it provides to the hearing-impaired, arranged for her to sit near the stage and provided two interpreters to relay the lyrics in sign language.
By contrast, Reeves has never been able to draw much pleasure from music. But she soaks up the camaraderie that comes with being part of an ensemble.
The troupe dances to a variety of music, including 1950s raveups and a song called, "I Hear Your Hands," in which the dancers broadcast the lyrics in sign language.
"I feel like I'm sharing part of myself with the audience," Spigner says.
Six-year-old Julie Spigner sat before the TV set in 1995 watching the broadcast of the Miss America pageant.
As one of the contestants danced a ballet, Julie noticed the young woman was wearing a hearing aid. The girl turned excitedly toward her mother.
"Deaf, deaf, same as me," she said.
"That was the first time she had seen a deaf person dance," recalls her mother, Sherri Spigner.
A decade later, Julie Spigner, along with fellow Lakeland resident Rachel Reeves, follows the example of Heather Whitestone, Miss America for 1995. Spigner and Reeves are members of The Dance Troupe at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, where both are juniors.
The troupe travels the state, performing for schools, veterans groups and civic organizations.
Like some other members of the dance crew, Reeves, 17, and Spigner, 16, have limited hearing.
The Dance Troupe at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind (FSDB) has been around for 35 years, according to Cheryl Johnson, the troupe's director. Johnson says the squad includes boys and girls, some profoundly deaf and others with partial hearing. The dancers experience the accompanying music on different levels.
"Some kids will only know there is something else as distinguished from no noise," Johnson says. "Others have good enough hearing with amplification to pick up the music but not the words, and some can pick up the words."
Johnson says the completely deaf students follow her cues to remain in rhythm.
Julie Spigner, after drawing inspiration a decade ago from the Miss America contest, begged her mother to let her take dance lessons. Sherri Spigner had difficulty finding a dance school that would enroll a deaf student.
The Carol Grayson School of Dance in Lakeland welcomed Julie, and she took lessons there for the next nine years. She also played drums in the band at Southwest Middle School.
Though she's not fully deaf, Spigner struggles to process music. She must study printed lyrics and listen intently to a song several times before can recognize the vocals against the aural backdrop.
"When Julie listens to music, it's a tedious process for her," Sherri Spigner says.
But Spigner has learned to enjoy music, even attending some concerts.
Last summer, she and her mother saw country singer Kenny Chesney perform at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. The arena, in a service it provides to the hearing-impaired, arranged for her to sit near the stage and provided two interpreters to relay the lyrics in sign language.
By contrast, Reeves has never been able to draw much pleasure from music. But she soaks up the camaraderie that comes with being part of an ensemble.
The troupe dances to a variety of music, including 1950s raveups and a song called, "I Hear Your Hands," in which the dancers broadcast the lyrics in sign language.
"I feel like I'm sharing part of myself with the audience," Spigner says.
