Born deaf, but also born to dance

Profoundly deaf ballet dancer,
Nina Falaise, centre, aged 14
Photo: CLARA MOLDEN

From Telegraph:

"At the age of 10, Nina Falaise went to audition for the Royal Ballet School at their stunning studios in White Lodge, Richmond Park. She danced so brilliantly that the legendary Dame Ninette de Valois, the Royal Ballet’s founder, patted her on the head, gave her a smile, and told her: “You will go a long way.”

It was only when the young ballerina had her medical that the school realised she was deaf – and promptly failed her.

“I was absolutely devastated. It seemed to me that my dream of becoming a ballerina was doomed,” Falaise, now 55, recalls. Despite the unpromising start she went on to a dazzling career as a ballerina. Nowadays she’s determined to encourage more deaf people to get into dance.

“I feel that dance is one of the most natural things for deaf people, because deaf people are visual and more attuned to body movement,” she says.

What a woman. What a wonder. Valois was right, after all. I especially like Ms. Falaise's statement, later in the article, that a "vibration is an emotion."