September-October 2001

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
	Audience Raves Over Students’ Performance
	By Penny Leigh, South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind
	Send your prose, poetry, and art to World Around You’s Student Page. Send to: World Around You, #6 KDES, Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20002-3695; Cathryn.Carroll@gallaudet.edu.

On stage the two young couples, dressed in ’50s garb, dance to the fast-paced strains of “Rockin’ Robin.” They turn, twirl, clap, and do the hand jive with one another—and they never miss a beat.

Manual Transmission performers at their school’s Halloween festival.

In the audience, the teens rock to the music.

“I love this song,” one teen calls out from her seat. Other students clap and jump up to dance with the performers. They cheer when the song is over. The couples take their bows.

The students in the audience are hearing and they can’t believe the talented dancers on stage are deaf. The students, part of Manual Transmission, a performing troupe from the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind (SCSDB), range in age from eight to 17 years old. They dance and sign songs. All of the students are from SCSDB’s school for multi-handicapped deaf students.

Manual Transmission after a successful performance.

In the four years since the group formed, word of their talent has spread.
“Last year we did 12 performances and this year we’ll probably do about 20,” SCSDB teacher and Manual Transmission director Chip Walters said last spring.

Chris Fowler, a member of the group since it began. said his favorite act is his solo.

“Practicing is the hardest thing,” Fowler said. “You have to it again and again to get it right.”

Manual Transmission Performers on the floor of their state’s House of Representatives.

Kenneth Johnson, another member of the group, said traveling is the best part of performing. “I love going away and going on field trips,” he said.

The students performed at the state legislature and were a big hit with South Carolina lawmakers. They were also a big hit at the state fair. They travel around the state to bookings in schools, nursing homes, churches, and community clubs.

“The fair was the best,” Johnson said.

The performers have a costume to go with every act. They get decked out in cowboy hats and boots for “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and change to flowered shirts, straw hats, and leis for their reggae number “Jamaica.” Audience favorites include “Surfin’ USA” and “Jailhouse Rock.”

SCSDB uses the public school performances as a chance to educate others about the deaf culture. Between acts at a recent school show, SCSDB teacher Kim Speer taught the hearing audience how to count from one to 10 in American Sign Language and demonstrated the finger alphabet.

		They were also a big hit at the state fair. They travel around the state to bookings in schools, nursing homes, churches, and community clubs.