Dancing With The Stars Season 6 Day 7 - Marlee & Fabian

I can't believe Marlee is eliminated from "Dancing With The Stars" last Tuesday night. I was disappointed but I am okay. She worked hard.

However, I saw Marlee dancing with Fabian on "Live With Regis and Kelly" on TV this morning. Their dance on that TV morning show was wonderful. Marlee and Fabian wore a pair of jeans. She looks beautiful with a bright, highlight long hair.

Here is a video below:

Hallmark Hall Of Fame - "Sweet Nothing In My Ear" That Marlee Maltin Starred In

Did u watch "Sweet Nothing In My Ear" on TV movie last night? I did. Wow, that TV movie was so good. Marlee Maltin played a deaf teacher and mother and Jeff Daniels played a hearing father and an employee at a car shop office. This TV movie is story about both hearing husband and deaf wife making a hard decision on their son, Adam. They have been discussing an issue of cochlear implants but disagreeing about it each other.

If u missed watching this TV movie last night, DVD will be available for purchase after May 15 at ur local Hallmark Gold Crown store. Also, if u can't afford it, I am suggesting u would wanting to go to either the library or Blockbuster.

See the Link Tab of it on this page, please.

Dancing With The Stars Season 6 Day 6 - Marlee & Fabian

I am so glad that Marlee and Fabian are saved for another next week. Whew! Congratulations on them! The kind of their dance is Samba. Marlee said in a sign language that Samba is the hardest dance she've ever had with Fabian. I noticed that on TV show last Monday night. Whoa! I agreed with her. Here is a video below. Enjoy!

Dancing With The Stars Season 6 Day 5 - Marlee & Fabian

Go, Marlee! Yay! Yay! The kind of dance is Viennese Waltz. Oh, what a beautiful dance! How romantic! Marlee's dress looks so stunning. Congratulations on Marlee & Fabian being saved for next week. Here is a video below:

Dancing With The Stars Season 6 Day 4 - Marlee & Fabian

The kind of dance that stars had to do a different last Monday night is a jive. So, I just found out Marlee and Fabian were first to do dancing on the show that night. Wonderful. I enjoyed watching it during the dancing segment. I am so proud of Marlee and Fabian. They worked hard and are overcome. Last Tuesday night on TV, I just learned both Marlee and Fabian are saved. It means they are going to stay at the dance show for another week. Yay, that's good news! I can't wait to see them again next Monday night!

Deaf Times: Marlee Matlin Dances to Her Own Beat

Here is another article online from Deaf Times below.  Marlee discussed the dancing show.  She's enjoying it.  It's fun. 

From the newsroom of the ABC News, Monday, March 24, 2008 .....

Deaf Actress Proves You Don't Need Hearing to Listen to the Rhythm

Actress Marlee Matlin wowed the crowd last Tuesday when she trotted to the beat on "Dancing with the Stars" despite her hearing disability. (ABC)

While Marlee Matlin cha cha cha-ed her way into fans' hearts as the sentimental favorite on last week's "Dancing With the Stars" season premiere, many wondered how the deaf actress was able to maintain the beat and stay in perfect step with her partner Fabian Sanchez.

"Fabian is my music. Fabian, as the man, takes the lead," Matlin said. "He also is my music where I just go with him. I look at him and follow him, as if he's my music, as if he would hear it and try to do it right. It's as simple as that."
Rumors suggest Matlin and Sanchez use secret cues to communicate on the dance floor.
"I'm touching her, and I [communicate the rhythm to] her through my movement. There are no signals here," Sanchez said.
Making sure Matlin has all the right moves isn't a simple task for the 42-year-old mother of four who describes herself as profoundly deaf.
"Without hearing aids, I'm stone deaf. I hear absolutely nothing," she said.

Still, she enjoyed performing for the millions of viewers.
"It was a great feeling. It was fun and it was a total natural high," Matlin said.
Even if Matlin doesn't take home the glittering mirror ball trophy at season's end, she already has proved her hearing disability doesn't limit her aspirations.
Matlin lost her hearing at 18-months-old after a bout with the virus roseola, and has never let her silent world limit her. As a result, she netted a best actress Oscar at age 21 for 1987's "Children of a Lesser God. "

Inspiring the Next Generation

The fact that the actress, who is currently a regular on Showtime's "The L Word," has been able to accomplish so much came as no surprise to second-graders in Gallaudet University's elementary and secondary programs in Washington, D.C.
There, Matlin has served as an inspiration for hard of hearing students searching for the beat.
"I was really surprised. 'Wow — a deaf person is dancing.' So, now I want to dance also," said Zachary Jones, a dance student at Gallaudet's Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) performing arts program.
The program, which caters to the deaf and hard of hearing, teaches students to rely on eye contact and teamwork, while internalizing the beat, to develop dance skills, rather than focusing on the music.
"I would say that deaf people have to work a little bit harder in terms to make sure they are relying completely on the count and the rhythm," said Yola Rozynek, of MSSD.
They often come up with the moves first and pick the music later. "I can hear some of the beats. We maintain eye contact and use our eyes. We keep a rhythm," said MSSD dance student Jene Kelly.

"We use counting and memorize all the dance moves. We use the counting to keep us on track and we also practice very often," said MSSD dance student Ormar Rodriguez.
As the students continue to perfect their moves, so will Matlin.
"All I can say is I'm having fun. I hope the audience is really gonna enjoy our performance as well as everybody else's on the show," Matlin said.

Deaf Times: Deaf Actress on “Dancing With the Stars” Show By Leonard Hall

This weekly column writer for deaf community, Leonard Hall, discussed Marlee Matlin at "Dancing With The Stars" and many deaf outstanding dancers in the deaf world.  Here is an article online from Deaf Times below:

From the newsroom of the Olathe News, Olathe, Kansas, Saturday, March 22, 2008 .....

By Leonard Hall

Deaf actress Marlee Matlin had never danced professionally before and joined one of the 12 woman dancers with male partners on the ABC reality television show “Dancing With the Stars” that debuted last Monday night.

Marlee Matlin and her male dancing partner/teacher Fabian Sanchez did very well last Monday show dancing the “cha-cha” and getting 21 points. The couple finished third among the 12 dancing couples.

It is no surprise that Matlin can dance well as she is in good physical shape. It took two weeks of cha-chaing and quickstepping practice for seven hours a day for Matlin to prepare for last Monday “Dancing With the Stars” debut.

In the deaf world, there are many outstanding deaf dancers.

At the international deaf festival held at Gallaudet University several years ago, there were several outstanding dancing troupes from throughout the world, including China, which provided outstanding dance performances.

Matlin proved to be more rhythmically inclined than at least half of her competitors.

She faced tough competition, even so none of the other women dancers have danced professionally before.

On Monday, the top woman dancer was Kristi Yamaguchi, who is the Olympic gold medalist in women figure skating. She made it look easy being on and off the ice.

Also dancing are actresses Shannon Elizabeth and Priscilla Presley, tennis champ Monica Seles, actress Marissa Jaret Winokur and other well-known celebrities.

No couple was eliminated from last week show, but two will be eliminated Monday, March 24^th.

Matlin is a 42-year old Emmy-nominated television actress who won a best actress Oscar in 1986 for “Children of A Lesser God.” She has starred in a number of TV series and movies.

This is the sixth season of “Dancing With the Stars”. ABC sought to provide a diversity among the dancers, a contributing factor to the success of the show. Dancers had been boxers, basketball players, football players, baseball players, models, and actors.

In season four, model Heather Mills, who wears a prosthetic leg, lasted seven weeks on the show.

It is good to see diversity on this reality television show. Matlin will do well in the dancing competition.

Dancing With The Stars Season 6 Day 3 - Marlee & Fabian

Bravo, Marlee and Fabian! Mambo! Mambo! I watched it last Monday night. Yesterday, I just learned Marlee and Fabian are saved for the next week. I noticed Fabian signing to her, "You are saved," when their result was announced. He's learning ASL but I figured Fabian studied it for a short time. Wonderful news for them! Yay! Yay! Here is video of Marlee and Fabian below that was taken a place on a Live TV last Monday night March 24th:

Dancing With The Stars Season 6 Day 2 - Marlee & Fabian

Did u watch "Dancing With The Stars" Day 2 last Tues night? I did. Marlee Matlin did a wonderful job on the dance show. I enjoyed watching what she's doing with Fabian. I am proud of her. I know Marlee can't hear the music but she beats it out successfully! Congratulations on Marlee and Fabian! Marlee looks so absolutely beautiful! The reason Marlee took her dancing job is that her own 4 kids wanted to see their famous mother dancing.

Deaf Times: Deaf dancer will be watching Marlee Matlin on "Dancing With the Stars"

From the newsroom of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, Wednesday, March 12, 2008 .....

Heather Wagley practices with dance partner Larry Nemeth at the American Dance Exchange. When they compete, the judges are unaware that she is deaf.

When I found out about Marlee Maltin's dancing job on TV a month ago, I was excited and happy to learn about her situation there. Yay! I am planned to watch "Dancing with the Stars" on Monday night, ABC. Remember Heather Whitestone, Miss America 1995? She was the first deaf ballerina to win Miss America but the kind of her dance is different. I will never forget the night she won. Regis Philbin was witnessed there. His reaction about Heather Whitestone is that he can't believe it as his head shaked. Heather is so amazing! Anyways, I am going to find out how Marlee is doing. Otherwise, here is an article online about a deaf dancer and her dance partner below. I picked this out last Wednesday night cuz I thought u might be interesting to learn about what deaf dancer can do that u don't know.

Heather Wagley was putting her best foot forward on a recent afternoon, but her instructor Larry Nemeth wanted a better best foot forward, and then another.
So Nemeth, who teaches at the American Dance Exchange in Highland Heights, led Wagley to repeat a sequence of steps here, a sequence there, allowing the music to pace them through a medley of dances, from West Coast jitterbug to fox trot to tango to cha-cha -- as other students and instructors danced around them.
Wagley, a tall, blond woman of 32, has won first place in more than 50 ballroom dancing contests, with Nemeth as her partner the last eight years or so. When the San Francisco Open DanceSport competition begins March 28, they'll be there in their dancing shoes.
The judges won't know she's deaf. They never do.











ABC Actress Marlee Matlin practices with her partner in preparation for Monday's sixth season-premiere of "Dancing With the Stars" on ABC.
Of course, when ABC's popular reality show "Dancing With the Stars" begins its sixth season at 8 p.m. Monday, the judges will know contestant Marlee Matlin is deaf.
And so will everyone who watches the Oscar-winning actress and wonders, "How can she dance to music she can't hear?"
Wagley, a dance student for 18 years, was pleasantly surprised that Matlin was chosen for the TV competition -- and of course, she'll be watching, as usual. Communicating through sign language to instructor Tony Nunez, she predicted Matlin has her work cut out for her, though.
Matlin is hoping her appearance will shatter once and for all the misconception that deaf people can't dance. "Deaf people can do anything except hear," she said in USA Today, quoting I. King Jordan, the first deaf president of Gallaudet University, a school in Washington, D.C., for the deaf and hard of hearing.
The actress will learn the dances through sight, feel and repetition, just like Wagley, said P.J. Novarro, co-owner of the dance studio. He said the film star will have to practice at least 40 hours to learn a dance, and that's more or less true for the other participants, too.
"Everyone is born with rhythm," he said. "She may not hear the downbeat, but it's transferred to her by her teacher."
While the bass notes can be felt through wooden flooring, they are not transmitted effectively through other materials, like concrete, or wood on concrete. That's why a deaf dancer needs to count steps, or look to a partner for guidance, as Wagley does. She focuses on Nemeth's face all the while she's dancing, he said, because she reads his lips for instructions, like "quick" or "slow" to keep the rhythm.
"And I'll tell her if she leans too heavily," he said, and that would indicate she isn't maintaining proper posture, which was a problem early on. "I keep telling her to take smaller steps. And a big challenge for her is moving her hips for the Latin dancing."
And she must remember step counts. The merengue, for example, is danced on eight counts, equally timed; the rumba is quick-quick-slow; the cha-cha is cha-cha-cha, rock step, and the mambo is 1 -- hold -- 2-3-4.
Sue Bungard, director of community services at the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center, knows the drill. She is deaf and attended Gallaudet, where students held homecoming dances. "The band would play loud, and we'd have a wonderful time," she said. And they'd keep the music cranked up in the student lounge, too.
But college wasn't her first introduction to dance. "I took tap and ballet as a child, and I took line dancing," she said. "I just followed along."

Don't forget to watch "Dancing with the Stars" on Monday night at 8 pm Eastern Time on ABC. Here is a link of this show below:


Dancing with the Stars