By Bryan Eneas

Deaf hoop dancer breaks through barriers

Sep 23, 2016 | 2:00 PM

Burton Bird has been deaf since birth but has never let that stop him from doing anything and everything he wants to do; including dance.

In 1990 he discovered hoop dancing through the Joe Duquette High School (now Oskãyak) which offered a course as part of its curriculum. It didn’t take much to persuade him to try.

“One of the people that was giving us the tour said if I took hoop dancing I would get to travel more,” Bird said through Sue Schmid an interpreter from the Saskatchewan Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (SDHHS).

And travel Bird has. He said he’s been to so many places in the United States he can’t remember everywhere he’s been. He’s also travelled a good portion of Canada’s western provinces, showing off his dance talents.

Bird only retains a small percentage of his hearing. He uses what he has left to time out his dances, but relies much more on his feet than his ears.

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“When you have a drummer there you can feel the beat of the drum. I’d much rather dance to live drummers because a CD doesn’t offer that vibration that I can feel,” he said adding live is better on many levels.

“With a CD I have to get myself positioned, then I have to turn it on, if it finishes before I’m done I have to put it back on again. It just doesn’t flow well.”

Bird faced many barriers growing up as a deaf person in a First Nations community. When he attended school in Montreal Lake he was the only deaf person in attendance. He relied on the help of his classmates to understand what was going on.

When he was in grade 9, Bird was taken out of the mainstream education system to attend the Saskatoon School for the Deaf.

“I liked it. I liked going to the school, I was able to meet other kids, and I just felt like I could pick up information,” Bird said. “I was so happy because I could learn. I had to catch up on all my learning… I actually felt like I was getting an education.”

He is now using his own experiences to advocate for other deaf First Nations people in Northern Saskatchewan.

“What I’ve been trying to do, is I’m trying to be part of a group who is working with deaf students and getting them to learn language, even using hoop dance as a way to do that,” Bird said. “A lot of kids are so isolated, they have no words, they can’t even read, so I want to be a role model.”

Bird said once parents see their deaf child communicating for the first time, they’re elated to learn the child has a voice. He works with SDHHS, particularly during their summer camps, promoting education and performance.  

Bird said he is more than willing to teach people how to hoop dance, as its important to him that everyone enjoys the process.

“It’s important to keep up with teaching our deaf youth, especially our First Nations and indigenous people to have that spirit of culture and dance.”

Bryan.eneas@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @BryanEneas