How a deaf dancer is inspiring a nation, and sweeping the floor with competitors on U.K.’s “Strictly Come Dancing”

London — A British dancer is making historical past as a deaf contestant on “Strictly Come Dancing,” the British model of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Rose Ayling-Ellis glides alongside the floor with the type of grace that you just may anticipate of a finalist, hitting every beat with superhuman accuracy. However Rose cannot hear the beat. The 27-year-old cleaning soap opera actress has been deaf since delivery.

CBS Correspondent Charlie D’Agata spoke to Ayling-Ellis and her dance companion, Giovanni Pernice, with the assist of a British Signal Language assistant, and requested her how she’s capable of dance with out listening to the music.

“Nicely, I simply do a lot of counting in my head, and once you rely and repeat and repeat and repeat, it simply turns into a muscle reminiscence,” she mentioned. 

“I can dance, and I can rely,” Ayling-Ellis mentioned, “It is simply a totally different method of studying, a totally different method of educating, and it is totally different — it is simply totally different!”

That totally different method means relying closely on cues from her dance companion. Penrice mentioned their our bodies are shut, so she will be able to observe him.

“I do not really feel the music,” Ayling-Ellis mentioned, “I really feel Giovani!”

And does she ever. The pair is proving they will greater than sustain with the competitors. They clocked up the earliest excellent rating in the historical past of the sequence.

Because of Ayling-Ellis’ fan following, the British Signal Language web site has seen a 3,000% enhance in folks signing up for on-line programs.

Her strikes have made her a position mannequin for the deaf, together with for 7-year-old Tilly.

“So, you see her dance, you assume, ‘possibly I can dance?'” D’Agata requested Tilly. “Regardless that you are not like different folks, that do not have glasses or listening to aids, you possibly can nonetheless be like them?”

“Regardless that you have received issues on you, you possibly can nonetheless do the identical issues as them,” she replied.

There was a second in the sequence when Ayling-Ellis prolonged her palms and invited the world into her personal world, dancing by way of 15 seconds of excellent silence that resonated in houses throughout Britain.

“I really feel it is a highly effective probability to point out folks my world,” Ayling-Ellis mentioned. “I really feel like, this is what is so regular for me, it is so regular, however for different folks it is like a massive second for them to see what it is like in our world, however that is what’s regular for me, if that is sensible?”

It actually is sensible to Tilly.

“You needn’t do issues excellent, similar to different folks, however you possibly can nonetheless get making an attempt and making an attempt,” she mentioned.

Ayling-Ellis and Pernice have made it to the finals, which air on the BBC in the U.Ok. on December 18. The bookies have them tipped to win all of it.