Can you imagine going to a school dance if you couldn’t hear the music? How about taking dance lessons if you couldn’t hear your teacher’s instructions?
Allison Becker, who just graduated from Clarence High School, has won many awards throughout her 13 years of dancing. A devoted, talented dancer, she had spinal meningitis when she was 16 months old, which left her profoundly deaf, able to hear only sounds of 95 decibels or louder.
“The normal conversation usually occurs between 20 to 30 decibels,” Allison says. “A jet plane decibel level is 120.”
How does Allison know when to start her dance routine at recitals? “With my hearing aids, I can usually hear the lower sounds, like the bass, when the music is turned up really loud,” says Allison. “Sometimes I watch the other dancers to keep in step, but as I have gotten older, I have grown out of it because there are times when I’m the one in the front; I have started to rely more on myself.”
At competitions, judges are not notified that she cannot hear the songs she dances to. Most recently, at the American Dance Awards, Allison was awarded several “Ultimate Golds” for her two solos and for the group dances she was in. Allison also came in first place for choreography in the whole competition.
Her sister, Ashley Becker, a 19-year-old dance major at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, choreographed one of her solos. “My sister is my inspiration!” Allison says.
Allison doesn’t just study one or two types of dance — try seven: jazz, tap, ballet, hip-hop, lyrical (dancing to a mix between a slow jazz number and non-classical ballet), acro (a flip number which involves a lot of tumbling), pointe (like ballet except she wears pointe shoes which have a “box” shape at the end, and she dances on that “box”). You name it, she does it. “My favorites are jazz and hip-hop,” she says.
Allison has been dancing at the David DeMarie Dance Studio since she was four years old. This is her last year dancing there.
“Allison is the ideal student; she never ceases to amaze me. When she was younger, I never thought she would get to the senior level of dance because of her impairment, but with her incredible work ethic and talent, she has,” says her dance instructor Lenny Castilone. “Allison is an amazing, beautiful dancer. She has accomplished much more than dancers who don’t have hearing loss.”
Allison puts as much time — if not more — into dancing as other students put into school sports. “I practice 15 to 20 hours a week. Sometimes I have Wednesdays and Fridays off, but when I have upcoming recitals, I rehearse every day. I normally have seven recitals a year, and this year I have two competitions,” Allison says.
She is in Boston this week dancing in the American Dance Awards Competition. This is her second time going to Boston for Nationals.
Somehow, in high school she managed to find time to participate in several activities. “I’m involved with Student Council, Varsity Club, and in the fall I did cheerleading,” she says. Allison does the cheers in cheerleading just as anyone else would.
Allison reads lips. “When I was younger, my family and I decided to go with oral communication. We knew if that didn’t work, we would use sign language,” she says.
In most ways, Allison is a typical teenager. She has a cell phone, which she uses not only for text-messaging, but to talk on as well. “I wear two hearing aids to bring my hearing level up, but they don’t necessarily make the words clearer. A phone conversation can be very difficult,” she says. “Sometimes, using a speakerphone works better. My new cell is hearing-compatible; I can control the volume to better hear whoever is speaking.”
Hearing aids allow her to enjoy music. “I love a lot of music; I’m very into pop music. Without my hearing aids, I normally can’t hear the words or the lyrics,” she said.
Most people who don’t know Allison can’t tell that she is deaf. “I can speak fairly well; I only mention that I’m deaf if I can’t hear someone or if I’m not sure what’s going on,” she says. Being deaf isn’t a hassle in the school setting, either.
“In school, I use a phonic hearing system, which is a microphone that is hooked up to my hearing aids. All my teachers have to do is use the phonic microphone, and I change the levels of my hearing aids to hear them,” she says.
She will be leaving in the fall for Point Park University in Pittsburgh where she plans to major in dance.
“There are definitely times when things are difficult for me, but with the support of my family, I am able to get through the tough times,” she says.
Justine Januszkewicz is a graduate of Amherst Central High.
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