Salsa workshop for Oogpunt Licht en Liefde "Het Laatste Nieuws"
MICHELE OFFERS SALSA CLASSES FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED
“We dare to throw ourselves fully into it again”
Oostende
During her lessons, Michèle Martens – who has been running a dance school for twelve years – welcomes everyone, but she pays extra attention to people with visual impairments. She developed a technique where hearing and feeling are central. On Tuesday, members of Oogatelier Oostende from the vzw Licht en Liefde enjoyed a salsa class.
“Step your left foot back, then your right foot, and now turn.” Michèle gives loud and clear instructions about what the dancers need to do during their first salsa at the Mister V-Arena in Oostende. These dancers are completely immersed in the music and their newly learned dance steps. There are wide smiles on their faces. They can dance in peace without feeling ashamed because they cannot immediately see what needs to be done. Michèle gives clear instructions and lets the dancers occasionally feel which direction they need to go.
Erik Dieltjens from Nijlen has been taking salsa lessons at Etage Tropical in Ghent for some time.
“I used to do ballroom dancing. Six years ago, I started to lose my sight, making it increasingly difficult to follow the lessons. You just can’t see what someone shows at the front of the hall with other dancers. There is also no explanation given. I searched for a dance school for the blind and visually impaired, but none existed. Luckily, I eventually found Michèle,” says Erik. He brought Wendy Devriendt from Oostende along on Tuesday.
SELF-CONFIDENCE
“It’s really fun because you feel more at ease. I took Zumba before, but you just can’t keep up because you can’t see what you need to do. It eats away at your self-confidence, and eventually, you hardly dare to move. Here, I felt immediately at ease and could throw myself fully into it,” says the woman from Oostende. She is happy that the offer is being extended to people with low vision. “Many activities take place elsewhere in the country, but then you’re on public transport for so long.” Annelies and Dimitri are also clearly enjoying themselves. “It’s tiring and fast, but it’s really fun.”
Yana Cloet from Oogatelier Oostende arranged the dance workshop with Etage Tropical. “We are a service center for the blind and visually impaired. We have a fixed center in Kortrijk, but we also want to expand our services in Oostende. For now, we are still mobile at various locations. For example, there is also a cooking workshop on Fridays at the Sociale Kruidenier.”
This class was specifically organized for the people from Oogatelier, but Michèle primarily wants to offer salsa for everyone. Everyone receives extra attention, but very specific additional instructions are given for those who don’t see well. “The advantage is that other participants sometimes benefit from clear instructions about what they need to do. I have specifically focused on developing a technique to teach the dance. We insist that the lessons are inclusive. That’s the beauty of it. We are the only ones in Flanders specializing in this,” says Michèle. Aldermen Bart Plasschaert and Hina Bhatti also came to have a look. The city wants to pay extra attention to inclusive offerings for athletes with disabilities.
Image Description
photo 1: overview photo of the newspaper article from Het Laatste Nieuws
photo 2: detail photo and text from the newspaper article from Het Laatste Nieuws
photo 3: group photo of everyone who participated in the salsa workshop
photo 4: Dieter (blind) and Yana (social worker) dancing together
photo 5: close-up photo of Dieter (completely blind) and the Alderman of Welfare in Oostende
photo 6: Alderman of Welfare in Oostende and Dieter dancing together (Dieter is completely blind)
photo 7: group photo of the danceorientation board, social workers from Oogatelier, and the Aldermen of Sports and Welfare from the city of Oostende.
photo 8: Dimitri dancing with his girlfriend (he is blind but also physically limited in his left leg and arm)
video 1: Erik (blind) and Els (visually impaired) dancing salsa in closed position, performing the pas atras.
video 2: Jacques tries the pas atras by using auditory and haptic instructions with a lady who is not only blind but also severely deaf.
