The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) has invited the group “Deaf Can Dance” to participate in a dance show in commemoration of World Children’s Day holding 20th November, 2020.
The Executive Director of Deaf Can Dance, Samuel James stated this in an interview with Inclusive News Network on Tuesday.
He said he got a call from UNICEF Abuja requesting for children talent to showcase their skills in commemoration of the aforementioned event.
He said, the manner UNICEF asked questions about the Deaf Can Dance team, it is apparent, they have seen videos of recently concluded Deaf Can Dance Competition on Facebook.
“I gave details on our group and we were engaged to present a dance to a song produced last year by top artistes, Chidinma, Tubaba, Cobhams, Timi Dakolo, Niniola etc, James said.
Already, shooting of the video has commenced on 6th of November, at the UNICEF building, Lagos.
According to him, “We have been into serious daily rehearsals for some days. We want to ensure the dance comes out beautifully. We intend to make the Deaf World proud of us as we show the world that Deaf Can actually Dance!”
The video is expected to be released on 20th of this month.
While commending UNICEF for the collaboration and support, James said, “UNICEF is doing very well with this wonderful collaboration and I, on behalf of the team say a big thank you to them.
Provisions were made for the group’s logistics and feeding. Also, the costumes to be worn on that day were provided for in part, there were branded T-shirts for the video shooting too. Four different, top grade cameras, which included a drone, were booked for wider shot. Mr. James revealed.
However, there were some challenges getting the Deaf Dancing Talents together again. According to the handler, Mr James, he had to travel to other States to pick up some of them. Several calls to parents for permission were put through. Rehearsals ran for two straight weeks to shape up for the video shooting. At first, it was full rehearsals done day and night, by the second week however, the rigour was a bit relaxed.
“The opportunity is here again for us to ginger up and showcase our talents to the world. Don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t. The Deaf can do just about anything hearing people do, except hear. So we give ourselves to the exploration of all possibilities our other senses can afford” an obviously excited Mr. James enthused.
“We won’t mind having more young talents to train professionally. There are many young talents out there, who have yet to get this kind of opportunity. We are willing to take in as much as possible. The zeal to perform, and be more is what’s required. We also want to urge parents to give them a chance and experience the wonders inherent in Deaf individuals, he concluded.