Can you dance to a song if you can't hear the music? Watch and see.
You can't stop the beat. Even when you can't hear it.
Chris lives to dance but he can't hear the music.
Turn up good music, and you won't just hear it in your ears. It'll fill your whole being. You'll feel the bass thump in your chest. The hairs on your arms and the back of your neck will start vibrating in time to the beat. All around you, the air comes alive, moving. Pretty soon, you are too.
That’s true for Chris Fonseca too, with one small difference. Check it out or scroll down for more:
Chris Fonseca lost his hearing from a childhood illness. It hasn't stopped him from feeling music or from dancing.
All images and GIFs via Smirnoff Sound Collective/YouTube.
Chris's love of dance started young. He grew up watching '80s street dance movies like "Breakin'" and "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo" and decided to teach himself the moves.
In college, he joined Def Motion, a hip-hop dance troupe whose members were all deaf.
Since graduation, he's immersed himself in learning the tricky genre of lyrical hip-hop, while teaching dance to deaf students at a studio in London.
Like all dancers who are deaf, Fonseca can't hear the lyrics or the melody. But he can feel the beat.
As two of his fellow dancers put it, "Deaf people always touch the wall and feel the beat and listen to what the music is and what the song is. They can feel the beat. And the skin as well; they can feel it. Especially the goosebumps."
Chris's students feel the same way. Two of his students, a pair of twins, love music and dance.
They dance for fun, for happiness, and to help dispel the idea that people who are deaf don't go out and get down on Friday night.
"But WE DO! We do it!"
And when they say that, they really mean it.
Dance is a huge part of our culture. It can't be reserved just for those who hear all the words to the songs.
Chris and his students know that dance has nothing to do with lyrics or melodies, and everything to do with rhythm and love. And they want everyone else to know that too.
And if you don't believe them yet, turn up your speakers and watch the video again.