A friend from France sent me this fascinating and inspiring video. She has never given me a bum steer, so I took a look before attempting to translate the forwarded message from French into English. It said [and I don't vouch for the spelling or grammar], in part :
Il y a en Chine une danse extraordinaire qui s’appelle “Guan Yin aux Mille Mains.” Etant donne le degré de coordination requis, l’exécuter parfaitement serait extraordinaire, même si ces danseuses n’étaient pas sourdes.
Oui, vous lisez correctement, les 21 danseuses sont complètement sourdes et muettes.”
The choreographer, Zhang Jigang, holds the rank of Lieutenant General in the Peoples Liberation Army of China.
This dance was performed in 2004 at the closing ceremonies for the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. That’s right. The Paralympics.
As the email said, all 21 members of the dance troupe are sourd … deaf.
