Feel The Beat!
Feel The Beat!
Emily Chivamann, a 12-year-old, was partially deaf. She was bullied a lot because of her problem, which is the reason why she had many panic attacks. Emily wasn't born deaf, but she was slowly becoming deaf due to an eardrum injury. It was all great until one unexpected accident happened. Emily was having a very normal day, she was enjoying with her friends, and was going back home from school. She had a contemporary class, and had to hurry, even though she was not running late. Emily used to believe the fact that a person who is on time, is late. Exactly 45 minutes before class every day, you would see a thin silhouette, with a great body, practicing her relevès ( a rising up onto full point or half-point from the flat of the feet.) and stretching non-stop. She was always dedicated to her work. But once, Emily went a little overboard. While practicing her leaps and turns, she banged her head on the barrè and fell flat on her side, hitting her ear very hard. Emily then suffered to survive as she had a serious concussion and eardrum injury. The doctors said it's very hard to say if she will survive or not, but if she fortunately does, there will be a downside. Her parents got to know that Emily had slowly started losing her hearing. She had a very severe ear nerve problem. Young Emily, then only 9, was heartbroken. In the present day, she has a lot of problems in hearing and has an interpreter. Emily has changed a lot since then, but one thing you might be thinking she has stopped, she is still doing. Her parents were very apprehensive of letting her dance after her injury. They denied several times, but after years of pleading and requesting, the parents let her go. Of course, they wanted their daughter to have a bright future, and achieve her goals, but they were very scared to let her dance. Dance is an art that requires a lot of focus and confidence. Which poor Emily had mostly lost after her injury. The concussion often makes her dizzy and lose balance. She had lost two of the most important things in life after this tragedy. Hope, to become better, to achieve her goal, and confidence, of doing something without a mistake. She practically thought her life was over.
Emily's interpreter helped her communicate with people by using actions to show what they are saying, but she could not communicate sounds. Now, this was very hard for her, as to dance, one needs to hear the song and feel the beats. But Emily did not have the ability to do that. She was often taken out of her recitals because she did not hear the music to do steps. The only thing she could do was focus really hard, and try to feel the vibrations in the ground to know when to do the steps. She messed up, a lot, but she didn't give up. She had lost hope for most of the things in life, but she knew, that one day, she'll feel like a normal person, and will be able to dance beautifully again. Dance was in Emily's bones, she had to do it.
Emily's coach, Ms. Andrea Schmidt, was tired of handling her. Before her injury, Emily was one of Ms. Andrea's favorite elite dancers on the team. She still dances very gracefully, but the problem is Andrea cannot communicate the exact thing she wants Emily to do. Anna, Emily's interpreter, and Andrea spend hours trying to tell Emily what step she has to do. This would be a huge challenge because the other kids on the team also have to be coached, but most of the time they have to be benched in class because of Emily. Many of her dance mates started to get irritated because of Emily wasting their time. They tried to trip her, or even steal her ballet essentials. Emily slowly started to see what was happening. She felt sorry for her friends, but she also had to dance. One day, for the first time in many days, Emily decided to skip her class. She was heartbroken and anxious, as a major competition was coming up, but she had to do what she had to. She came to class, but she sat outside, where no one would see her. It soon became cloudy. Anna and Andrea started to worry about Emily, but they had to go on with the class. Anna went to find Emily, but she didn't see her sitting outside on the half-broken wooden bench. Within 15 minutes, it started to drizzle. The dusty ground started to become muddy, and everything was wet. Wet and sad Emily, felt a tear come out of her eye. It fell on her leotard, which was already drenched with water. Emily's life slowly started to become even more hopeless. Her mates hated her, her teacher was tired of her and she couldn't hear a thing. Emily had nothing to do so she decided to head back home. Barefoot, Emily started going back. However, a bird interrupted her. You might as well know what would have happened. A bird had pooped on Emily's head. For a second, Emily didn't notice anything. But she felt something disgusting on her head. She was furious. She was just about to run and find that bird but then she noticed something. There was a feather that fell off while the bird was trying to escape. It was swiftly carried by the wind into the water. The feather's tip slowly and gracefully touched the muddy water and gently fell flat onto it. Of course, th
e feather didn't make any noise, but it definitely landed on the water. This gave Emily a very nice idea. She skipped back home, making big splashes on the way.
The next day, she reached class very early, like she used to before. After a good warm-up and stretch, she managed to play the song and tried to hear it as hard as she could. Emily touched the rough surface of the speaker and her feet were stuck tight to the ground. The feather did not make a sound, but it did touch the surface. Emily did the same. All her focus was on the speaker, trying to feel the beats with her own hands. After understanding the timing of each beat, how often it comes, and how loud it was, she quickly jotted it down in her notebook. Every single day, before and after class, Emily would do the same, and she soon put together the whole song. In the next class first, she observed what steps the children were doing for each beat and then tried it herself. Emily was doing the last step when there was a loud creak from behind. The dancers thought it was Ms. Andrea, but surprisingly, they saw Klara Wolfgang. One of the main judges of the recital. She was one of the most important judges at the international level, and everyone was extremely scared of her. Throughout all this, Emily didn't hear a thing. Anna was trying her best to tell her what was happening but Emily was facing the other direction. Emily continued the steps and didn't notice a thing. Klara was astonished. She told Emily to stop but she didn't seem to listen. Anna was just going to stop Emily but before she could do anything, Emily bumped into Ms. Klara and the 73-year-old fell on the yoga mat stack at the corner of the studio. Everyone froze for a second and stared in horror. Emily was in shock. Questions were jumping up and down in her mind. When did Klara Wolfgang come? How did she come? Why did she come? Andrea called the ambulance and Klara was taken to the local hospital. Emily was feeling extremely embarrassed and guilty. She wanted to run into the washroom and bang her head on the tiled walls. Everyone was glaring at Emily. She didn't know what to do. Her eyes were glued to the yoga mat stack. Emily couldn't believe what had happened. She just bumped into The great Klara Wolfgang. Known for being very hard on kids. She awarded Emily the national level trophy when she was 7. All Emily could do now was run. When no one was watching, Emily ran out of the studio, into the streets. She didn't know where to go. She ran like she had never before. When she saw the same ambulance she ran in the opposite direction. Emily saw the local bus, climbed up the dirty metal stairs, and quickly took the seat next to a pregnant lady. The lady softly smiled at her, and Emily gave a fake tiny smile. Nothing could save her from her embarrassment. Not even the beautiful smile the woman gave. The next few days were very hard for Emily. She was suspended from the contemporary class by Ms. Andrea for a week. Her mother had gone to Munich for her job and her dad was ill. Anna and Emily spent the week with nothing to do. Emily just stared out of the window and looked at the sap- green colored trees. They made her feel even duller.The week flew by like a jet, and Emily hoped for the best next week.
Next week on Monday, Anna and Emily went to the studio again. They met Ms. Andrea in her office and asked her if Emily was allowed to come again. Andrea told Emily to wait outside. Andrea said, " Guten tag Anna. Hope you are well. Emily can surely join back classes, but I'm afraid she won't be able to go to the internationals. She has been causing a lot of trouble among the kids and Ms. Klara so it has been told by the judges that Emily isn't allowed back anymore. I know, it's difficult for her, but she needs to learn how to manage herself. I'm so sorry. Send Emily inside the studio." Anna sighed, went out, and called for Emily. As soon as Emily was struck with the news, she wanted to give up dancing forever. But she needed to go. She had to. The internationals were taking place in Texas, USA, and Emily absolutely had to find a way to go there. After class, Anna called up Emily's mom and told her what had happened. She was disappointed but also relieved. She was already very worried about letting Emily go to Texas from Berlin herself.
Within a few hours, Emily came back home and rushed to her room. It was mid monsoon, and it rained every now and then. It started raining as usual, but every time it rained, Emily found it equally exciting. It was like she was somehow connected to the rain. Whenever Emily would see rain, she felt like the clouds were crying for her. The rain was the only thing that could calm Emily at any point of time. She couldn't hear the soothing sound of rain, but she felt the sound in her heart. She ran to the backyard, letting the rain touch her. This time, Emily was wet but happy. She started dancing, moving according to the touch of each raindrop, and created a song. She danced her fears out and had nothing else to worry about. Emily Chivamann, a 12-year-old deaf girl, felt the beat with her hands and heard the beat with her heart.