Family and friends packed the Mustang Center Gym as students of all ages performed their routines collectively to the theme of a “Country Christmas," performed by students of the Montana School for the Deaf & Blind in Great Falls.
“You can share your emotions and everything out on the stage and so you’re not keeping it all in. Like when you’re excited, you get to show it and not just hide it in,” said student Kailynn Perrin.
The director of the group, known as ‘Expressions of Silence,' is Jennifer Wasson. In the more than twenty years she’s been filling in as director, watching the students mature and confidently express themselves still hasn’t gotten old.
“Just them getting faith in themselves and realizing that they are very capable and can do anything that a hearing or sighted person can do and that it's not a hindrance to them,” says Wasson.
Former MSDB student Tearr Donovan, was employed as the co-director for ‘Expressions of Silence’ last year.
Though she is deaf, her ability to empathize with the students makes her the perfect teacher.
“When your voice is just flat, you know that can be conveyed in sign also. So if you're more expressive, it really is going to connect to how people feel and to get involved with the music,” expressed Donovan using ASL. “And they just need to show their emotions to match the music, to feel the beat. As an alumni and now a director, I want to give back what it gave to me when I was a student here.”
TRENDING
- Suspect arrested after stand-off with GFPD
- VIDEO: grizzly bear family in the snow
- 'Active shooter' reports across Montana
- House fire displaces Great Falls family
- Light Pillars and Sun Dogs!
- Events Calendar for December
