Marlee Matlin & Fabian Sanchez - Season 6

[nliedel]

She looked amazing and did very well. I love her unapologetic spunk.

[Google]

 

[canadian_angel]

She did do extremely well. It was so fascinating watching them dance. I loved it!

[StarbucksLover]

And what was the name of the song playing when they were dancing? Because it has slipped my mind, unfortunately...

[aname]

I have always like Marlee and admired her guts, determination, and spunk. She did great - in fact amazingly well for someone "profoundly" deaf (and proud of it, thank you very much).

[Kresge]

I love Marlee and she definitely amazed me with her dancing the other night.

But, to be fair, it did seem slow, rather robotic in spots, and the transitions were terrible.......they actually did much better on Ellen today.


I'm wondering if she will be able to do this from week to week though? She has had numerous weeks to prepare for this dance, but what will happen when she has to learn one a week......and the two? Through no fault of her own, I just don't think she'll be able to keep up with the others.

Having said that, I have respect and admiration for a woman with her condition to put herself "out there"......she is awesome.

[skyhigh79]

ITA Kresge, it is going to be extremely hard for her to keep up with when it goes to two dances per show. It is extremely hard for the non-hearing impaired too! I think she has the drive to do it and I hope she can pull it off

[Nemeses]

An interesting article and interview with Marlee on how she's coping on DWtS:

FEELING THE BEAT ON 'STARS'
HOW DEAF MARLEE GOES 'DANCING'
By DON KAPLAN

February 22, 2008 -- MARLEE Matlin, the deaf, Oscar- winning actress who will tango and two-step on "Dancing with the Stars" next month, may have a leg up on her competition - the ability to "feel" the music in ways other people can't.

Using her whole body, minimal hearing and relying heavily on her new dance partner, Fabian Sanchez, Matlin may turn out to be the favorite in a field of dancers that includes professional athletes, including figure-skating champ Kristi Yamaguchi.

"In a dance studio, I like the music to be turned up loud so I can follow along the bass line," Matlin told The Post in an e-mail. But mostly, it's about that rhythm I have inside me. I've got groove because my heart beats just like everyone else's. The trick for me is to use what I've got to synch up with the music that comes through my dance partner's moves.

"In the end, it sounds complicated, but it's really not a big deal. Just ask the 30 million other deaf and hard of hearing Americans, and they'll say the same thing. There's music out there but a lot of it is about the music you have inside."

Matlin says that she wears two digital hearing aids and without them she can hear essentially nothing. "They do a few things; they amplify the higher frequencies which I can't hear, they sharpen the lower frequencies which I hear better and then they mix it all together and amplify it.

"As for music, I've been a fan of music for years - Billy Joel, Madonna, etc. With hearing aids, I've been able to hear the beat, I can hear that there's music," she says.

"And if I've learned the words, I can match up what I hear with the words being sung. That's how I've been a big fan of Billy Joel's music since I was a kid and that's how I was able to sign the national anthem with him at last year's Super Bowl."

[niteowl64]

I'm rooting for her but she is going to have a very hard time once dances come closer together and she has to learn 2 in a short amount of time. She has to have had a basic knowledge of dance-even if that's just dancing with her hubby at clubs or events.

It is very hard to feel (or destinguish) the beat when you are profoundly deaf-and while dancing to it at the same time. I lost my hearing at age 29 and I can't tell what the beat is standing next to a giant speaker. You pick up vibrations but that's about it. I get the same effect when standing next to a motorcycle with no muffler. If I closed my eyes, I couldn't tell the difference between the 2.

She can master the steps if she is a quick learner. She also has to depend on visual cue from her partner as well as him leading her. The less time she has to learn each dance, the harder it will be. I hope she does well.

[Nemeses]

There was a sweet backstage mini-interview with Marlee that was shown on a local channel here about half an hour ago. The interviewer was backstage after Tuesday night's show, with Marlee and her husband and children. She was asked if she's now going to start going dancing with her husband, and she said yes, she's looking forward to that now. When the husband was given the mic to respond, he was smiling broadly, obviously very proud of Marlee, and said he better start taking some dance lessons. Then Fabio said he'd be happy to give her husband some lessons so he can dance with his wife.

Very sweet, and I'm happy for Marlee and her husband.



And to FoRT, nightowl64

[niteowl64]

Thanks Nemeses. I am a longtime member here but deleted my cookie by accident. Had to open a new account to get on

I think she has as good a chance as anyone. The more familiar she gets with the dances, the better she will become. As someone who has been on both sides of this coin, hearing and the ability to dance well are not neccessarily dependant on each other. I don't do ballroom but dance at clubs and gatherings and I hold my own pretty well. Of course I usually sing a song in my head from before I lost the hearing, to give myself the rythme of the beat

I've liked her as an actress and she seems to be a very warm, genuine, down to earth intelligent women. I hope she does well and it's got nothing to do with her lack of hearing