Feel The Beat x Grassroots

Its all about the movement.

Grassroots California recently made a sizable donation to Feel The Beat, a movement and dance program specifically designed for the deaf and hard and of hearing. The program is owned and founded by Jari Majewski, a passionate teacher of the performing arts with Masters degrees in Deaf Education and Early Childhood Education from Columbia University. Jari started Feel The Beat as a way to make the joy and expression of dancing accessible to anyone with a hearing impairment, especially children!

How does it work? Feel The Beat is a proud partner with Clark Synthesis, a cutting edge leader in tactile sound technology. Tactile sound is essentially made up of transducers that transform audial frequencies into vibrations that can be heard and felt throughout the body. Utilizing this technology and embedding it into a very special dance floor, this works in conjunction with bone conduction which allows the dance students to not only feel, but HEAR the music as well! This revolutionary dance floor paired with sign language and various teaching tools gives the students at Feel The Beat an incredible opportunity to not only dance, but to also learn more about self expression, communication skills, and social emotional benefits.

A few of us made it out to Feel The Beat’s most recent dance recital. Upon arrival, we entered through balloon covered doorways & were asked to remove our shoes before stepping foot into the purple dance stuido, decorated to a T. The children put on a wonderful show for all of the guests. After, the guests were then asked to get up, participate, and learn the dance oursleves!

Grassroots was happy to provide pizza and GRC goodie bags for each and every student! It’s one thing to read about a program as cool as this, and it’s an entirely different experience to actually witness the dancing, feel the same vibrations as the students, and to see the excitement and smiles on their faces. They were looking super fly in their GRC hats and shades, and its organizations like Feel The Beat that we are thrilled to help spread awareness for and support.

Check out their website if you’re interested in volunteering, donating, or if you know someone who would benefit from experiencing and feeling the power of dance!