Burkina Faso’s Deaf Dancers Feel Music Through Vibrations

Fientan Company is a dance group in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. Its dancers are deaf or hard of hearing. Yet they perform together to drums and djembes. They use a technique called Vibra-Signe to keep time without depending only on sound.

Choreographer Yaya Sanou created the method. Dancers use sign language, visual gestures, physical touch, and vibrations. When they dance barefoot, vibrations from the music can travel through the ground. Sanou may tap a dancer’s body to help them feel the musical tempo.

Vibra-Signe lets dancers connect music, movement, and signs. It gives them ways to communicate and share their stories. The group shows that people can experience rhythm through their bodies, not only through their ears.