LAKE FOREST : Hearing-Impaired Get Room to Dance

There will be no more dancing in the street for the Quiet Zone.

After years of practicing dance numbers and building sets in garages, living rooms and cul-de-sacs, the troupe for hearing-impaired performers has found proper rehearsal space in a Lake Forest warehouse-office building.

Suddenly, the Quiet Zone is not only free to expand its program and practice schedules, but members can now offer help to the county’s hearing-impaired community through evening classes and workshops.

“This is an exciting time for us,” said Joshua Vecchione, director of the Quiet Zone. “It opens the doors for us to involve more people.”

The Quiet Zone tries to bridge the chasm between the deaf and hearing worlds, primarily through entertainment in a twice-a-year variety show, which benefits schools for the hearing-impaired.

It is a unique window into the life of the hearing-impaired.

Balloons are passed out at the door, so audience members who can’t hear can better feel the throbbing beat of music. Interpreters are on hand for those without hearing disabilities, as performers sign lyrics during song and dance numbers. Comedy skits poke fun at stereotypes of the hearing-impaired, such as the way deafness is sometimes defined as a mental impairment by the hearing community.

“When you are deaf, you are in your own world,” said Vecchione, who is hearing-impaired. “We are two different cultures, and the deaf and hearing cultures need to work together.”

The Quiet Zone is one place where the two worlds meet. About half the approximately 60 performers in the most recent Quiet Zone production are not hearing-impaired.

Signing classes held in the new Lake Forest facility are open to all.

“We have a reduced rate on this place for a year,” Vecchione said. “I’m still amazed that we’re here. We’ve got big plans for this place.”

For more information about the Quiet Zone, call (714) 581-8338.