No one learns to dance by reading books or looking at pictures; it is necessary to see the movements, perceive their connection with the music, and then imitate them. It is essential to repeat the choreography until it feels natural and is in sync with the sound. Imagine, then, the challenge faced by the physiotherapist and dance teacher, Fernanda Bianchini, when she began teaching classical ballet to blind teenagers. At first, the teacher tried to teach the positions and steps by adjusting the girls' arms and legs, and thus she managed to have the sequences reproduced, but the movements soon lost their extension and became loose.
It was then that the students themselves suggested a new learning method; they asked the teacher for permission to touch her body while she performed each of the movements. This technique worked, and thus, the girls began to use touch as the new eyes of the body, imitating the arrangement of Fernanda's muscles during the dance. Today, the school serves students from 3 to 60 years old, and the teachers teach each of the steps through touch, until, after a certain period of guidance and repetition, the dancers perform with only verbal instructions.
The ballet for the blind would not be possible without the use of a very special sense, touch, whose signals are captured by the skin—the largest organ of the human body—in which we find at least six types of specialized receptors capable of recognizing and transducing tactile, pressure, and vibration signals. This sensory modality is fundamental for humans in various ways, and its importance was also demonstrated by Schifferstein's (2005) study, which evaluated the main senses involved in the recognition and interaction with products. The results showed that the amount of information about a product acquired through touch is equivalent to that acquired through vision, meaning it provides a large number of details; furthermore, individuals showed relative ease in recognizing a product by touch and felt more confident identifying it this way than when using only smell or hearing.
The use of touch in exploring the environment is something instinctive and can be seen from the very beginning of life in newborns. A study showed that 16 hours after birth, a baby is already capable of recognizing an object using only touch, even when it is presented from a different angle. Several other studies show that this sense is essential for learning, helping children transform abstract ideas into concrete experiences; thus, tactile activities during childhood, such as playing with blocks, aid in the development of mathematical skills and even ways of thinking. The skin is indeed a very special organ, which allows a simple child's play to turn serious and enables people without vision to perceive the world differently. In our next meeting, we will understand why there are differences in tactile sensitivity in different parts of the body.
References
Fernanda Bianchini Ballet and Arts Association for the Blind: http://www.ciafernandabianchini.org.br/;
