The Bay Area has a pretty hip deaf community — we’ve got monthly ASL meet-ups, California School for the Deaf, and the Northern California Deaf Bikers. And now, thanks to Urban Jazz Company, we are introduced to a whole new crop of artists from the deaf population. UJC teams up with Dance Mission Theater this week to present Deaf Louder: The 2nd Annual Bay Area Deaf Dance Festival. The festival is a carefully curated selection of deaf, hearing-impaired, and hearing artists. Together they perform in an evening-length showcase of contemporary dance and music at the Mission’s charmingly cozy Dance Mission Theater. Urban Jazz Company founder/director and Bay Area native Antoine Hunter performs his unique style of peppy jazz, and is joined by performers such as Def Motion, a deaf dance crew from the UK, deaf rapper James L. Taylor III, and Half N Half, a half hearing, half deaf duo that combines ASL, music, and storytelling.
— Laura Jaye Cramer
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