Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Birmingham FADS Hearing Impaired Student Inspired by “DWTS” Matlin

BY JULIE HINDS • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • April 21, 2008
Stepping confidently in her strappy black high-heeled sandals, Pamela Dangovian practices the quick moves of the cha-cha.

The 48-year-old mom and community volunteer from Birmingham keeps her eyes on the face of her instructor, Leonid Sidorenko, as they move around the roomy floor of the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Bloomfield Hills.

She's reading his lips to follow his coaching, because, like current "Dancing with the Stars" contestant Marlee Matlin, she is deaf.

After seeing Matlin compete on ABC's ballroom dancing competition, she got in touch with the studio through the Michigan Relay Center, which helps hearing-impaired people, among others, communicate by phone.

She was inspired by watching Matlin do the cha-cha, waltz and quickstep. Now she's gliding smoothly along in her footsteps.

"I've seen her movies, her TV shows," says Dangovian. "When I saw her on the dance floor, I thought if she can do it, I can do it."

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