Visually impaired square dancer Vanessa Tennant will be performing with the Limestone Dancers at the Kingston fall fair Friday evening.
Michael Lea The Whig-Standard
Reprinted with the permission of The Whig Standard
Vanessa Tennant loves everything about square dancing except for the downtime.
"I have only one complaint -- you have to take a summer break," said the Kingston native, who joined the Limestone Dancers a year ago after a brief do-si-do with the recreational activity in the early 1990s.
"I could dance all year if I could."
Tennant, who will perform with the Limestone Dancers at the 180th Kingston Fall Fair on Friday (5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the entertainment tent at the southwest corner of the Memorial Centre grounds), is no stranger to dance. She has excelled in many forms -- jazz, tap, ballet, belly, ballroom, salsa and clogging -- since she was four years old and has a dance studio, including ballet bar, in her home.
"(Dance) is so artistic and musical," she said. "It gives you a freedom that you don't get in other areas of life."
Tennant, however, is unlike most dancers. The 47-year-old has been visually impaired her whole life. The impairment is caused by Rubella Syndrome; her mother contracted Rubella, commonly known as German measles, while pregnant with Vanessa.
Tennant describes her vision as "guiding."
She can see colours and people, but not definition, with her left eye.
"There are days when people are furry blobs and other days when they are more defined," she said. "It depends on how much rest or stress I've had or how much I've used my sight.
"I could walk by my own mother and not see her."
The vision in her right eye, she said, "is not much better than light/dark perception."
The impairment hasn't diminished her desire to dance, especially the square variety.
"There's something about square dancing," said Tennant, who has Royal Academy of Dance training and is one degree away from being eligible to teach tap dancing. "It's so fun. You can't go to a square dance unhappy and leave unhappy.
"The music, the caller, the people -- they're so friendly, they talk and laugh. You don't see people in square dancing being grumpy."
Tennant joined the Limestone Dancers a year ago after her sister- in-law saw an advertisement for the club on Cogeco Channel 13.
"She said. 'If you're interested, let's go.' I said, 'Yeah, I want to do that.' "
Tennant described her first night at the club as "amazing."
"Everyone was so kind. My sister- in-law and I went with no one. We were included very quickly.
"People didn't see a sight-impaired person at first. They didn't realize how bad my sight was (because) I didn't take my white cane the first time."
Limestone Dancers president Rob Harrison had danced with visually impaired partners at national conventions in Calgary and Vancouver.
"I didn't think (Tennant's presence) would be a challenge," he said. "It was a natural progression (having a visually impaired person in the club). We're pleased to have her.
"Everyone was very receptive to her."
Tennant felt comfortable the moment the music started -- the first song at her beginner's class was the instrumental theme from the Mickey Mouse Club TV show.
"It had a really good beat and there was a good pattern to walk us through," she said.
She was soon weaving her way through the square and mastering all the moves. She graduated from the basic, or beginner, level to the mainstream level in the spring.
The mainstream level, she said, "adds extra steps and flair, more spins and turns, more complicated patterns."
Tennant has felt welcomed not only by the Limestone members, but by all new dance partners.
"No one's not wanted to dance with me," she said.
She has words of advice for any new dance partners.
"I explain to strangers that I don't see well, so keep an eye on me in case I walk by you."
Earlier this year she was partnered for the first time with another visually impaired dancer, an older man from another city. He had more sight than Tennant, but it still made for an interesting experience.
"People were waiting to see what would happen," she said. "I think they thought, 'Oh, oh, they'll both get lost.' "
That didn't happen.
Tennant began taking lessons at the age of four with dance instructor Dezell Pritchard after it was recommended that dance would help young Vanessa with her balance and concentration.
"Concentration was not a problem, but balance was," she said.
For the next 11 years, Tennant hoofed her way through tap and jazz dance practice once a week and two recitals a year.
"I practised daily (at home)," she said. "I was fixated. I'm a bit of a perfectionist."
As an adult, Tennant displayed a talent for belly dancing and she and her husband, Ron, took classes in ballroom and salsa dancing.
In the early 1990s, Tennant and her husband joined a square dance group but the caller passed away about two months later and the group eventually disbanded.
Her acceptance by the Limestone Dancers is unlike some of her experiences as a child dancer.
"It's 100% different," she said. "Dezell accepted me. She never had any questions about my ability. I always passed the exams.
"It was the parents of the other children. 'Will that blind child in the class hold my child back?' "
Tennant's talents aren't limited to dancing. She discovered eight years ago "that I could sing."
"I came to singing late. I didn't know I could sing. I used to sing around the house and my mom would tell me I sang quite well. You could sound like a frog in a tin can and your mom would say you sound wonderful."
She has sung at an art show at Bethel Church and will sing at a Christmas party this year. When her nephew and his fiancee set a wedding date, she will sing at the nuptials.
It was at a karaoke night when Tennant, urged on by her husband, took the stage to sing There Goes My Everything, a song recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley and Loretta Lynn.
"He held the mike, my hands were shaking so much," she said of her husband.
The song had special meaning for Tennant.
"My guide dog (Winni, a 13- year-old golden retriever) was ill and died," she said. "The song is about losing something that you love.
"She was a big love sponge. She would've loved the square dancing group. I often think of her at square dance."
On Friday, Tennant will be on the dance stage and feeling right at home.
"Before I belly dance or sing in front of people, I feel dreadful stage fright," she said. "I get butterflies, shaky hands, shortness of breath. Once I get the mike in my hands, I'm fine.
"With square dancing, the anxiety level is different. It's so hard to put my finger on it. Social dances are so easy.
"When you do get up in front of people, you actually forget you're performing in front of people, you get so wrapped up in it. Nothing exists outside of that square."
mnorris@thewhig.com
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