The Dance of Language

I happen to be visiting London this week, primairily for as Roger Waters concert Sat. night (Nick Mason showed up, oh shit is was amazing) but that is not what I am writing about. Morning TV here is as bland as in the US...but I happened to notice something on a video 'hits' channel. It may also be on MTV but I don't watch it (where the fuck did the MUSIC on MTV go?), during the video's they had a sign language translator.

I thought at first how funny. then I watched and thought a bit. Hearing impared people can feel vibrations, or they may only have loss in the mid-range, or any other reasons that can be thought of. Then I watched the signers, and watched how simply making the signs was a dance to them, and they danced the music. After about 10 minutes I was totally engrossed, not with the music but the way the language danced with them.

These were not super-models, just regular people. I do not know sign language, but even on stupid pop songs they added a dimension to them that made them fascinating. If they had simply stood there and moved their hands, it would not have worked. Because they took the dance and incorporated it, they enhanced it just by being impromtu and unscripted.

If there are any folks out there with a linguistic bent, please expound on the importence of dance to language. In particular the unconcious dances we do with each other.