2023-08-01 10:20:13
For the first concert of her life, Camille Coti, 74, deaf from birth, was able to dance, on July 30, 2023, in Ajaccio, feeling the vibrations of the pieces “from the neck to the thighs” of the Belgian singer Angèle thanks to a special vest…
Par Maureen Cofflard
“It’s very powerful, very strong, really good! I especially feel the vibrations in the rib cage”, describes Camille Coti in sign language that Léana Barrazza, 23, translates toAFP. With a smile on her lips and hands twirling around her face, the septuagenarian undulates in rhythm thanks to one of the five “SubPac” vests acquired by the Corsican Community. The regional institution claims to be “the first territory in France” to have purchased, for a total of 12,000 euros, this equipment which makes it possible to feel low and low sounds in the form of vibrations. Originally, these vests, manufactured by the American-Canadian company TiMMPi, had been designed to increase the sensations of video game players or cinema spectators in virtual reality.
Available for 17 concerts
“It’s my first concert and the first time I want to dance feeling the vibrations”, confides Camille Coti to whom it brings back memories. “When I was young, I went to nightclubs, there was a lot of bass, I would get closer to the speakers to feel them. I had that with drums too”, she recalls, believing that these vests “open up perspectives”. “It’s a moment of inclusion and sharing. Seeing them start dancing is moving”, entrust to theAFP Antonia Luciani, executive advisor in charge of culture at the Corsican community. These five vests, weighing 1.2 kg each, are available for 17 concerts this summer through the Pôle deafness association in Corsica, the only association for the 600 deaf people on the Mediterranean island.
To feel included
Alongside Camille, Karima Mouro, 53, also deaf from birth, says she lives “a rare moment”. “It’s really good, the feelings are progressing little by little. I’ve already been in concert but I didn’t feel anything apart from vibrations by the feet whereas there, I enjoy the concert much better with the vest”, she describes. “I feel all the music, I want to dance”. Angélique Antonini, diagnosed deaf at 18 months, accompanies her ten-year-old daughter, Stella, who is hearing and absolutely wanted to see Angèle. “I wanted to please her and also feel the same as her. With the vest, I feel integrated”, she explains. “I feel the rhythm precisely, I think I can feel the instruments and it’s really amazing”, she explains, pointing out that“With hearing aids, all the parasitic noise is not filtered out, so you hear a hubbub that prevents you from concentrating on the music”.
“Feel the rhythm from the neck to the thighs”
Angélique has already tested the vest during a violin concert: “I said to myself ‘oh ok, that’s how every type of violin works and the vibration that each made me feel'”. As for the dance, she confides that, until now, the incentive was linked to “the environment”: “If I saw people dancing, I also danced by mimicry but with the vest it comes to me on its own because I feel the rhythm, from the neck to the thighs”.
For Léana, a young woman who can hear but whose two parents are deaf, these vibrating vests are “the opportunity for the deaf to be there, to tell themselves that they have the right to come to concerts”. At the end of the highly choreographed show of the Belgian star in front of 6,000 conquered spectators, Camille, Karima and Angélique agree on one word: “formidable”. Even if Camille is not sure to renew the experience, except, perhaps, for Florent Pagny who wrote a song in sign language. Other deaf people will be able to benefit from vests on August 2, 2023 for Michel Polnareff’s concert at the Aio festival in Ajaccio.
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