Deaf dancer from Boardman wins top honors in contest

By christine keeling

ckeeling@vindy.com

Boardman

A silent solo earned a local dancer and her partner top spots at competition.

Judy Hodak of Lordstown and her dance instructor, Travis Manero, won Top Solo at the Buckeye Ball on Aug. 14 in Independence, Ohio, after performing a rumba-style dance to no music. The performance, the Sound of Silence, was chosen to give spectators a sense of how Hodak lives.

The 58-year-old dancer has been deaf since birth.

“We weren’t sure how it was going to be perceived,” said Manero, co-owner of Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Boardman. “But, it was a jaw dropper for a lot of people.”

As a little girl, Hodak danced the polka with her parents at weddings and parties. Her mother called her Cha Cha. Then nine years ago, she began taking lessons with her husband, Michael. She competed in two other dance competitions, but this was the first time she chose not to use music.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.