Today we’d like to introduce you to Lily Francesca Repace.
Hi Lily Francesca, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am 11 going on 12, and my love for music and dance started when I was about two years old and I actually started dance class when I was three. My parents were told that because was deaf/hard of hearing it would be good to socialize me as early as I could so they put me in a tap/ballet combo class right on my 3rd birthday. I loved it all and did it without my hearing aids. I learned to feel the beat because I wasn’t able to wear hearing aids with all the fluid and ear infections I kept having.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not smooth at all. I had five surgeries by the time I was six, and the last one was the most life-changing for me. My hearing started to get worse so my ENT doctor suspected I had a lot of scar tissue from previous surgeries and possible bone deterioration and he was right. A 2-hour surgery turned into a 6-hour one, but they made it so my hearing remained the same, and I was able to have a balance that I didn’t have before. That balance helped me go further with dance, and I was on a competitive dance team for four years. After that surgery, I ended up finding out I had a rare condition called branchiotorenal syndrome which affects the ears and kidneys. After an ultrasound when I was six years old, I found out I had chronic kidney disease. It’s all tied together, but now I have one kidney, and dance helps me keep it strong.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I love to dance most and create with choreographers pieces of art that tell a story, and it’s a bonus when it tells my story. I have got to do one so far with Thalia Ramos which tells a story about my journey of finding out I had a chronic illness while already being deaf/hard of hearing. I am currently working with Ruby Pappan on something very special and do not want to give it away, but she is absolutely amazing and focuses on how I feel the music. I can’t wait to share! Both of these women have been such a huge part of my journey, and I love them so much. I am known I think as one of the deaf dancers part of our community. I like to act and model as well and love to show my true authentic self always and I think that is what I am most proud of. It can be hard being young and wearing hearing aids and struggling with hearing loss in dance convention settings but I have learned my way of navigating through it. I may not always get the scholarship or award but it’s the experience and training I go for anyway and the award is always just the bonus. What sets me apart is that I can’t hear like everyone else. Yes, I can hear with hearing aids, but it isn’t the same as someone who can hear. I rely on the aids and sometimes they pick up way more sound or too little which makes it challenging but because I’ve been doing this since I was so little feeling the beat and reading lips is my way of getting through it all.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
How I found my mentor, Ruby Pappan, is by being so inspired by her at a dance convention when she was teaching. She says the acronym F.E.A.R. and that stands for false evidence appearing real and it’s a monster in our own heads that we need to push away with our fierce energy. I related to that being a deaf dancer and have taken it with me every convention and every class I’ve gone to. I realized at a young age through another mentor of mine, Thalia Ramos, and her journaling classes that I wanted more than competitions and awards for myself. I started to train more with both of these amazing women and continued to learn more about myself, and they both pushed me to believe that I can do anything and be anything I set my heart on. I got to go to a concert where Ruby choreographed the whole show. I have never wanted more to be on that stage with her and creating magic in that same way. I think that you need to find who makes you feel the most comfortable but pushes you at the same time while allowing you to be true to yourself. I have been open and honest about my story and that includes the good and the bad and I’ve got nothing but immense support from both Thalia and Ruby. I say find your person who you connect with; never have it be forced. You will know who is meant to be on your path with you because you were meant to be on theirs too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/lilyrepace
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilybug_thedancer/
Image Credits
Jasmine Gonzalez
