Chris McCausland of Strictly Come Dancing Receives Acclaim for Performance Depicting Blindness

Strictly Come Dancing participant Chris McCausland has garnered commendation for a dance routine that mirrored his personal experience with blindness. On Saturday, McCausland and his professional dance partner, Dianne Buswell, concluded the program with their couple’s choice performance, set to John Lennon’s “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On).” During the routine, the comedian covered Buswell’s eyes with his hands as the stage lights dimmed to darkness. Shortly after, the illumination returned, revealing him twirling Buswell on his shoulders amidst a display of pyrotechnics. The judges awarded the duo a score of 33 out of a maximum of 40 points. Craig Revel Horwood characterized the “poignant blackout moment” as “absolutely spectacular.” Head judge Shirley Ballas remarked to McCausland, who holds the distinction of being the BBC program’s inaugural blind contestant, that he appears each week “with your heart on your sleeve, and you give us 100%.” Speaking on Sunday’s installment of Strictly, McCausland commented that the public’s response had been “amazing and on social media everyone really loved what we did.” Regarding the performance, he stated: “It was nice to be able to smile and enjoy ourselves, have some lifts in it, and a little bit of wow-factor.” Shaun Hayward, a blind singer and dancer, has been following McCausland’s journey on the program through the comprehensive audio captions provided with the broadcast. During an interview with BBC Breakfast on Sunday, Hayward commended Buswell for “brilliantly” coaching McCausland. He elaborated: “It’s not only doing that with someone with sight loss, it’s that individual – how do they think, how do they work – do they work in numbers, do they work in patterns?” Hayward mentioned that in his personal dancing approach, he identifies as a “patterns person,” frequently rehearsing routines by moving his hands on a table to visualize the overall flow of movement. He concluded: “But, it’s like anything – the more you do it, you’re connecting the dots.” McCausland’s Saturday night performance drew comparisons to a 2021 routine by deaf actor Rose Ayling-Ellis. Ayling-Ellis and her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice, honored the deaf community by performing a segment of their dance in total silence. This performance earned the former Eastenders star a Bafta award for the best must-see TV moment. McCausland became registered blind after experiencing sight loss due to retinitis pigmentosa during his 20s and 30s. Prior to joining Strictly, he maintained that he “can’t dance,” stating: “If anybody out there is thinking ‘how the hell is he going to do that?’ then rest assured that I am thinking exactly the same thing.” Earlier in the week, students from the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford, where McCausland was formerly a student, informed the BBC that he was surpassing expectations. A student commented: “Some people think that people that have visual impairments can’t really do anything or can’t do much with their life beside piano tuning.” They further added: “He’s doing so well now, it’s quite surreal but it’s really good, especially for those who don’t know anything about the eye.” Another student expressed that it would be “really cool if someone who is visually impaired like us” were to win the competition. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content of external websites. Information regarding its approach to external linking is available.