Rose Ayling-Ellis Moves Strictly Viewers To Tears With Emotional Performance Dedicated To The Deaf Community

Rose Ayling-Ellis had Strictly Come Dancing viewers in tears with an emotional routine dedicated to the deaf community on Saturday night.

The EastEnders star, who is the BBC ballroom show’s first-ever deaf contestant, performed a contemporary dance to Symphony by Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson alongside her partner Giovanni Pernice as their Couple’s Choice.

The music was paused during the middle of the routine as the couple continued to dance in silence as a tribute to the deaf community.

The performance picked up 39 points out of a possible 40 from the judges, with Anton Du Beke, who has been on the show since it began in 2004, declaring it the “greatest thing I’ve ever seen on the show”.

He became emotional as he delivered his comments to Rose and Giovanni, as did Motsi Mabuse, who said: “I honestly feel like saying thank you, because I think this was just such a beautiful moment to include us in your world. And for us to actually understand – how important.

“And this was so special. Sometimes it’s more than scores and marks and dancing, sometimes it’s just a moment, and we just had that, and thank you so much.”

Head judge Shirley Ballas remarked: “Well, I feel first of all, that I should stand up out of respect for you sharing, particularly the silent moment which I was not expecting and it takes you into a much deeper place.

“I’m sure the deaf community will be absolutely so proud of you.

“And for sharing your heart, and for being honest, and for being true and for people seeing that a beautiful young lady like you can be so successful.

“This is a number that will be etched in my heart for a long time. It was absolutely beautiful.”

Despite having one technical note for Rose on how to add more energy into the contemporary dance, Craig Revel Horwood also hailed the performance as “fab-u-lous”.

On social media, fans were equally moved by Rose and Giovanni’s routine, with many in tears:

After the performance, Rose thanked Giovanni for his dedication in creating the choreography of the routine.

She said: “I feel very thankful for your determination to make this dance the most positive, happy dance, it can be, because you know that being deaf, there’s nothing wrong, it’s such a joy to be deaf, and I think that says a lot about you as a person.”

The couple were also sent a video message from Hamilton Lodge School and College, a school for the deaf, who thanked them for representing the deaf community and for inspiring others.

The pupils and staff conveyed the message in sign language, saying: “You are great role models for us because you show that deaf and hearing people can work together to achieve anything.

“And like you, we want more people to learn how to sign.”

Rose and Giovanni ended up landing in second place on the judges’ leaderboard, with only Rhys Stephenson and Nancy Xu’s Charleston beating them with a perfect score of 40.

Find out who is next to leave Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday at 7.20pm on BBC One.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.

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