The Villages Daily Sun

THE VILLAGES — Reynaldo “Rey” Arceo listens attentively and moves with rhythm, following the instructions of dance teachers in a Country Two-Step class.

The 65-year-old Village of Sunset Pointe resident relies on hearing what instructor Al Dobbins and his assistant Sylvia Shane tell him to do, as he is unable to watch the pair demonstrate the dance moves.

Arceo is blind.

“I admire that he has the guts to come out here and do it, and to do it so well,” marvels Shane, of the Village of Hacienda Hills, during Wednesday’s class at Pimlico Recreation Center.

Shane and Dobbins say Arceo is a quick learner.

There are times when Dobbins will hold his dance student’s hands in place, so Arceo can feel where they’re supposed to be during different dance moves.

“I’ll take his hands and move them,” Dobbins said. “He gets it.”

“I lost my vision overnight,” recalled Arceo, who is totally blind and had to retire from the work he loved as a research pathologist.

“I lost it in my left eye in 2001, and then in 2004 in my right eye,” he said. “Everything I see is completely black in my case. It was a sudden loss of vision, and doctors don’t know the cause of it.”

Arceo went through bouts of depression.

“I was depressed all the time,” he said, recalling it was hard to get him out of his chair. “Then I decided not to feel sorry for myself. I realized that being depressed was not so good for me.”

A move to The Villages in May 2005 lifted his spirits, especially listening to the nightly music at the town squares.

“I was happy hearing the music,” Arceo recalled, smiling. He and Jeanette, his wife of 23 years, found going to the squares their favorite thing to do.

“Being at the squares helped me a lot, and the people are so helpful to me and so friendly,” he said.

Then, one night, when the music was just right, Rey and Jeanette enjoyed a slow dance together at Lake Sumter Landing Market Square.

They began dancing even more.

“People were coming to us on the squares all the time, telling us they like how we dance together,” Jeanette said.

Eight months ago, Jeanette noticed a variety of dance classes offered through The Villages Lifelong Learning College. She and her husband decided to try some beginning classes.

Jeanette notes her husband relies on his memory of things he could see when he was sighted, which he now uses for a frame of

reference.

“He visualizes in his head what the steps are,” she said, adding the dance instructors are so helpful. “They break down the steps in a very easy manner, and they literally walk you right through it.”

The pair aspire to take a few more dance classes.

“We want to do it all,” Rey said, grinning.

“This expands our repertoire,” Jeanette said of their current class. “We can do the rumba, we can do the swing and some slow dances, and now we’ll be able to do country.”

Rey proudly notes that learning to dance has opened up a new world for him.

“I love to learn, and I love to do this,” he said. “This is something available that I can do, and I enjoy it so much.”

He plans to dance for a long time, he said, with his sweetheart Jeanette close by his side.

Theresa Campbell is a senior features writer with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9260, or theresa.campbell@thevillagesmedia.com.