Meet the inspirational four-year-old girl who loves to dance - despite not being able to hear the music.<br /><br />Kristalyn Ibarra was born profoundly deaf due to her hearing nerve in her right ear being missing for reasons unknown to medics.<br /><br />Initially, her parents feared the handicap would hold her back but the determined little girl has already defied their expectations.<br /><br />Kristalyn plays baseball like her dad Marcos Ibarra, 29, and at the age of three discovered her favourite hobby - dancing.<br /><br />Every week, the pre-kindergartener goes to Kimberly's Dance Studio in Paramount, California, USA, where she does tap and ballet. <br /><br />And despite not being able to hear the music, she has learnt to memorize every step of a routine in order to keep up with her non-deaf classmates.<br /><br />Proud dad Marcos, who has learned sign language along with the rest of the Ibarra family, said seeing his daughter perform filled him with joy.<br /><br />The dad-of-three, who is expecting twins with Kristalyn's mom, Cristina, 26, even took up dancing classes so he could join her for a duet during a recent recital.<br /><br />Oil refinery electrician Marcos, of Long Beach, California, said: "Oh man, she is wonderful. She is very strong and outgoing and she is happy all the time.<br /><br />"Her favourite thing is that she absolutely loves to dance.<br /><br />"We made flashcards for the dance teacher which have simple signs on them like 'stand back', 'go here', 'come here'.<br /><br />"She pretty much has to memorize the steps because it's hard for us to explain to her to feel the rhythm at this point.<br /><br />"We will record the routine and put it on the TV so she can practice.<br /><br />"She is always dancing at home and at parties she is the first up on the dance floor. I'm pretty sure she feels the music.<br /><br />"With the dance studio she has done three performances with audiences and one was a big performance that I actually performed in for the father-daughter dance.<br /><br />"That was my first time dancing and I'm not a big dancer but the father-daughter bond that we have would make me do anything.<br /><br />"When I saw her on stage I was filled with excitement and joy. I was so proud of her."<br /><br />Medics are unsure why Kristalyn was born deaf but she diagnosed at two months old and tests showed it was not genetic. <br /><br />As she is missing part of the auditory nerve she cannot be given cochlear implants like many children and adults who are hearing impaired.<br /><br />Kristalyn attends a deaf school and her brothers Nathan, nine, and Ryan, six, also take weekly classes so they can learn to sign to help them communicate with their sibling.<br /><br />Her parents, grandmother and six other family members have also enrolled so they can communicate with her.<br /><br />Marcos said: "When we found out Kristalyn was deaf it was stressful. We were scared. She is the first deaf family member we have had.<br /><br />"We were also sad because the first thought was, 'She is not going to be able to hear, how is she going to deal with life by herself?'<br /><br />"It has been hard with the communication but once we broke that barrier with sign language everything went so much more smoothly.<br /><br />"Now pretty much anything she signs we can understand.<br /><br />"We have realized that what she has is a disadvantage but with time and patience, she will make that disadvantage into an advantage.<br /><br />"I would have never thought she'd be able to dance but now I'm seeing her growing up and taking on these challenges alongside the hearing girls.<br /><br />"There are no boundaries or goals she can't reach."
