Dalton Rumba

Dalton Rumba is the show choir director at the Haverbrook School for the Deaf. His first appearance is in Hairography, the eleventh episode of Season One.

Dalton Rumba is portrayed by actor, writer and producer Michael Hitchcock.

Hairography
When he first appears, he is angry with Will because he let the Jane Addams Academy girls come to their school for a performance scrimmage. So Will says that the Haverbrook School can come over for a performance. He brings the show choir to McKinley and they "sing" Imagine in sign language. The Glee kids come up and sing with them. At the end of the episode, after Sue gets Will's set list, she gives it to Dalton and Grace, the Jane Addams show choir director.

Sectionals
Dalton and Grace are at Sectionals with their choirs, knowing for a fact that one of them will win because they cheated. Dalton, in a celebratory fashion, decides to buy them both pretzels, but Grace doesn't feel much like celebrating because she didn't want to cheat. Meanwhile, Will and Emma find out that Sue leaked the set list to them, and Emma, who is the McKinley glee club's supervisor at Sectionals, tells the two directors off, disappointed that they would do that with their students. Mr. Rumba began to shoot back accusations against Emma, claiming that she is merely prejudiced against the deaf. Emma however reminds him and Grace that the best thing they can do for their kids is have faith in them, rather than feel the need to cheat in order to boost their self-worth. Rumba however still decides to let his students steal Don't Stop Believin', which makes Emma and Rachel furious. In the end Grace decides that she wants to tell the judges they cheated, but they had already made up their decision and McKinley won anyway.

It is not shown when Mr. Rumba had a change of heart, but he and Grace would later hand over evidence to McKinley High's Principal, that Sue had given them the setlist. This results in Sue getting suspended.

He is not seen at all in Season Two or Three.

Makeover
Dalton appears in a meeting with Will and two others to discuss ideas at the annual Show Choir Committee meeting. While perusing over the snacks provided during the meeting, Dalton makes several requests and comments regarding the gluten content of the snacks, stating that if he consumes any gluten, the group will have quite a mess on their hands. These comments allude to the possibility that the character has celiac disease.

Love Love Love
He appears in the performance of Help!. He is seen playing the piano while the Haverbrook School for the Deaf perform. He also appears in the performance of All You Need Is Love, guiding the deaf kids as Kurt goes down the Dalton's stairs.

The Hurt Locker, Part Two
He appears in William McKinley High School. His glee club was disbanded after budget cuts. He now works as a part-time cop and part-time mixed martial arts instructor. When Roderick tells Rachel there's a cop in her office to investigate Klaine's disappearance, she approached the cop, and surprised that the cop turned out to be Dalton, whom she recognize as the Haverbrook's glee club director. He says that maybe Kurt and Blaine must have gone to New York together where they really belong, unlike her. He adds that no way Blaine would end up with Karofsky since Dalton hates him. He then incorrectly states that maybe Rachel kidnapped them after her failed broadway and pilot careers and how her friends are more talented than her makes her jealous. Rachel, astonished, leaves him as he keeps talking.

Personality
Dalton appears manipulative as he frequently uses his disability as an excuse and to get his way. Rumba had scarlet fever as a kid, leaving him deaf in his right ear. So he is constantly asking for people to speak up and yelling "I can't hear you. Scarlet fever!" He cares for the children with disabilities that he teaches very much and wants them to be happy, so he will do anything for them. Ironically however, rather than being accepting of others, he often accuses anyone who disagrees with him of being prejudiced against the deaf in a defensive and desperate attempt to win arguments.

Trivia

 * Michael Hitchcock, the actor who portrays Dalton Rumba, later became a writer for Glee in Season Three, and wrote the season three episodes Mash Off and Big Brother.
 * He is the first person that is part of Glee's production team to have appeared on the show. Ian Brennan is the second person, as he was on the show in the episode On My Way, as Svengoobles, the judge at Regionals, and then later on in Glee, Actually as the director of the movie Puck and Jake crash while singing Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah.