Thursday, December 9, 2010
Time has come for me to say goodbye to the AXIS office.
I have had an insightful and rewarding three months with the Company and I’m sad to be saying farewell (for now!). It has been a real joy to be a part of this passionate and creative team.
If I had to pinpoint a highlight per month they would be:
September- Dance Access Day introducing AXIS to 800 Children and Adults, watching the enjoyment spread through The Malonga Theater.
October- Engaging Community through tabling events at local festivals and fundraisers, calling new and old friends to promote AXIS’ home-season.
November- ‘ODD’, rehearsing and performing with Shinichi, Joan, AXIS and inkBoat at ODC Theater and The Malonga.
December- Christmas Songs being played in the office all day long, making the survey data entry just about bearable.
I now have a month to explore as much of the States as possible. Tomorrow I head south for the winter, visiting a friend in Nashville, TN then on to San Diego and finishing with meting a friend in Las Vegas, a few days of partying and hopefully a trip to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. I’ll be back in the Bay for Christmas and hope to see LA and Lake Tahoe before heading back across the Pond the first week of January.
I want to take this opportunity to once again say Thank-You to everyone for a wonderful Fall and welcoming me into the AXIS community. I will be sure to take all the skills I have acquired back to the UK and show ‘em how it’s done!
Happy Holidays and wishing you all a great New Year!
Kat
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Reflection
One thing is for sure; my passion for dance has been renewed!
The creative versatility of AXIS is inspiring and I admire how much this company strives to strengthen and develop community relationships. It has also been a privilege to discover new dance styles and be a part of the Bay Area dance scene. I enjoyed a trip to the Smuin Holiday Ballet over the Thanksgiving weekend, have been continuing my practice of Indian dance styles, Irish social dancing, modern classes at Shawl Anderson and the occasional class in other world dance styles. I am considering starting my own integrated Dance Company on return to the UK working with a variety of world dance styles. My time at AXIS has given me the confidence and knowledge to make my first steps.
Apart from dance I have discovered an interest in Marketing and PR and I am looking to continue developing these skills in an arts organization, or perhaps in companies geared towards travel or health- two more of my passions!
My time at AXIS is coming to an end however I have another month to explore the US before returning home. I have trips planned to visit friends in Nashville, TN and Las Vegas. I’m hoping to see the Grand Canyon on my travels and also find time to visit Southern Cal, including Hollywood, and maybe Lake Tahoe in the snow! Any hints or tips on what not to miss before I leave- please let me know!
I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope all AXIS blog readers did too! I was lucky enough to experience two Thanksgiving dinners with friends and their families. I am truly thankful for the opportunity I have had to live and work in California, making new friends and be a part of a fantastic team. Thank you AXIS staff, dancers, board members and supporters for making me at home and I wish you all HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
ODD: source of inspiration
Odd Nerdrums paintings have been the inspiration for "ODD" ever since the beginning of the project. We feel that seeing Odd Nerdrums paintings prior to the show can be enriching for your experience as an audience member.
We therefore invite you to explore his paintings online at nerdruminstitute.com as well as looking at the photos taken during our performance at ODC last week : pakhan.com
"ODD": Nov 12, 13 @8pm, Nov 14 @2pm
Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, Oakland, CA
painting: Odd Nerdrum
photo: Michelle Clement
One Down, ODD to go...
The recently refurbished ODC Theater is a beautiful space that allowed the wonderfully articulated movement of the dancers to resonate alongside dynamic live composition by Jean Jeanrenaud and Dohee Lee. I have been given the great privilege to perform alongside the company as a guest dancer. Being both physically and strategically involved with this year’s home season has given me a new burst of passion for dance. ODD is beautiful, hypnotizing and pulls you into the paintings of Odd Nerdrum. David Molesky, a San Franciscan based artist who apprenticed with Odd, will be painting his own impression of the choreography this coming weekend at The Malonga, needless to say I am looking forward to seeing the final product!
I am also looking forward to celebrating at the after party, especially if it’s anywhere near as good as last week, plus I won’t have to wait for BART home!
I’ve been continuing my adventures of the Bay and beyond. Last night I took my first ever Brazilian dance class, have been enjoying weekend brunches at the great cafes around, San Francisco sightseeing up Coit Tower and I have a trip planned with friends to Monterey Bay next weekend. Yes I will go to the aquarium!
Being over half way through my internship I’ve begun thinking of what’s next? Maybe what’s next for you is taking my place in the AXIS office- the pink pilates ball I’ve been sitting on will be lonely otherwise! AXIS is looking for applications for the Winter internship beginning January 2011, so if you enjoy working in a fast-moving environment and a laugh a day then give us a call!
A quick thought on what makes us a dancer! During my time in the US I’ve been asked many many times “are you a dancer?”
My answer: “We all move in our own unique way and exude a personal spirit through our movement. A job, a style or payment does not define us as a dancer and being a dancer does not define who we are. We are all dancers as everybody dances- don’t pretend you don’t move around your bedroom now and again!”
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
ODD Notes and provoked musings……
I was able to attend the two opening performances (Friday and Saturday) of ODD at the ODC Theater in San Francisco. I was able to talk to a few folks after the performance Friday night. It was interesting that about 50% of the audience on Friday were SF State dance students. Only one person had ever heard of AXIS and most were at the performance as part of a class they were taking. All had high praise for the performance and were very interested in how ODD was developed.
On Saturday I spoke to a couple who attended because they were fans of Shinichi Iova-Koga. They said they always try to see work done by Shinichi because it was always a surprise. The couple were both dancers and they really liked ODD. They were especially impressed by the integration of inkBoat and AXIS. They had never seen AXIS before and were stirred by the performance.
I was stimulated by the performance of ODD. I had unexpected emotions and felt at some points sad and at other points uncomfortable. The piece is powerful… The integration of AXIS and inkBoat was done well and the dancers combined to paint a compelling picture.
I was particularly impressed by the musical accompaniment by cellist Joan Jeanrenaud and the multi instrumental Dohee Lee. They brought an almost magical sound and feeling to the overall mood of ODD.
I plan on seeing ODD at least two more times at the Malonga Center this weekend. And I hope to see this piece as AXIS performs it while touring. In my opinion this is one of the best works of AXIS Dance Company.
Chuck
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
SF Chronicle: ODC Theater gets jump on butoh with 'ODD'
Welcome to the wide, wonderful, wacky, sometimes wearying world of butoh. This school of expressionist dance theater spawned in Japan after the horrors of World War II will be much with us the next couple of weeks. The style's most peripatetic practitioners, the Sankai Juku company, will visit the Bay Area through Sunday, while films of Kazuo Ohno, butoh's peerless pioneer, will be screened at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
However, ODC Theater got the jump on the rest of the pack Friday evening with its premiere of an unusual, unprecedented collaboration. "ODD," inspired by the Norwegian figurative painter, Odd Nerdrum, united Shinichi Iova-Koga's inkBoat collaborative with Oakland's Axis Dance Company, which integrates able and disabled performers. In the past, the troupe has commissioned pieces from dance world heavy hitters like Bill T. Jones and Joe Goode, but rarely has it been tested as in this unbroken, 75-minute opus. And rarely has it emerged with such stunning results.
The lexicon of butoh inclines to graduated movement delivered by supple, contorted bodies and often articulated at a glacial pace, frequently approaching stasis, not surprising from a country that suffered nuclear attack. The apocalyptic mood yields the gaping mouths and confrontational gazes appropriated from Edvard Munch. Choreographer Iova-Koga has worked brilliantly with Axis, smoothly deploying wheelchair-bound Alice Shepherd and Rodney Bell, who, near the start, delivers an ominous monologue about guns. Long-time Axis fans who have come to expect Bell's duetting with diminutive Sansherée Giles will not be disappointed.
Iova-Koga strives to vary the pace and patterning. He fills the performance space with processions, unisons and solo outings. He smoothly blends his dancers and those from Axis, and, in the finale, he sets 19 barefoot dancers whirling, shuffling and hopping manically across the field of vision. The individual personalities of the inkBoat performers also come through, notably in a playful (everything is relative) duet for Yuko K and Peiling Kao.
Iova-Koga expertly mines the dark vein of absurdist humor that infiltrates butoh. His opening monologue describing Nerdrum's style (a projection of a painting might have helped) concludes with a physical feat that left this observer gasping. The recounting of a hilarious anecdote about John Lennon and Paul McCartney almost passes without notice.
The danger in butoh performance lies in treading a thin line between sustaining a vocabulary that depends on a high degree of physical rigor and permitting the stylization to slip into mannerism. Iova-Koga never crosses that frontier, though a bit of editing might improve the piece.
"ODD," which transfers to Oakland next weekend, arrives with an impressive team of collaborators. Cellist Joan Jeanrenaud, a frequent participant in Axis' ventures, contributed an effective score performed live and amplified. Seated on an elevated platform, Jeanrenaud alternates contemplative passages with discordant episodes. The versatile Dohee Lee supplies percussive interludes, some barely perceptible, others painfully resonant, and wordless chants which suggest rumblings in the soul. Heather Barsarab's lighting does the job magnificently.
ODD: Axis Dance Company and inkBoat. Through Sun. Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 428 Alice St., Oakland. $10-$22. (800) 838-3006. www.brownpapertickets.com.
E-mail Allan Ulrich at datebookletters@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/08/DD951G899C.DTL
This article appeared on page E - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, October 22, 2010
Kat's Blog: things are heating up at AXIS ( in a good way)
The temperature may have dropped in the Bay area but things are heating up at AXIS. There is only 2 weeks until the company premieres ODD at ODC Theater in San Francisco and 3 weeks until we come home to The Malonga Theater, Oakland!
Tickets are starting to pick up fast so make sure you reserve yours today at http://www.brownpapertickets.com for the Malonga show and http://www.odcdance.org for the ODC show. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how the piece comes together and meeting an AXIS audience!
I would love to get out and see dance performances around the city however ticket prices around here are quite high, definitely more pricey than at home, and I’m yet to find smaller scale shows that suit my budget- I know they’re out there so I’ll just keep searching…..
I turned 22 last week and spent a great day at Tilden State Park. I believe this is the first time I have ever sunbathed on my birthday and it was a real treat to go hiking and then swimming in Lake Anza. That, plus a weekend in wine country for The Revolution, made for great celebrations although my friends and family back home will know I was missing a good traditional cake!
I’m also looking forward to Halloween coming up at the end of the month. It isn’t a big deal in the UK so I’m waiting with anticipation for my chance to visit a pumpkin patch and start carving. What costume to wear-now that’s the question!
Looking forward to seeing you all at the show!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
World Premiere ODD Performed by AXIS Dance Company and inkBoat
“[AXIS Dance Company’s] dancing drew us in, and by the finale, the evening was coruscating with brilliant dancing, and there was no place on earth I'd rather be.” -Dance View Times
"Jeanrenaud's sheer technical virtuosity is what a listener notices first--the full-voiced beauty of her string tone, her melodic fluency, her rock steady ryhthmic control." -San Francisco Chronicle
"...inkBoat is at the forefront of a new generation. Founder Shinichi Iova-Koga creates startlingly imaginative psychological journeys of humor and horror..." -San Francisco Chronicle
Directed and Choreographed by Shinichi Iova-Koga
Music Composed by Joan Jeanrenaud
Image: AXIS Dance Company and Inkboat in 'ODD'. Photo by Michele Clement
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Dance company looks beyond disabilities
Wheelchairs and disabled people are not common sights on most stages throughout the country—Judith Smith, who has been in a wheelchair since age 17, can personally attest to that. But Smith is also the artistic director and a founding member of AXIS Dance Company, an integrated company with both disabled and non-disabled dancers which mixes exciting dance moves with powerful messages about disability and accepting differences. The company is currently comprised of eight dancers, five who are disabled and three who are not.
Axis performed its unique style of modern dance last Thursday at Dance Access Day: A Day of Dance, Disability, Performance and Fun at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts in Oakland. Audience members included children as well as disabled adults and seniors. Smith said she hopes these workshops provide children with “a seed of something different than what the traditional stereotypes of disabled people are—[that] these kids can come up with the idea that when people with differences work together, really beautiful things can happen.”
Halfway through each workshop, kids of all different ages, shapes, sizes, races, genders, and abilities were brought up onto the stage to dance alongside the performers. “Can you float?” Sonsheree Giles, the company’s associate director, as well as a dancer, choreographer and costume designer, asked of the kids and performers on the stage. She helped the kids try different movements that they’d seen during the professional pieces. “Can you make a sharp shape, sharp jagged lines? Now can you travel really fast? Fast and bouncy?”
Giles, dancing since she was a little girl, said that dancing with the Axis company answered her lingering questions about “what is dance, and who can dance, and why is dance valuable and important to my life? It continues to challenge and validate my artistic desire to move in a skillful and creative way.”
Bonnie Lewkowicz, a dancer and a founding member of Axis, also helped guide the children through the dance pieces and movements while the entire company of dancers stood on either side of her in a straight line running across the center of the jet black stage. Manual wheelchairs, power chairs, and people without chairs blended together. The dancers’ legs seemed to disappear, all covered in simple black bottoms that blended into the background of the stage, allowing audience members’ eyes to naturally fall on the brightly colored tops, many bordering on neon, worn by each dancer.
The sign language interpreter similarly blended into the background of the floor length, heavy black curtains as she stood to the right of the stage, her hands moving swiftly and her short, curly, dark blonde hair forming a halo around her head.
Axis was formed in 1987, and Smith feels confident in where the company is today. “To be a nationalized recognized contemporary repertory company with a strong education program, that was really the goal,” Smith said, as well as “to work with some of the best choreographers, composers and designers we could.”
The company’s next original show debuts in San Francisco on Nov. 5 and will be performed in Oakland Nov. 12 through Nov. 14.
For tickets to the San Francisco performances visit the ODC Theater website.
For tickets to the Oakland performances visit the Brown Paper Tickets website or call 1-800-838-3006.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
How time flies when you're having fun!
No surprise considering how busy we’ve been in the office. Emphasis has been on promoting our home season performance to old and new friends in the Bay area. AXIS had a table at the Rookridge Out and About Festival and what a great chance this was to meet local supporters and get the word out about the piece ODD premiering this November. Check out http://axisdance.org/performance.php for more info on reserving YOUR ticket to this exciting new piece! It was a beautiful sunny day and thank-you to all those who signed up to our email updates and stopped by for a chat- we hope you enjoyed the candy found in Bonnie’s hat!
Rehearsals for ODD with Shinichi Iova-Koga have picked up recently and you can feel the energy from the studio all the way down in the office. I’ve been snapping some good shots of rehearsals and even had the pleasure to join in one day. Shinichi’s choreography is Butoh inspired and it was a great chance for me to remember a week’s workshop I undertook with Marie Gabrielle-Roti over a year ago at NSCD.
Another highlight for me was Dance Access Day last Thursday. Annika, Education Director, was sorely missed at the event however Christy, I and the fabulous volunteers got 800 children and adults through the Malonga Center’s doors and all enjoyed 3 great performances by the Company. They did a great job and it was a pleasure to finally see the company in action. AXIS engage with young people in a way I have never seen before and I’m sure all the children who joined in with the improvisation task loved their taste of the big stage!. I definitely enjoyed watching and was itching to get up there with them!
The Company is currently in Lincoln, NE touring and I hope the itinerary we’ve drawn up all goes to plan. In the meantime I’m off to explore the beautiful Californian wilderness at Yosemite National Park this weekend- maybe I need some good luck not being an experienced camper!
As for future trips it’s nearly my Birthday and I’ll be taking a trip to wine country to volunteer at BORP’s (Bay Area Recreational Program) REVOLUTION fundraising event in Sonoma County. My housemate Sam Marks and AXIS’s own Bonnie Lewkowicz will be riding in the event and then we’ll all have a chance to enjoy the festivities afterwards. Find out more information at http://www.borp.org/revolution/index.php. I am looking forward to the event, my first Motel stay and a day of wine tasting on the Sunday! If you can’t make it up to support BORP then make sure to come and say hi to Christy and our board members tabling at the Spice of Life Festival, Berkeley on October 17th!
I am also taking part in a walk for Hydrocephalus October 24th in San Francisco run by The Hydrocephalus Association. My housemate, an avid AXIS supporter, has Hydrocephalus and if you could spare a few dollars to sponsor us then please visit: http://walk4hydro.org.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=435322&lis=1&kntae435322=3539C63A1BF64E72A55AAABFD9A3149F&supId=305436156. I would like to take this opportunity to thank AXIS for their very kind donation!
Thank-you and cheerio for now!
Kat
Monday, October 4, 2010
A week with AXIS Dance Company
After a long flight and a late-night arrival to campus, Alice, Rodney, Janet, Sebastian, Sonsherée, and Judith of AXIS Dance Company introduced themselves to the Bates Community with a lecture/demonstration in which they performed and discussed short samplings of recent works.
The company discussed rehearsal practices, educative initiatives, and what you do when you reach a limitation, like exhaustion, for instance—sometimes adrenaline gets you through, sometimes you need arnica the next day. Most audience members asked questions, though some affirmations slipped through. Omar Carrum, a choreographer with Delfos Danza and a teacher this year, stood up and poured his heart out to the company: he was frightened at first by this new and unknown form, but he was astounded by their effort and their beauty. We all agreed.
After the show, kids hovered around Rodney asking questions and feeding off his exuberant energy. Physical therapists from the Morrison Center talked with members of the company about movement techniques: SonsherĂ©e advised that instead of demanding mimicry, an instructor should suggest imagery. This allows for personal expression instead of specific stipulations. Alice also suggested establishing a movement language that everyone could attain, even if that’s only moving your eyes.
The week progressed onward, with rehearsals galore and the occasional class. Most of the company members stopped in during the Contact Jam, and we all moved together, many jammers experimenting with the technology of a manual wheelchair for the first time. A few AXIS dancers dropped into festival classes, such as Cynthia Oliver’s class, Text and Movement, wherein they collaborated with students on phrase work and its deconstruction.
On Saturday afternoon, the company held a workshop with local and festival participants. The class began with improvisational games: sculpting the body next to you, being led by the subtle force of touch, and locomoting in patterns. Then the class moved onto compositional tools. In pairs, we created phrases that had similar intentions to a duet demonstrated by Rodney and SonsherĂ©e, however the outcomes varied tremendously. We spent the rest of class being blown away by our peers’ work.
The workshop was extra special, because three of the local participants were returning to Bates to work with Judy Smith (director of AXIS) for the second time. They had first worked together on a community dance project in 2003, and paid the company the highest honor by electing to return seven years later. One local participant, Mallory, described why she felt compelled to return: “it is completely inspiring to reconnect with my creative self and really just let myself be taken away with the movement.” She further noted just how righteous it is that AXIS is not providing an “ ‘adaptive’ program, but one integrated so that people can just feel out movements, learn from each other, and in the end create something ultimately beautiful.”
The company performed an impressive program of works on both Friday and Saturday night. The evening began with Joe Goode’s the beauty that was mine, through the middle, without stopping which toys with the authenticity of sight. Next up was Alex Ketley’s Vessel that opened with a duet to which Nancy Salmon, the Assistant Director, attested, “it was the sexiest thing I’ve seen in a while.” The show closed with a raw and sweet piece by Bates festival alum, David Dorfman, called Light Shelter. Dorfman described the choreographic process in the post-performance Q&A, stating, “in the beginning, rehearsals focused on establishing a common [movement] vocabulary in order to determine what we could risk.” It is because AXIS takes such risks, that they reach their audience’s hearts.
And yet, they are not doing anything more extraordinary than being themselves. Talking with audience members after the show, the most common adjectives were “awe-inspiring,” “beautiful,” and “intense.” Ariana, a festival participant added to this list, asserting that “their collaboration of varied bodies was clever and full.” Two different dancers, Emily and Safi, both told me individually that AXIS’s work inspires new concepts of unison. The dancers in AXIS cause you to think, cause the humanity to pour out of you, simply by using the bodies they’ve got and moving them on stage.
Om Devi, an audience member who used to improvise with Judith Smith, director of AXIS, could see the development of the company and the work. She remarked on their use of levels and subtext, and claimed, “they are pushing their own edge and expanding by doing set choreography.”
A few moments stuck in many audience member’s minds: SonsherĂ©e spinning on Rodney’s wheel, Sebastian lifting Rodney, Lisa narrating her walking (and stopping) patterns, Alice manically tracing her face, and Judy calling out improvisational instructions. For some, the images stick. For others the feelings abide. Just ask workshop participant, Tim, and he will convince you “their show is the most memorable, moving stuff you could see.”
Reported by Project Assistant Lindsay Reuter
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Kat's First Blog!!
Hi from Kat, AXIS’ latest Intern!
It’s great to come in to such a welcoming office when you’re thousands of miles from home!
I flew over last Wednesday from the UK after graduating from The Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Leeds, UK and completing a summer of traveling adventures. (Including discovering belly dance in Morocco – something I hope to pursue whilst staying in the bay area)!
My first week has been great. I’ve been preparing for the exciting upcoming Home Season performances and working on the itinerary for AXIS Dance Company’s tour next month to the Lied Center. Lincoln. Plus I’ve got really good at leaving voicemail messages.
It’s wonderful to be in an area cram packed with so many dance styles and variety in Contemporary Dance. I hope to make the most of this during my stay and have already done an Irish jig, shaken my hips Bollywood style as well as keeping up my ballet technique. I’m looking forward to seeing what new contemporary work is emerging around here too and AXIS is a great place to start- maybe I’ll head up to watch rehearsal later!?
My experience of physically integrated dance is that the companies have a strong sense of community and know how to have fun whilst exploring new realms of movement. I am an emerging artist associate with CandoCo Dance Company in the UK, which has led to me creating a duet with a new friend, Kimberley Harvey, that I hope to return to in January. I have also undertaken work experience with StopGap Dance Company where I took class and had a taste of behind the scenes action. I am sure that my time with AXIS will build on these skills and open my eyes to the world of dance Stateside!
Cheerio!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
AXIS Summer Intensive 2010 - last post from intern Cayenne
Day 3: 25 dancers of various ages, walk, motor, hop or wheel through the studio space, chanting different syllables;
To see what I mean, check out our latest updates on YouTube and Flicker!
In the afternoon we had improvisation, and during composition we created solos inspired by anatomical pictures (for example knee joints or the shoulder). We then combined solos to create a duet, finally combining duets to create a piece for the showing at the end of the week. I loved watching the metamorphosis and evolution of all the beautiful quartets.
It's been a wonderful AXIS Summer, and I wanted to thank all the people I've met - staff, dancers, board members, and fans, for being so welcoming! I also want to thank all the summer intensive participants. It was an amazingly warm, friendly, and supportive group, and I really felt comfortable challenging myself. I hope that you can all take some of that openness into the real world and pay it forward. The last thing I would like to say is, hopefully you got some rest first : ) but keep on DANCING! - Cayenne Ross
AXIS on cover of New Mobility magazine!
The last act of the 2008 Sins Invalid performance opened with a dark stage backlit with dusk-blue. To the sound of a pulsing Maori keening chant with techno highlights, wheelchair dancer Rodney Bell slowly lowered down onto the stage via cables. Sometimes dangling upside down, sometimes appearing to somersault, Bell, a T3-6 para, gyrated along the way. He slapped his chest and thighs — warlike gestures punctuated with grunts — and when he finally had all four wheels on the ground, his face, painted with traditional tattoos, appeared to the audience. The dance, sensual and aggressive, might have been a holy ritual.
read more
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Open Rehearsal
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Creating ODD!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Review: 'Physically integrated' AXIS delivers moving performance
By JENNIFER BREWER
Published in The Portland Press Harald
The performers of AXIS Dance Company danced, rolled, spoke and sang their way through Saturday's program at Bates Dance Festival, in a gripping, moving and exciting performance.
AXIS is the groundbreaking dance troupe, founded in 1987, that has created a dialogue and re-evaluation of how disability does and does not affect artistic movement.
Differences in physicality proved to be both central and almost superfluous to the performance. Every piece involved examination of physical ability and/or specific use of wheelchairs in the choreography. At the same time, the choreographic whole transcended reference to differing ability.
Each of the three pieces presented Saturday was created by a choreographer in collaboration with the dancers. Each included the spoken word, with or without music. Snatches of song and some skit-type acting were integrated, expanding the concept of onstage dance performance to be more multi-disciplinary and multi-textured.
"the beauty that was mine, through the middle, without stopping" (Joe Goode, choreographer), posed questions about image and ability, using two large wooden frames as frames and mirrors for the dancers.
"This is a picture of me, but not really me, in the end" was thematically spoken by Rodney Bell from his wheelchair and repeated later by Lisa Bufano. Bufano danced without prostheses in mirror poses with Janet Das on the other side of the frame. Later, Bufano returned to the stage with prostheses, moving with less fluidity, and said, "This is me, walking."
Here and in the next piece, "Vessel," associate director Sonsheree Giles performed sensual duets with Bell in which the two dancers seemed to meld. Bell made athletic use of his chair, including flipping over so that Giles could float and spin on a single wheel. Their limbs rose and entwined, in floor and chair work, challenging boundaries of perceived division and ability.
Bell and artistic director Judith Smith also challenged perceptions of ability by supporting the able-bodied dancers in falls and recoveries, and manually manipulating their bodies.
For "Vessel" (Alex Ketley, choreographer), the dancers' improvised words during movement were recorded and arranged by Carol Snow into an image-poem played over a background score.
Bell's "When you're planted, pushed down in something deep, you just want to push up" accompanied his lying on his back and then regaining his chair with help from Giles, in a posture suggestive of childbirth.
Alice Sheppard performed grand torso sweeps, balancing on her footrest and falling to her side, creating fascinating and complex geometries. Her recorded vocalizations were particularly telling in overall artistic terms, including the open-ended phrase, "In the absence of music..." and summary statement, "How do you talk about this when it's movement without words?"
"Light Shelter" (David Dorfman, choreographer) was an electric composition, with the creative use of onstage lighting symbolic of the dancers' sparking energy and athleticism.
Between lines of fluorescent lights at the front and back of the stage, Bell, Das, Giles, Sheppard and Sebastian Grubb flew, spun and contorted in group and solo movement. When they performed in a line, the jointly-created shapes were stunning, with almost frenetic movement punctuated by sudden stillness upon Smith's called-out instructions.
AXIS's performance gave concrete, non-euphemistic meaning to the term "differently-abled." Unconventional elements weren't gratuitous or distracting; instead, they enlarged and enhanced the choreography.
Each of the performers, whatever the status of their limbs, had moments of individual transcendence, with an unusually complete meshing -- for any dance troupe -- of all the dancers into a holistic onstage organism.
Jennifer Brewer is a freelance writer, teacher, musician and dancer who lives in Saco.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Just keepin' busy! :Bates Festival, Luna Kids, a focus group and a mixer
I recently attended a lecture given at Mills College for Luna Kids Dance by Annika, our education director, and Bonnie, one of our dancers. The lecture was great seeing different clips of class/workshops and hearing different strategies/ideas for integrated dance classes.
I also attended AXIS very first Focus Group and our July board Meeting. While I can not inform you of the significant and important events which took place at our secret board meeting- ok, I’m kidding, I won’t bore you with dry administrative stuff, but there was a dancer/board mixer combined with really awesome food beforehand. The purpose of this Focus Group was to find out how AXIS could serve the community better. It was very interesting at the Focus Group hearing different ideas and opinions about dance and disability, and we’d love to hear from you!
- I don’t believe in barriers or caged beauty. There is no way in these fast times that we can define what dance is. We cannot even definer what art is. [Javier de Frutos, 2001]
Monday, July 19, 2010
Talented, trusting and nontraditional: AXIS Dance Company
“I think it’s important to keep pushing the boundaries in any art form."
So says Judith Smith, artistic director of the California-based AXIS Dance Company, a ground-breaking contemporary dance company made up of dancers both with and without disabilities.
For more than two decades, they have challenged the traditional definitions of what contemporary dance and dancers are, and can be, by creating and exploring new movement through physically integrated dance.
“We’re not a wheelchair dance company. We’re not a disabled dance company. We’re a contemporary dance company. We do things within our company that other companies can not, and it completely broadens the palette of dance,” said Smith.
AXIS has been credited with expanding the vocabulary of contemporary dance through its innovative movement. By incorporating dancers with different abilities, it is able to create new shapes, explore space and move in nontraditional ways, bringing a unique and exciting aspect to the stage of contemporary dance.
The innovative dance troupe will perform Friday and Saturday, July 30-31, as part of the Bates Dance Festival.
“There’s a lot of trust and a lot of risk taking that happens in our company,” said Sonsheree Giles, a five-year dance member of AXIS. “When I work with Judy who uses a power chair, I can push off and perch and fly through space a little differently or with more momentum; it’s a different or extended way of partnering. It opened me up and helped me to fall in love with dance all over again.”
Challenging stereotypes to help broaden the definition of dance has not been easy.
At first, dance critics were skeptical as to whether the performances could actually be considered dance or if it was a form of therapy. Through educational and outreach services, including countless seminars, residencies, workshops and demonstrations, the company has taken its work across the nation and overseas, earning numerous accolades and helping to bring light — and acceptance — to the developing genre.
AXIS has gained the respect of the dance community, in part, because of its proven cutting-edge performances involving a number of world-renown choreographers, designers and composers. The company uses commissioned work and in-house and guest choreographers to create its touring repertory. It currently has more than 60 repertory works, two evening-length pieces and two works aimed at younger audiences. AXIS has also been commissioned to create pieces for several different dance festivals, including the Bates Dance Festival back in 2003.
Returning to the Bates stage seven years later, AXIS will present three new pieces: "Light Shelter" by well-known choreographer David Dorfman, "Vessel" created by Alex Ketley and "A Room with No View" by Sonya Delwaide.
“Our work really lends itself to a lot of different audiences,” said Smith. “Our repertory is very theatrical, very physical with really, really good dancing and (people) are going to see a vocabulary of dancing that they probably didn’t even know exists.”
Go and do:
WHAT: AXIS Dance Company lecture/demonstration
WHEN & WHERE: 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 26, Alumni Gym, Bates College
ADMISSION: Free
WHAT: AXIS Dance Company performance
WHEN & WHERE: 8 p.m. Friday, July 30, Schaeffer Theatre, Bates College
A question-and-answer session with the artists will follow.
TICKETS: $24/$12 for seniors and students
WHAT: AXIS Dance Company performance
WHEN & WHERE: 8 p.m. Saturday, July 31, Schaeffer Theatre, Bates College
A preperformance lecture, "Inside Dance," with dance writer Debra Cash will begin at 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS: $24, $12 seniors/students
FOR TICKETS: Call 786-6161 from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
find new ways to fall by Amber DiPietra
This experience made me happier than anything. Closest I've come to really being able to meditate. And, skim out endlessly on a (tide) line (in a poem) without any words. Almost home, almost the gulf, being beside the waterfall and with others. Aquatic, hot, breathing under other elements. (Not making it to Florida this summer--but enclosed a little prayer for the waters in this doing, over and over again.)
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