Keep Spinning the Wheel

by Annika Nonhebel, Education Director

One of my favorite things we do at AXIS are in-school assemblies. It's wonderful to see the kids enjoying our show, to see their exciting faces and be able to introduce them to our dance form. I love receiving letters, poems, and drawings from the students. They are art pieces in themselves. Here is one I definitely want to share with you ( i'm keeping the spelling as is).

Dancing
Dancing everywhere
even using wheelchairs
When you dance
it's so unike
springing and jumping
stunting to
double wheely
spin around
fall down too
crawling on the floor
spinning all together
stacked on top
you were so great
I liked it a lot
So keep spinning the wheel

Sincerely,
Grant
3rd grade, Old Orchard School

Saying Goodbye To Winter Intern: Marguerite

Wow - my last day at AXIS Dance Company! How time flies. Seems like I just arrived a month ago yet a full three months has gone by. I feel integrated into the weekly office functioning and now it is time to go. Reflecting back on the last three months, I feel a sense of accomplishment.

A few highlights: I have learned a tremendous amount regarding the ins and outs of setting up performance events, from flight arrangements to venue, hotel and presenter coordination. I have also dabbled quite a lot in the marketing of upcoming events. This has involved internet research and write-ups - two things I love to do! On a more practical end, I have helped to organize a couple of important office functions, like the music library and Annika's desktop space. I have also learned how to use a Mac! While this may seem trivial to some, to me it is an accomplishment I am now proud to add to my list.

On the more unusual office skills side, I have had a chance to be a part of the finalization of the curtain installation process! Yay, for completion! Thanks to Annika and Christy for getting lighter curtains, a suitable curtain rod and deciding to go for it! And what a wall we had to work with. Try hanging a curtain rod on a wall base of tin, drywall and cement. Needless to say, we had fun!



On the per-formative side, I have really enjoyed watching rehearsals and participating in the Monday Night Master Classes. I am also enjoying the Professional Teacher Training in Arts Integration. And on a personal note, I have started taking risks previously often avoided in dance. I am learning how to access choreography! This is a tremendous accomplishment for me, one that leaves me feeling really satisfied. I am continuously amazed at the parallels of learning choreography and other aspects of life. I am dyslexic. Determining left from right, up from down, flip-side from downside etc. can be really challenging for me. Because of the acceptance I encountered both in office and on the AXIS dance floor, I now feel a sense of inner integration and greater self-awareness. I have learned to handle and recognize many aspects of a learning disability previously frustrated by. Thank you AXIS!!!

All in all, my experience with AXIS Dance Company has been tremendous! Many thanks! See you on the dance floor!

Marguerite

Dance Anyhwere!

Sonsheree Giles and Rodney Bell, dancers part of the Axis Dance Company, perform “To Color Me Different” choreographed by Alex Keltley at the SFMoma on Friday March 18, 2011. Sasha Tivetsky / staff photographer

Posted on March 20, 2011 | GoldenGateXpress
By Chase S. Kmec

A true entertainer is in no need of fancy footwork to achieve a memorable performance.

On Friday afternoon, performers across the world celebrated “Dance Anywhere,” a simultaneous, unplanned public performance. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art hosted a performance of two dancers from AXIS Dance Company in commemoration of the day.

AXIS, an Oakland-based nonprofit founded in 1987, features physically disabled and able-bodied performers who specialize in physically integrated dance. This form of contemporary dance emphasizes the role of the disabled performer while also challenging people’s perceptions of the human body and the traditional notion of dancing.

“I was interested in challenging stereotypes when I joined AXIS,” said Sonsherée Giles, a dancer and associate director of AXIS. “We help educate people with our performances. It’s not for the weak of mind and it’s definitely unique.”

Giles, who has been with AXIS since 2005, often performs with Rodney Bell, who is paraplegic.

“Dancing in public spaces is harmonic in a meditative way,” Bell said. “But it can also be daring and edgy.”

Bell is originally from Te Kuiti, New Zealand and played basketball for the country’s Paralympic team from 1999 to 2006.

In the spirit of Dance Anywhere’s “no boundaries” philosophy, Giles and Bell performed “To Color Me Different” to onlookers in the SFMOMA lobby.

Bell was not confined to sitting. At times, he would leave his wheelchair and crawl across the museum floor, sometimes embracing his partner. Other times he would make use of the wheelchair, lifting it and utilizing his upper body strength, to perform an intricate pose. In turn, Giles would grab her partner and, while performing traditional dance, often used Bell’s back as a springboard to emphasize her flexibility with Bell wheeling about–all done in the name of artistic expression.

The performance was without any musical or audio accompaniment.

While many SFMOMA patrons milled about the lobby, others encircled the two performers, studying their physicality.

“For the observer, they’re doing their thing and a group of people become their backdrop,” said Ron Saunders, a photographer and art enthusiast. “I find it interesting how people don’t become aware of activity happening in their immediate area.”

In regards to the day itself, 12 p.m. marked a flurry of spontaneous performances courtesy of the Dance Anywhere organization.

Dance Anywhere arranged for the AXIS performance to perform at SFMOMA but many other individuals and organizations throughout the world also participated in the annual spontaneous performances.

“People can just do whatever they want,” said Dance Anywhere media director Janina Angel Beth. “Some people dance on the street, some are spontaneous, others are conceptual.”

While other spontaneous dancing events occurred throughout the Bay Area and in San Francisco–including a performance at United Nations Plaza- it was AXIS who captivated many within SFMOMA because of its alternative take of dance.

“It’s not something that happens all the time,” Saunders said. “Using that wheelchair as an extension of his body is truly amazing and very powerful.”

read full article

New Work In on Conventional Places

Hello All - Happy 2011 - it feels like we’re certainly well into the New Year. Joe Goode’s GUSH Festival at Brava was a great way to jump start the year. Joe curated a fabulous program and we were genuinely humbled not only to share the stage with him, but by a comment from his program notes: “To my mind, this is one of the most important companies working in the Bay Area today. Not only are they committed to artistic excellence, but they are also offering a fresh perspective on what it means to be human.”

This is so validating and gives us a bunch of energy for the great projects we’ve planned for 2011. For the first part of the year we’re focusing on OutBound our first ever Outdoor Performance Season! OutBound consists of two distinct collaborations. The first work, find way to fall II, will take place at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in June. Choreographed by AXIS’ Associate Director Sonsherée Giles, this will be a site-specific work featuring AXIS dancers and a huge community cast. It was a hit last year and this year we’ll be exploring different places to dance in the Gardens. The second work, The Dislocation Express, is our long awaited collaboration with Dandelion Dancetheater, directed by Eric Kupers and Kimiko Guthrie. This performance work will take place at or near various BART stations throughout the Bay Area in July. Music will be performed live, composed collaboratively by members of the ensemble and played on instruments, voices and the sounds of wheelchairs, crutches, prostheses, and more.

Outdoor performances in public places provide exposure to large numbers of ’accidental audiences’ that may have never seen AXIS, or anything like us for that matter. OutBound performances will be free and open to the public and will give us an opportunity to give back to the community. We’re really excited about adding something new and different to our season. Watch for details and come out and enjoy AXIS up close and personal in the out of doors this Spring and Summer.

Warmly, Judy

read more here

Marguerite - AXIS' winter intern

Hi, this is Marguerite, AXIS Dance Company’s winter 2011 intern excitedly reporting after a little over a week’s involvement! I am delighted to intern with this premiere integrated dance company. Having long been involved in the lives of people with disabilities and special needs, the concept and practice of integration had been both a part of my professional and personal life. Then I developed a disability.

Developing a disability further heightened my dedication towards the practice of integration. In recent years this commitment crossed over into the dance realm. I became an avid contact dancer and started studying various forms of technique. I started experiencing learning challenges. As a dancer, I had to find ways to adjust. It has not been easy as my needs are hidden. In response, I started researching, developing, facilitating and promoting movement and arts educational programs that looked at unique needs, starting with my own. So began my integrated dance adventure.

When given the chance to spend quality professional time with AXIS Dance Company, I jumped! It is such a great opportunity to look more in-depth at the inner workings and logistics of creating an integrated dance and dance education company that is both sensitive to the needs of dancers with physical disabilities as well as highly professional. It is also wonderful to have an opportunity to give towards a cause I dearly support. I am particularly interested to learn the specific ‘how-to’s’ of creating such an amazing endeavor as I may wish to apply some of the same principles to my future professional life.

Stay tuned as my journey continues!

Marguerite

Live to Dance!

by Judith Smith

In late October, Rodney, Janet, Sonsheree, Alice, Sebastian and I flew down and back to Burbank for an invitation only audition for Paula’s new show Live to Dance. They found us via the internet and contacted me. I really wasn’t convinced it was the right thing for us to do for many reasons. But after many calls back and forth with casting directors and producers, they convinced me that we needed to do this.


First, Son and I got together to map our piece, 90 seconds total! I called it our 90second aim for fame. We decided since partnering is a definite strong point that we do a series of duets drawn from our favorite moves out of pieces by Sonya Delwaide, David Dorfman, Joe Goode, Alex Ketley and AXIS. We used music composed by Michael Wall and Albert Mathias for David Dorfman’s piece. I contacted all the choreographers to let them know what we were up to and to get their permission. We wore costumes from Vessel—black and sparkly. I’m still finding glitter everywhere...

We got together for three brief rehearsals, sketched out our piece, video’d it, made adjustments and showed it to Mollie, Annika, Christy and Kat. They were quite entertained by the three ring circus atmosphere!

We arrived on time at Burbank, found our shuttles and off we went to Dodger Stadium—luckily no rain. It was a scene. We were first sent to a tent w/ a rubber floor, some water, porta potties and lots of dancers everywhere. We put on costumes and did make up. Our few minute wait turned into 70 min. We did a ton of paperwork and ‘shortly’ after were whisked to the warm up/interview tent. Warmer, carpeted and yes, full of dancers and cameras, lots. We were filmed warming up and got set up to be interviewed.

But no, they needed us in the performance tent so off we went! We were crammed in this smaller tent with - you guessed it—lots of dancers, lots of crew, a monitor for the stage action and the host Andrew Gundsburg. We watched on the monitor as a very young ballerina performed and her parents watched. Then, we got instructed about what was going to happen.

We were assembled, interviewed by Andrew and then asked to look at the ramp to the stage—it was steep! Then they gave us a countdown and up the ramp and onto the stage we went. The ‘stage’ was round, plexiglass with a large star in the center that lit up. We got into places, our music started and we did our 90 seconds w/ the audience cheering thru most of it. The wheelchairs slid on the surface and the feet stuck so it was ‘interesting.’ Iva, our AXIS tour assistant said we were all beaming through it and when they panned to the panel of experts, Paula, Travis Payne, who worked on Michael Jackson's "This Is It," and former Pussycat Dolls singer-dancer Kimberly Wyatt were sitting with there jaws dropped. Anyway, we managed to not kill each other and actually had a blast. We got a standing ovation from audience and panel.

We were instructed to assemble on the star—which was all lit up-- and I was given the microphone. There was this weird, awkward long pause. Paula had turned around to compose herself—she was in tears and Travis was wiping his eyes. Paula turned back around and they stared at us, we stared at them for what felt like forever. I finally said ’are we supposed to say something?’ and they all hit their buttons and three stars lit up. So, we went crazy—we were told to celebrate if we got stars. Then, they all said some great things and asked us a few questions.

Paula ‘this is not about disability, it’s about A+ ability.’ ‘I know you’re a professional contemporary company but your work translated to the pop culture beautifully.’ She also said she was honored to show such innovative dance on her show and asked about the choreography. So, I got to talk about the structure of the piece and who the choreographers are.

Travis said he prided himself on knowing what was going on in dance but he had no idea. He also said we were on our way to half a million dollars.

Kimberly said she loved how the choreography started out strong and built and built.

That’s about all I remember of the comments.

We were rushed back to interview tent to be interviewed. Every AXIS dancer was so articulate and lovely. Then we rushed to our shuttles—in costume and make up— and off to the airport we went.

Sadly we weren’t chosen and you won’t be seeing us on Live to Dance but we’ll definitely be watching!

Warmly, Judy
Artistic Director

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...

What an incredible weekend at ODC!


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!”

ODD Notes and provoked musings……

by AXIS board member Chuck McAvoy

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

SF Chronicle: ODC Theater gets jump on butoh with 'ODD'

By Allan Ulrich (photo by Pak Han)


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

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!

On my time out of the office I’ve been enjoying exploring the dance scene in the city and the bay. I’ve been taking regular Bhangra and Bollywood classes at the YWCA Berkeley, Irish Celeidh dancing at The Starry Plough pub (one of the only places I’ve found serving a pint of Blackthorn Cider from back home) and the occasional ballet, contemporary and jazz classes at Alonzo Lines and Shawl-Anderson Dance Centers. I’m yet to make it down to ODC but hope to go check out a class there in the near future. Still so many styles I want to take the chance to try- any recommendations? I was thinking maybe West African, Samba, or Ballroom? Or if anyone would like to be my partner at a Salsa night!?

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!

World Premiere ODD Performed by AXIS Dance Company and inkBoat

NOVEMBER 5-7: "ODD", at ODC in San Francisco. Tickets available via ODC website.

NOVEMBER 12-14: "ODD", at Malonga in Oakland. Tickets available via Brown Paper Tickets or call 1-800-838-3006.

" Kitsch is the opposite of the public space, of the public conversation, of the demand for objectivity and functionality. Kitsch is the intimate space, our selves, our love and our congeniality, our yearnings and our hopes, and our tears, joys and passion. Kitsch comes from the creative person’s private space, and speaks to other private spaces. Kitsch deals therefore with giving intimacy dignity." ~Odd Nerdrum, 2000

For the first time ever inkBoat dancers Sherwood Chen, Dana Iova-Koga, Yuko K, and Peiling Kao will share the stage with AXIS Dance Company, one of the world’s most acclaimed and innovative ensembles to integrate performers with and without disabilities. The resulting world-premiere collaboration, ODD, is a series of dances choreographed by current ODC artist-in-residence and inkBoat Artistic Director Shinichi Iova-Koga, with musical accompaniment by famed cellist/composer Joan Jeanrenaud (formerly of the Kronos Quartet) and musician/vocalist Dohee Lee. The collaboration was inspired by the paintings of Odd Nerdrum, the Scandinavian painter renowned for his emulation of old-master techniques and textures, and his devotion to the depiction of flesh. With echoes of Rembrandt and Caravaggio, Nerdrum plumbs the depths of the human condition, exploring themes of loneliness, fear, brutality, hatred, sexuality, birth, death, and degradation with a precision that borders on the hallucinatory.

“[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

Featuring

AXIS Dance Company (dance)

inkBoat (dance)

Joan Jeanrenaud with Dohee Lee (music)

Directed and Choreographed by Shinichi Iova-Koga
Music Composed by Joan Jeanrenaud

Image: AXIS Dance Company and Inkboat in 'ODD'. Photo by Michele Clement

Dance company looks beyond disabilities

By: Abby Baird, Terria Smithposted on Oakland NorthOctober 5, 2010 – 3:01 pm

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.

A week with AXIS Dance Company

A great blog post about our residency at Bates Dance Festival

A week with AXIS Dance Company

Rodney Bell, Judy Smith Alice Shepard, Sonsheree Giles, Janet Das, Sebastian Grubb

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.

AXIS lead a physically integrated dance workshop at The Morrison Center in Scarborough, ME.

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: Sonsherée 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.

Rodney Bell and Sonsheree Giles

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 Sonsherée, 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.”

Arika Zeilfelder, Judy Smith, Mallory Cyr and Tim Byrne

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: Sonsherée 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

AXIS Summer Intensive 2010 - last post from intern Cayenne

Congratulations to all the 2010 AXIS Summer Intensive participants!!! I am so proud of all the beautiful dancing and so glad I got to be a part of such an amazing collaboration.


Day 3:… 25 dancers of various ages, walk, motor, hop or wheel through the studio space, chanting different syllables;

"..huh, huh sss,sss, whooO, whOO eeeEEEAAaah eeeEEE…"

This is the AXIS Summer Intensive, a part of our technique class warm-up. For me, the uniqueness of the AXIS Intensive was a focus on the mental and social aspects of dance. The range of backgrounds, ages, and physical abilities were very enriching.

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

Just keepin' busy! :Bates Festival, Luna Kids, a focus group and a mixer

Well, lots going on in the AXIS Office per usual. The dancers are all back from Washington, DC and its nice to have them popping in during the day. They’ll be heading to Maine shortly for a residency at Bates Dance Festival. They will be conducting workshops and performing various works by choreographers David Dorfman, Alex Ketley and Joe Goode during the Bates Dance Festival.





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]

Talented, trusting and nontraditional: AXIS Dance Company

By Molly F. McGill Special to the Sun Journal

“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

find new ways to fall by Amber DiPietra

A few dozen volunteer dancers, disabled and non-disabled, myself included, joined Axis Dance for a site-based performance at Yerba Buena Gardens. We rehearsed for a few weeks in the park on weekday evenings. The summer-scape of downtown San Francisco. Rush hour, trash can drums, church bells, sudden bright gusts of wind, fog beveling the park into quartz and moonstone facets, the bougainvillea along the railings above the falls, rushing up into that fuscia underbrush glow to lean over the railing and undulate in unison. Coppery green, glinting from reflecting pools. But mostly the white noise of the falls. And then, the day of the performance, the droning, whirly-gigging, keening, cuckoo clock set free sounds of Caroline Penwarden and her orchestra. Sonsheree Giles of Axis directed the choreography.

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.)

read more

Murderball, Hiking, Dancing, Singing - Bonnie does it all!

From: Jewish quadriplegic inducted into Sports Hall of Fame for work in quad rugby and wheelchair dance | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

Try to keep up with Dancer and Founding Member Bonnie Lewkowicz and you’d just be spinning your wheels.

Lewkowicz, 53, is quadriplegic, in a wheelchair since age 15 when she was injured in an accident on an all-terrain vehicle. That never stopped her from pursuing her passions. All of them. Now, the Berkeley resident’s pioneering efforts in dance for the disabled and in murderball (also called quad rugby) are being recognized by the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California. The induction ceremony took place at a gala Sunday, June 13 at San Francisco’s Four Seasons Hotel.



Lewkowicz is the first quad athlete inducted into the Bay Area institution. “She overcame adversity, and that’s part of our cause,” says Executive Director Gary Wiener. “She’s a good representative of the Jewish community. I think her perseverance is admirable.” She first heard about the Hall of Fame honor when a friend who helped out with her old quad rugby team called to say he planned to nominate her. “He asked if I would be interested,” Lewkowicz remembers, “and I said, ‘what’s not to be interested?’”

The award honors her involvement in both dance and murderball, a sport popularized in the 2005 Oscar-nominated documentary of the same name. In 1988, Lewkowicz founded both the California Quad Rugby League and her championship team, Quadzilla, a co-ed squad still talked about with reverence among fans. But quad rugby isn’t her only way to play.

For more than 20 years, Lewkowicz has also been a principal dancer with AXIS, a company she helped found that features disabled and able-bodied dancers performing together in original modern dance pieces. Lewkowicz soon will launch a website detailing disabled access at state beaches, parks and trails. That’s on top of her “Wheelchair Rider’s Guide: San Francisco Bay and Nearby Coast,” published in 2006, and “Access San Francisco,” a city guide for disabled visitors. All of Lewkowicz’s activities can be filed under her lifelong adherence to Jewish ethics, which led her to pursue projects that help others. “I would have a hard time thinking of myself as anything other than Jewish,” she says. “Jewish values and culture are very important to my life, not just food to eat, but to share.”

read more Source: Jweekly.com "Heart of a champion: Wheelchair doesn’t stop quadriplegic athlete" by Dan Pine, staff writer