With AXIS Dance, seeing is believing
Posted by admin | Filed under Event
By Mimi Honeycutt
Dance, like song and drama, is an intimate expression of the feelings that seethe or flutter just below the surface. When performers find new ways of expressing themselves, the audience too experiences a new, exciting connection to emotion and life.
AXIS, a contemporary dance company, has taken dance to new heights for the past twenty years. Soon, USF students will have the opportunity to see and even learn from the people who make AXIS great. Judith Smith, artistic director and executive producer of AXIS, can say just why AXIS is so unique in the world of dance. “What really sets us apart from other contemporary dance companies is the fact that some of our dancers are disabled and some are not disabled. I would say our movement vocabulary and the work that we create is very different than what a standard dance company could do.”
Indeed, in an AXIS show, wheelchair-bound dancers flit across the stage and one-legged dancers perform full routines. Yet, while some may view these disabilities as a hindrance, Judith argues that they are freeing. “The way someone moves in a power chair or a manual chair and the way that movement is incorporated into the choreography ends up being very different than what a traditional contemporary company can do.”
Of course, much like a film depends on the skill of the director, it is the choreographers who utilize the dancers’ skills that creates a spectacular show. This is where Ms. Smith comes in. ”The really fun part of my job is that I get to look around at different people, at different choreographers working in the field today, and different composers and musicians, and develop projects based on people I think would work really well with the company and whose artistic and choreographic point of view would work well with our ensemble.”
But nevertheless, certain aspects of AXIS must call for particular qualities. Ms. Smith continues, “Most of the choreographers that we work with are those who think outside the box and work collaboratively. They incorporate nontraditional dancers into their movements, but I think that the way they work with us is not much different from the way they would work with another dance company. It’s just that they have to learn a little bit about how each of us as individuals moves and how we move together. Because we commission work and because we are not a company that works with just one choreographer, our repertory is very diverse. The pieces that get created end up being a really great reflection of AXIS and our movement vocabulary. That’s what’s really fun for us being a repertory company.”
Theme too plays an important part in dance. After all, most dances tell a story. AXIS is no different. “For AXIS in general, most of our work was very directly about disability. After 10 years of working collaboratively just within the company, we split apart, since some of us felt that we needed to branch out. We thought we could say more about ability and more about dance by not always addressing disability as a theme. So, themes that emerge in our work are always a reflection of who choreographed the piece. It really depends on the choreographers and what they come into the company wanting to do with us. And it’s fun because we basically turn ourselves over to them as an instrument. The creative process is what keeps us hooked.”
As for the upcoming show, Ms. Smith offers her thoughts: “It is a very sexy, driving piece of work. I think that it explores relationships in a way that some of our work has not been able to reach. It’s a very sensual, emotional, driving piece.”
“You really have to see this company to begin to understand what we’re about, or even believe it,” she says. “Because it’s not like ballet where you can say ballet and everyone can conjure up an image. If you talk about dancing and disabilities together, I think that peoples’ brains kind of go blank, because it’s not something you see on TV or in the movies or in the performing arts every day.”
Seeing is believing, and art makes one see things in ways one never did before. Be sure to check out the upcoming Fall dance concert, and witness something you will likely never see again.
Tags: AXIS, dance, drama, Scene, show
