Hilary Kretchmer interviews Nicole Richter and Judy Smith,
Co-Directors of AXIS Dance Company

JUDY: AXIS started in 1987. It came out of a class taught by our former director Thais Mazur. This class was specifically a class for women who use wheelchairs. The class utilized concepts of creative movement and improvisation, and out of that class came the idea to do a dance piece. The work was performed at the Dance Brigade Festival in 1988, which included other noted performers Joe Goode, Terry Sendgraf, Rhodessa Jones. After that performance we were asked to be in the Dance Brigade's "Revolutionary Nutcracker Sweetie." Then other dancers asked us to do pieces at different venues and it snowballed. From there we started incorporating aerial work. We spent a lot of time learning how people with and without disabilities work together using contact improvisation and other dance forms.

NICOLE: Three years ago we went through a change of artistic leadership and Judy and I become artistic Co-Directors. Many of us wanted to start commissioning outside choreographers, as well as better supporting our company choreographers. During 1998-00 we commissioned works from Sonya Delwaide, Joe Goode, Joanna Haigood, and Bill T Jones and last spring premiered our new repertory in Boston and here at the Cowell.

HILARY: Can you tell me a little bit about all the talented individuals who make up the company?

JUDY: Myself and Bonnie Lewkowicz are our remaining founding members. I never thought I'd be dancing, I was never interested in it as a child. My passion was horses; I showed jumping horses. Then after I became disabled I got very involved in martial arts, which led me to dacne. Bonnie trained in dance from early childhood, and after she became disabled she went into wheelchair sports.

NICOLE: All of our disabled dancers have a strong background in sports. Megan is an avid swimmer and diver who came to AXIS classes, loved them, and was asked to join the company in 92. Uli Schmitz is a biochemist who played wheelchair basketball and became interested in contact improvisation. Uli loves dancing out of his wheelchair, either on the floor or in the air in our various aerial pieces. Stephanie McGlynn was a gymnast before coming to the States. In her first class with AXIS she was remarkably comfortable, climbing all over the chairs and interacting wonderfully with all our dancers, so we grabbed her for the company! The newest member of the company is Alisa Rasera. What I think impressed us at the audition was that she is a wonderful creative force and a beautiful mover. I joined the company about 3-1/2 years ago. I had worked with a similar company called CandoCo in London. I met with Judy and Bonnie when I was doing research for my masters thesis and was immediately drawn to AXIS. Later I moved to the area and auditioned for them.

HILARY: You mentioned that AXIS commissioned choreography for the June concert from Bill T Jones, Joanna Haigood, Joe Goode, and Sonya Delwaide. Wow! Tell me a little bit about the process of collaborating with each of these wonderful artists... What are the challenges and the rewards of working with choreographers who don't work with AXIS on an ongoing basis?

NICOLE: The rewards are huge! There are always challenges, I think, for any dance company commissioning outside choreographers, but in each case we found that what we emerged with was a very strong, distinct piece from each choreographer.

JUDY: Both Joanna and Joe's choreographic process tends to draw heavily from the dancers' creative input, a process that was similar to how AXIS had historically worked and thus somewhat familiar to us. Sonya was a remarkable experience in that she was able to translate her vocabulary, she knew exactly what she wanted out of us, and she wasn't at all interested in dancers input -- which was a change for us. And, frankly, a relief to just relax and be choreographed upon!

NICOLE: Learning others' vocabulary was a new challenge for this company. Particularly, as the pieces began to draw more upon established dance technique, our disabled dancer who have not had access to training (due to inaccessible studios and other barriers) were more challenged. Delightfully, we chose to commission choreographers whose work is very different and distinct from each other. We got a great response at the Cowell, and there was a wide appreciation for the range of pieces in the repertory. It might be that here is something about our company that asks or demands a certain level of innovation and creativity that will bring out the best in great artists.

JUDY: We brought a lot to the process and I think changed what these choreographers think of movement, for a moment. They were able to show their choreographic personalities through the movement, but our company's personality shows through too.

HILARY: I know AXIS company members teach classes and workshops regularly. Tell me about what students can learn and what AXIS learns from the students...

NICOLE: We've revamped our education program and created a program called Dance Access, which aims to be a comprehensive educational training opportunity for all ages, dancers with and without disabilities at any level of their training. Right now we are serving ages 5-76. We are really excited about it. We offer classes to the community on a weekly basis. We teach elementary through high school age kids in the East Bay public schools and in our afterschool classes in our studio. We have ongoing open adults classes and performance labs. Our Dance Access/KIDS programming also includes lecture demonstrations and assemblies at in schools. This year we also began a master class series in which we invite some of our favorite Bay Area teachers in to teach their particular thing to an integrated class. Intermediate and advanced dancers with and without disabilities can study alongside AXIS members. Because of the problem of inaccessible dance studios and other barriers to training for dancers with disabilities we devised this as a way to bring the training to us. We've had Remy Charlip, Joe Krieter, Kathleen Hermsdorf, Riccardo Morrisson, Ray Chung, and John Doyle teach so far; it's become a wildly successful series. It's a wonderful thing to have a taste of so many different techniques and approaches, and also a way for interested teachers to become more fluent in adapting their classes for people with disabilities.

JUDY: Through Dance Access we offer a multi-stranded approach: we educate about dance, disability, multiculturalism, diversity, inclusion, collaboration, etc. We are constantly amazed at how well our art speaks to different aspects of social concerns. It is not at all something we set out to do, at first. We didn't know our work would have a socio-political aspect to it; we just wanted to move. But because one still doesn't usually see disabled people on stage, our work is often perceived and analyzed in a political way. We are less interested now in doing overtly "political" pieces regarding disability issues, however, because just doing it, just having this particular mix of people on stage together, is in itself a statement. We're more interested in just making the most excellent art we can.

HILARY: It's difficult keeping a company of dancers alive and working regularly here -- how do you do it and what are your plans for the continued growth of AXIS?

NICOLE: Our dancers are incredibly committed. We are constantly astounded by it. They juggle other jobs; we can't yet pay them enough to not have to. The chemistry of the company members is phenomenal; we all get along terrifically and have a lot of love for each other. That's definitely at the root of the success of this company.

HILARY: Any performances or other activities we should be aware of coming up soon (Oct, Nov, Dec?)...

JUDY: We have a light fall after a very busy spring and summer. We'll be showcasing at the Western Art Administrators Alliance conference. We'll be performing at a fundraiser for the World Institute on Disability at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. But in general, we'll be using this time to focus on more technical training, as well as working with Sephen Petronio on a new piece in January, and working with Sonya Delwaide on a new trilogy as well. We are also working on an intensive curriculum development project. Making the company administratively sound is our big goal for the next five years. We'll be continuing to produce high quality work and a solid education program, and our mandate will be to continue and expand on that increased visibility, which will require solidifying our organizational infrastructure and growing our budget. We have a lofty vision of what this company can become. We've made huge leaps in our creative work in the past two years, and we're thrilled to continue along this path!

For more information on AXIS please contact:
Nicole Richter
Co-Director, AXIS Dance Company
1428 Alice St Ste. 201
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 625 0110 w
(510) 832 6743 h
nrichter@earthlink.net
axisdance.org

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