The AXIS Dance Company, a pioneering Oakland-based professional dance group, began in 1987. Today, founding dancer Judith Smith is the artistic director of a creative, groundbreaking group of dancers– some with disabilities, and others without.
The San Francisco Bay Area is known as one of the best cities for dance, and AXIS has thrived as a professional touring company, offering educational programs not only in Oakland, but in cities throughout the country.
How can you describe in words what AXIS calls “physically integrated dance?” Without a firmly-established vocabulary, like that of ballet which has evolved over a century, you truly have to “see it to believe it.”
The AXIS dancers are currently touring with four pieces that are explored in this video story.
More about the featured dancers:
- Judith Smith, Artistic Director and dancer
- Rodney Bell, dancer
- Bonnie Lewkowicz, dancer
- Alice Sheppard, dancer
Other dancers performing in this season’s repertory include:
- Lisa Bufano
- Margaret Cromwell
- Rodrigo Esteva
- Sonsherée Giles
The dance selections are choreographed by internationally-recognized visiting choreographers, including:
- Joe Goode, “The Beauty that was Mine, Through the Middle, Without Stopping” (2007)
- Margaret Jenkins, “Waypoint” (2006)
- Victoria Marks, “Dancing to Music” (2006)
- Kate Weare, “Forgone” (2007)
