DANCERS
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Judith Smith,
Artistic Director, has earned an international reputation in the field of physically integrated dance. Judith is a founding member of AXIS and upon taking over artistic leadership of the company in 1997, began commissioning works by some of the nation’s best choreographers and launched Dance Access Community Education/Outreach Program. Prior to becoming disabled in a car accident at age 17, Judith was a champion equestrian. She transferred her passion for riding to dance after discovering contact improvisation in 1983. Judith has been featured in several videos including Dancing from the Inside Out, WNET’s People in Motion, John Killacky’s Crip Shots, KQED’s Spark, KRCB’s One in 5 Stories and KGO/ABC’s Profiles of Excellence. In 1997, she was a co-curator and Artistic Consultant for Dance Umbrella’s International Festival of Wheelchair Dance. Judith teaches dance to youth and adults and lectures at community organizations, schools, universities and conferences. She has been on the faculty of Florida Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival. In addition, she serves on numerous conference panels, arts review panels and is on the advisory board of the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, The National Art and Disability Center, Dancers’ Group and Bates Dance Festival. In 2006, Judith participated in the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders in the Arts and Dance/USA’s Leadership for Artistic Directors. Judith received the 2009 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award, KQED’s Local Hero and the Homer Avila danceAble awards in 2005 and Artship Foundation’s Local Hero award in 2009. In her spare time, Judith is actively involved in thoroughbred horse rescue.
Sonsherée Giles, Associate Director, dancer, choreographer, teacher and costume designer, is originally from New Orleans, LA. She has taught contemporary dance in public school systems, university institutions and dance festivals throughout the country. She received her MFA in performance/choreography from Mills College. In 2005 she began dancing with AXIS Dance Company. Her dancing is influenced by her dedication to the practice of running and yoga. She makes dances that investigate movement repetition, chance operation, landscapes, art history, and daily life experiences. In 2008 Sonsherée received an Isadora Duncan Award for ensemble performance of To Color Me Different choreographed by Alex Ketley for AXIS Dance Company. Most recently she was honored to receive a Homer Avila Award for Excellence in the field of Physically Integrated Dance.
Rodney Bell
is of Maori descent from the Ngati Maniapoto Iwi (Tribe) of New Zealand (Aotearoa). Rodney began dancing 13 years ago with Touch Compass Dance Company, New Zealand’s first mixed ability dance company. He also choreographed dance works for Touch Compass. In July 2007, Rodney joined AXIS. Soon after he attended the MANCC choreography process in Florida with the company. Rodney also teaches mixed ability dance to those with and without disabilities and is constantly sharing his technique and knowledge through various workshops and dance intensives. His other pursuits include: representing New Zealand from 1996 to 2006 playing wheelchair basketball; working as an occupational therapy assistant; featuring in programs such as 60 Minutes, Good Morning Show, and Maori Television; acting in various plays; and performing with Poutokomanawa (Maori Kapa haka group). He shows great passion towards the performing arts, Maori culture and disability culture and in his own words “It fulfills my soul.”
Lisa Bufano
is an interdisciplinary artist from Boston, Massachusetts. Lisa has performed for audiences in Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Canada and in venues in the United States including The Kennedy Theater, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, and Judson Memorial Church. After a bacteria infection led to the amputation of both her feet and fingers when she was 21, Lisa pursued animation and sculpture at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. After a 15-year career as primarily a visual artist, Jeremy Alliger introduced her to NY choreographer Heidi Latsky and she began new work in modern dance. Lisa moved to Oakland in 2007 to work with AXIS and has found challenging and engaging work and invaluable friendships. Lisa would like to thank Wayne A. Koniuk, prosthetist and proprietor at San Francisco Prosthetic Orthotic service, for getting her back up on new feet in time for home season. San Francisco Prosthetic Orthotic service fit the prosthetics and cheetah running legs that Lisa is performing in tonight. Lisa would also like to thank Peter Couture, prosthetist at Next Step O & P in Manchester, N.H., for 13 years of encouragement and friendship.
Janet Das is a native of the bay area and grew up performing in numerous musicals, plays, dance, and choir performances. In her young adult life she discovered modern dance and ended up receiving a BFA from CalArts and an MFA in dance performance and choreography from Mills College and currently teaches at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. Janet has performed throughout Northern and Southern California for Trip Dance Theater, Collage Dance Theater, Molisssa Fenley and dancers, Li Chiao-Ping, Rebecca Gilbert, Sonsheree Giles, and Joe Goode. Janet has been seen most recently performing with Leyya Tawil’s Dance Elixir and Katie Faulkner’s little seismic dance company. Her own work has been shown at San Diego’s Sushi performance space, CalArts, Mills College, and the Cowell Theater. She currently lives in Oakland with her husband Raja and is thrilled to become a part of AXIS, dancing with its innovative and talented dancers. Janet joined in 2008.
Sebastian Grubb, spent his childhood doing musical theatre in Santa Cruz. He then received a B.A. in Philosophy from Whitman College where he began taking classes in modern and contemporary dance, as well as choreographing and presenting new work. Since then he has studied a wide variety of dance forms and techniques, including contact improv, free-form acrobatics, contemporary and release technique. He is currently enrolled in the teachers-in-training program to teach Axis Syllabus, a movement analysis system that champions biomechanical integrity and movement efficiency. In recent years his work has been shown in Santa Cruz at the 418 Project and in the Bay Area at CounterPULSE, the Subterranean Arthouse, and The Garage in several festivals. Sebastian works regularly with Scott Wells and has also studied and performed with Lenora Lee, Frey Faust, Cid Pearlman, Joe Landini, Kira Kirsch and others. He joined AXIS Dance Company in May 2009.
Bonnie Lewkowicz, a native of Detroit, studied ballet, tap and jazz for 10 years until an all-terrain vehicle accident left her paralyzed. Still having the desire and need to be physical but not thinking that dancing in a wheelchair was an option, she explored wheelchair sports and earned a B.A. in Recreation Therapy. Through her work in the disabled community she was exposed to contact improvisation and immediately discovered the dormant dancer within. She is one of the founding members of AXIS Dance Company and has enjoyed the various roles of dancer, teacher and administrator of the youth program. Her favorite is teaching kids. Working with such notable choreographers as Bill T. Jones, Stephen Petronio, Joe Goode, Sonja Delwaide Victoria Marks, Joanna Haigood, Margaret Jenkins and Ann Carlson has been a blessing. She is the founder and director of Access Northern California, a non-profit organization that works to improve access to travel and recreation. As a published travel writer she has written an accessible trail book for the Coastal Conservancy and several articles for magazines. She lives in Berkeley, CA with her non-dancer husband and adorable cat. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, singing and being outdoors.
Alice Sheppard, is a former musician and literature professor; she grew up in England and moved to the United States in 1991. Alice came to dance late in life; she began to explore movement in response to a dare from disabled dancer Homer Avila. She soon discovered that dance was a passion. Alice made her professional debut in New York with Infinity Dance Theater as a wheelchair dancer. She loves to explore a wide variety of dance forms; she is particularly interested in work that challenges conventional understandings of the relationship between dance and disability. She joined the company in 2006 and is over the moon about working with AXIS.