CROATION ADVENTURES - by Lisa Bufano

(Lisa Bufano joined AXIS in 2007. Her disability is the loss of both her legs below the knee as well as half of both of her hands as a result of a staff infection.) Photos: Lisa Bufano & Sonsherée Giles, photo by Jeremy Alliger; Lisa Bufano, Jeremy Alliger Sonsherée Giles and Jerrry Smith

Last year, Suncica Ostoic of KONTEJNER, a hip Croatian art collective, invited me to perform at the Extravagant Bodies Festival that would take place in Zagreb in December 2007. The festival would be a weeklong collaborative interdisciplinary art event with performances by notorious artists like Mat Fraser and Bill Shannon. There would be symposiums with talks on the relationship between the Disability Arts Movement and the DDA in the UK; about how the use of technical prosthesis that give artists a creative advantage render the term disability obsolete; and about politics of normality and otherness. There would be film screenings of the Todd Browning classic, Freaks, and Peter Greenway's A Zed And Two Naughts. I saw a great opportunity to create something extraordinary. (Learn more about Extravagant Bodies. http://www.kontejner.org/touchme/index_en.html

With the encouragement of Judy Smith (AXIS Artistic Director) and Jeremy Alliger (long time presenter and supporter of AXIS), I recruited dancer/choreographer/costume designer/and all-around creative dynamo Sonsherée Giles to attach four 28" wooden stilts to her arms and legs and collaborate on this performance. Before long, we had Jerry Smith (visual and sound artist) composing music and building Sonsherée's stilts to match the queen Anne style table-leg stilts that Jason Karakehian (Boston sculpture) made for me in 2005.

We worked when we were not touring in October and November on the 25-minute dance we would eventually title One Breath is an Ocean for a Wooden Heart. We were starting with the requirements that there be an illusion and transformation. We did a lot of writing and played with a voice over narrative. We worked with images that we could create with our bodies on the stilts (a table and chair, a house on stilts, birds, gazelles, a spider, worms, toys, monsters). We drew from the events and relationships in our lives and found reoccurring themes (some involving a room, the beach, the water, and kite-flying). We talked about the relationship between our characters, about whether we were humans on stilts, or make-believe furniture creatures that had come to life. And, if so, was there some kind of death too?

When Sonsherée talked about the way wearing stilts made her feel detached and removed from the ground it was a pretty affirming experience for me as a prosthetic user. We realized the stilts, to some degree, equalized our physicalities. We also became conscious that the times that we were very physically close (like when we used our heads as a contact point) felt the strongest. We decided to stay physically as close as possible throughout the piece until the very end. That felt like a bit of sad ending, but it seemed right. We also decided not to stand on two legs because that seemed incongruous to the animal-like and insect-like images.

Throughout this process, Judy gave us a great amount of trust, support and feedback. We were fortunate to also win a CA$H grant and have Jeremy working with us. Alliger Arts produced this engagement/tour of 3 performances in Dubrovnik and Zagreb, Croatia and in Ljbjana, Slovenia.

Dubrovnik is a prominent tourist destination on the Adriatic Sea. We were there off-season. I was struck by its color palette: grey of stone walls surrounding the old city, bright orange of clay-tiled roofs, pale blue sky and aquamarine sea. Our host, Slaven, was a brooding artist-type committed to the Art Workshop Lazareti, the singular independent gallery and performance center he is working to make into an artist' residency.  It rained the entire time we were there, except for a brief 3-hour morning of the day we left.  This allowed barely enough time to walk on the city walls of the old city. The walk required a climb up a trillion stairs-not so accessible, but completely worth the effort. Dubrovnik seemed to be a serious place. Maybe it was the weather that made it somber. The old city, which was lit by x-mas lights at night, still showed destruction from the war.

Our first performance was in an intimate space. It had no lights or a real 'stage,' but there were wood floors, stonewalls, and a view of the sea. Jeremy somehow found some mobile light kits and despite a serious lack of resources, he made a light design that was really lovely. Although it was bone-chilling cold, our audience was warm and generous.

From Dubrovnik, we flew back to Zagreb and then drove to Ljubljana, Slovenia. We met our hosts, Sandra and Juri of Kapelica Gallery, and saw the next performance space that night. It was a minimal black-box style space inside a transportation museum. It was vast and airy and had large industrial pieces of machinery, gears, and pulleys about. The main problem with this space was there were no curtain or side wings, forcing us to get into place in the dark, not the best scenario when walking on stilts. I had a strong sense of Sonsherée's presence next to me. I could feel the audience being there with us, holding their breath. To our profound disappointment, Sonsherée's stilt broke about 8 minutes into the piece and she fell. I waited to see if she could get back up and continue, or maybe just improvise something on the floor. But, the stilt was in 2 pieces and sort of hanging off of Sonsherée's leg. There was really no way to continue. Although the audience and our hosts were incredibly understanding and supportive, we were pretty sad.

Jeremy and Jerry fixed the stilt the next day at Kapelica gallery space. And our moods improved with the festival’s bustle of activity. In the gallery, there was a photography exhibit with huge nude self-portraits by Alison Lapper, an artist and a mother who was born without arms and shortened legs. I went outside and stood in the rain to escape the smoke. There was a guy with a 80's new wave haircut and one arm. I think he was wearing some striped fuzzy thing on his stump. When I asked about him, I was told he was modeling something his fashion-designer sister made for him and he'd be modeling different things throughout the festival. All around me I was aware of the deformed hipsters that stood out—people who had a level of creative self-awareness that allowed for, not simply deformity as identity, but as something like fashion. I've heard disability described as an imaginative lifestyle—you're always problem solving. You're always designing contraptions and tools to be more efficient. You alter your clothes to fit your life and your body. You are aware that doing every day tasks in public can be a performance. That's true of most people with disabilities. With a deformity, there's often the additional layer of, what is sometimes, a visceral response. And, the way you decide to deal (or not) with that becomes part of the over all package you present as your self. I've always realized that artists with a deformity will have an easier time of it.  It was a bit of a "one of us" moment, to be sure.

We went to see Mat Fraser's Beauty and the Beast. I had heard so much about Mat's work and I was familiar with the Ouch podcast. In the opening of the show, Mat as the Beast, is all over the stage. He's sort of heroically naked, rather than beastly. He's more of a rock star kind of beast (picture a young Iggy pop with thalidomide flippers). I was feeling a bit apprehensive that our performance wasn't going to be edgy enough for this audience. This would be a hard act to follow. At this point Sonsherée leans over and whispers facetiously "I think we need to perform topless."

The next night we performed to a full house. Jeremy, once again, stepped up and built a light design out of thin air.
Since this stage also had no curtain, we would have the same problem of setting up in the dark. We came up with the solution of having Sonsherée in position on the floor while the audience entered the theater. I hid off to the side of the stage and spied on the people filing in. The performance was strong. It felt alive. I felt we had resolved a conflict. I was satisfied with the journey of work that led us to that night, and also relieved that the equipment had held together.

We had another couple days at the festival before we left. I got the opportunity to see Bill Shannon, a prolific and incredibly fluid street-style dancer/media artist who uses rocker style crutches and a skateboard. I also went to a performance by DLAN, a group of Croatian deaf theater and visual artists that took place in a swimming pool.

It had been 12 days since I left Oakland. Our work was finished, and the festival had ended. We were all exhausted and I was anxious to go back home. Before returning home, we spent some time in Vienna and Sieghartskirchen, a countryside district in Tulln in Lower Austria. It is a very special place for me, surrounded by monasteries with vineyards, shops and bakeries. We would eat good cheese and drink local wine. On the train, Sonsherée and Jerry and Jeremy drank champagne in the restaurant car. I spent about 2 hours staring at an icy rural landscape rolling by the window. I took a 6 hour nap. At one point, I woke up briefly when a group of about 5 humorless policemen stuffed themselves into our car and insisted we unscrew our wooden crate to show them that our stilts were not weapons of mass-destruction. But it all seemed less important since the work was done.

---
One Breath is an Ocean for a Wooden Heart
Was commissioned in part by AXIS Dance Company,
in association with Alliger Arts.

 

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR'S REPORT - by Judith Smith

Photo by Marty Sohl

This year AXIS Dance Company is celebrating our 20th Anniversary year.  It’s a little bit daunting but it’s true. What Thais Mazur, our founding director and truly fearless leader for the first decade, started from a movement workshop for women who use wheelchairs has become one of the world’s leading physically integrated dance companies—boasting a repertory of contemporary works that’s undeniably enviable and a physically integrated dance education program that is unparalleled. 

The road has not always been an easy one.  Convincing some presenters, funders, critics and the dance world that AXIS was doing ‘dance’ and not ‘therapy’ has certainly been a challenge a times.  But, what we’ve had from the get go was an extremely passionate leadership, an enthusiastic and diverse audience, committed dancers and some staunch supporters who recognized the innovation and importance of our work.  Here are some noteworthy accomplishments:
• nearly sixty repertory works, three evening length works and two full length works for youth
• commissioned works for the SF Exploratorium, Cal Performances/BAMPFA,
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Bates Dance Festival
• five Isadora Duncan Dance awards and six additional nominations plus a Goldie from the Bay Guardian
• performances and education work in 5 countries, 24 states and over 60 cities reaching audiences of  300,000 youth and adults
           
It’s nearly impossible to count all of the dancers, guest artists, choreographers, composers, musicians, designers, production personnel, presenters, publicists, board members, advisors, donors, funders and staff that have contributed to AXIS’ success but suffice it to say that literally hundreds of people have been there with us over the years.

More than ever, we’d love your support to cheer us on into the next twenty years.  Please do come out and support us by attending an event, becoming a donor, joining our Board or just sending us your well wishes.  We’ll look forward to seeing you and especially, save the dates of November 14-16, 2008 for our 20th Anniversary season here in Oakland.
Warmly, judy

Ps. Check out our $20 for our 20th Campaign information in this newsletter as it’s a simple way to support us and our hope is to have at least 1000 supporters!

 

 

NEW WORKS FOR 2008

AXIS just keeps on creating! This year we’ll have new works by Sonya Delwaide, Alex Ketley and Eric Kupers, three Bay Area favorites that we know we’ll have a great time working with.   Sonya, now chair of Mills College dance department, was the first choreographer we commissioned and since 1998 she’s created five stunning works for AXIS, which have won two Izzie awards and two more nominations.  This piece is particularly exciting because we’re creating it at Mills College as part of our residency and Mills dancers are learning it alongside AXIS dancers.  The quartet, set to gorgeous music by UAKTI mapa will premiere in our home season and will then be performed at Mills with students dancing some of roles in the Fall faculty concert.
 
Formerly a member of SF Ballet and LINES Ballet, Alex Ketley is the Co-Director of The Foundry.  He has received the Choo-San Goh Award and the inaugural Princess Grace Award for Choreography, as well as awards from the Hubbard Street 2 National Choreography Competition and the International Choreographic Competition of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur in Quebec. Alex was one of the four choreographers we took to the Maggie Allessee National Center for Choreography at FSU Tallahassee last spring.  Alex and our dancers felt like we came away with some potent movement investigations that we wanted to explore further.  Alex has already created an intricate and complex duet To Color Me Different for Sonsheree Giles and Rodney Bell that will be debut locally in April.  This summer we’ll begin work on Vessel, a multimedia performance work involving dance, text, and video that will explore the concept that all aspects of our body, each and every cell, retain our memories. Carol Snow, a multi award-winning poet who has previously collaborated with Alex will be creating an original soundscape from the voices of AXIS Dancers to support and inspire Alex’s video and choreography for Vessel.

AXIS has a long standing relationship with Eric Kupers and Dandelion Dancetheater which he co-directs so we were thrilled when he received a prestigious Princess Grace Award in Choreography to create Spinal Fluid, a trio set to an original score by former AXIS dancer Jacques Poulin-Denis. Eric is a versatile choreographer with a keen eye for bringing out the very best in each unique individual. Because of AXIS’ unusual composition of dancers we want to have a work in our repertory that has planned flexibility of cast, making it easy to understudy and to set on students and other companies when on tour.  It will also be flexible in terms of the places it can be performed and not limited to traditional dance venues.  Eric is eager to take on this challenge has a first-hand knowledge of this need. His experience working with dancers with a wide range of physicalities combined with his talent and his vision for this work will undoubtedly result in a beautiful dance work that will be very well utilized.  Watch for all of these works in the Fall!

 

 

Be One of 1000 to Give $20 to Support AXIS 20th Anniversary

AXIS is approaching our 20th Anniversary. We plan to celebrate in a big way at our Home Season performances November 14-16th at Laney College in our hometown of Oakland. We hope you will not only join us at the performance where we will be premiering two new works, but help us to raise $20,000 to support these performances by being one of 1000 people who donates $20 or more in our Give $20 for 20th campaign!

 

 

 

DANCER PROFILE - Sonsherée Giles

Photos from top to bottom by Trib LaPrade & Phil Sears

Sonsherée Giles has been with AXIS since 2005 and has shined in her various roles as dancer, choreographer, teacher and costume designer. She has learned much in the past 3 years including how much being a part of a group means to her. “It is satisfying and fulfilling to be part of an organization that creates and performs amazing and important work that is socially and artistically relevant.” She says AXIS asks similar questions to what she’s interested in as an artist like what is dance? Who can dance? and how as a dancer/choreographer can she continue to push these boundaries?

When asked what teacher, dancer or choreographer has inspired her and why, she says there are too many to name, but there are people in her life presently and people from her past that inspire her in a myriad of ways. She says that often she does not realize until years later the imprint these people have left on her. She hears their voices when she’s making something as well as when she’s performing.

Some inanimate objects that symbolize movement to Sonsherée are the wind chimes on her patio, the small menagerie of birds that rest on a table in her home, a quilt that hangs on her wall.

Sonsherée has a very energetic and creative spirit. In addition to her dancing, she finds running around Lake Merritt, yoga, sewing, and gardening great outlets for her boundless creative and physical energy.

When asked what kinds of music inspire her as a choreogrpher, she says, “Sounds that occur in my daily life are often the most fertile for dance-making. These soundscapes occur inside and/or outside and most often have some kind of repetitive quality: like a tree slapping up against the outside of my building, someone across the street mowing grass while inside someone in the kitchen is moving dishes around and turning water off and on.  I like the textures, spatial distance, randomness of sound and information that all come together. I like perceived annoying sounds as much as I like the perceived beautiful ones.” She says, she’s never been the type that finds a piece of music and then choreographs a dance, but she is attracted to the blues and folk music-- Bob Dylan, Mississippi John Hurt, Fred McDowell, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Lucinda Williams.

Asked if she had to choose between performing or teaching dance, what her choice would be, Sonsherée said that she enjoys both, but if she had to choose, she would perform now and teach later.

The most rewarding aspect of working with AXIS so far for Sonsherée is “working with the extraordinary dancers and choreographers. I appreciate how we together learn/create new work and then we grow into it as we perform it over time. The choreography becomes a structure we work within together to re-create something new each time performed. It is a treat to be able to perform the same works over a period of time and find your way in and out of them. It makes a full circle.”

Her advice for a young dancer wanting to pursue dance as a career “Do not do it unless you absolutely have to. If it is something you most definitely have to do without a doubt then it will be the most rewarding work ever.  Persevere.”

Sonsherée’s favorite AXIS piece to perform is “Waypoint”  because she feels it is so challenging physically and otherwise. “During the 16 minutes of the dance, my body and mind operate on a heightened level of sensitivity. We as a group are rapidly negotiating space, time and making choices while performing at a high level of articulation. It is very exciting- I wish more dances demanded this of me.”

BOARD PROFILE - Parker Monroe

Parker Monroe is the Executive Director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco. AXIS was lucky to have Parker join our Board of Directors in 2006. He now serves as the Treasurer and Secretary of the Board and works diligently with the staff on budgets and financial reports.

Parker’s interest in the performing arts comes from a long list of relatives who are artists themselves and who have inspired him along the way including his older sister who is a poet; his younger sister who is a stage manager for theater and opera companies; his mom who was a dancer and later an appraiser of furniture, porcelain, and rugs; and finally his dad, who Parker says “is by far the most naturally artistic of all of us. He painted and drew, made furniture and clocks, and sang in choirs.”
 
Parker has worked as a manager of symphony orchestras since he was in his mid-twenties in both in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Boston. Music, dance, theater and literature have always been his great loves.

Through his involvement with AXIS, he has learned much about the lives of dancers, lives with short professional windows, and often, great physical pain. He notes that these challenges are compounded with a group like AXIS with its make up dancers with and without disabilities. And he says “that element is of course AXIS’ triumph: the beauty of the dance created by a company, some of whose dancers have serious physical impediments.  A triumph of human will and determination.”
 
Parker feels that living with his partner Teresa Darragh who researches HPV, educates about it, and treats people suffering from the disease, as well as becoming a part of the AXIS family, has made him a little more human.

He is very excited about some recent developments within his own organization. The New Century Chamber Orchestra just signed a 3-year contract with the internationally celebrated violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg to serve as music director starting next September through 2011.  “She is among the most talented, dynamic, versatile artists working today.  She’s a sublime artist in classical music, but she’s fabulous with jazz, Latin music, pop.”
 
He says what’s exciting to him about being an arts manager is that he has the opportunity to bring pleasure through music, dance, or whatever it is – to groups of people. “There’s no doubt that one of the reasons places like San Francisco, Boston, New York and Chicago are such popular places to live is because they support and try to nurture diverse cultural and artistic communities, the artists who perform there, and the managers and boards who support them.  Creating inspiration – what a great life! “

In addition to his family’s deep involvement in the arts, Parker was inspired as a young person by the music in his church. “I remember not especially liking the ‘talking’ part of church, but I loved the music, even before I could read the words in the hymnal.” 

Parker feels it’s been rewarding serving as Treasurer of AXIS and reporting on the institution’s finances at board meetings. He says the staff all does such a good job that it makes his job easy.  “It’s like a waiter taking credit for the meal being served….” And his favorite AXIS piece that he’s seen in the two years he’s been on the Board is “the last one I saw. I loved both ‘Waypoint’ by Margaret Jenkins and ‘the beauty that was mine, through the middle, without stopping’ by Joe Goode.” Incidentally Parker was a commissioner of both pieces.

"Parker has been such an important addition to our board. Because he runs an arts organization, he truly understands the challenges AXIS faces. His expertise in financial management is invaluable. We all love his supportive demeanor and his very wry sense of humor” adds Judith Smith, Artistic Director.

 

 

CALL FOR NEW BOARD MEMBERS

AXIS Dance Company is currently accepting new Board member applications. To learn more about how you can join a group of talented and committed  indiviudals in advancing the mission of AXIS Dance Company, please contact us at (510) 625-0110 or email info@axisdance.org. We’re particularly looking for candidates interested in dance, disability issues, and integration who will bring one or more of the following:

•Commitment to AXIS’ creative vision and philosophy
•Fundraising/development expertise
•Connections to corporate communities; expertise in designing social initiatives that generate earned income, “social entrepreneurship”
•Connections to the diverse cultural communities of the San Francisco Bay Area
•Skill in marketing/public relations
•Expertise in nonprofit administration, HR policy/personnel, or financial management
•Commitment to making a hands-on contribution to the company
•Experience with contemporary dance (as a performer, choreographer, teacher, or dance enthusiast)

 

DANCE ACCESS CORNER - by Annika Nonhebel, Education Director

Photo of youth at Barron Park Elementary during an AXIS Residency, Spring 2007

“How do you do a wheelie? What is your favorite move? What inspired your haircut? Do you have a boss? Do you all have a disability? Does it hurt when you take your legs on and off? Why do you like to dance? Do you ever run over someone’s toes? You can stand, why do you need a wheelchair?”

These are just some of the questions we get from students after our assemblies. In the last few weeks our Dance Access Team visited 6 different schools in the Bay Area, reaching about 2400 students. This in addition to all the education programs AXIS dancers have been doing on tour outside of California. We performed in big gyms, multipurpose rooms and beautiful old playhouses. Every time it’s a surprise to see where we will be performing, how big the stage will be, whether the music will be loud enough and if the microphone will work or not. There is one constant factor though: the students. Their enthusiasm and engagement, their questions afterwards, and their excitement about participating in the show; seeing those faces light up is priceless.

We have many exciting things on the Dance Access and Dance Access/KIDS! menu for the coming months. On April 27 AXIS will host a big East Bay Dance Event (hyperlink to page with more info: http://www.axisdance.org/performance.php) as part of the National Dance Week at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts. AXIS will be teaching creative dance classes at two different schools in the East Bay. One of them will be a peers program at Albany Middle and High School in which students with and without disabilities will pair up and dance together. In August we will be hosting our third Physically Integrated Summer Intensive. For 10 days we will explore and teach physically integrated dance with and to adults of all abilities from all over the world. (For more information click here hyperlink to: www.axisdance.org/education_summerIntensive.php). Eric Kupers, co-director of Dandelion Dancetheater and a professor of dance at CSU East Bay, will be one of our guest teachers. We are really excited that he will be joining us since AXIS is also collaborating with him on developing a Physically Integrated Dance program for CSU East Bay. The Summer Intensive will give us an opportunity to lay the basis for this unique program, which will be the first dance program in the United States that will be developed from an integrated dance approach.

In October we will host our annual Dance Access Day sponsored by Target. Each year schools from all over the Bay Area come to our theater to see this great show for free. Dancers show excerpts of our most recent work and students have a chance to participate in this interactive show.

Additionally we will be teaching another series of Creative Dance Classes for Teens with and without disabilities, and another 4-week Physically Integrated Dance Workshop. Stay tuned  (hyperlink to: http://www.axisdance.org/education_danceAccess.php) for more information.

 

AXIS SUMMER INTENSIVE, August 3 -10, 2008

AXIS Dance Company is hosting it’s 3rd Physically Integrated Dance Summer Intensive August 3 – 10, 2008 at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, Oakland, CA. AXIS and Eric Kupers of the CSUEB Dance Department will teach physically integrated contact improvisation, technique, choreography, performance, as well as site-specific dance. The intensive will culminate with an informal performance by workshop attendees and faculty.

People ages 18 and up, of all dance levels and experience, with and without physical disabilities are invited to attend. All participants will be selected through an application process. Please download and send a completed APPLICATION FORM AND resume or curriculum vitae of dance, theater, and/or athletic experience to the AXIS office at 1428 Alice Street, Ste. 200, Oakland, CA 94612 by the postmark deadline of June 15th.

Tuition for the workshop is $500. Limited full and partial scholarships will be made available. To apply for a full or partial scholarship participants need to submit a letter of interest including a statement of financial need to accompany their application.

Tuition does not include the cost of accommodations. AXIS is reserving a block of hotel rooms in Oakland at a competitive room rate. We will make hotel information available to workshop registrants in early July. AXIS will make every effort to assist people in finding affordable accommodations including providing registrants with contact information of others who may wish to share a room for the length of the summer intensive.

If you have questions about the intensive and application process, or would like the application form mailed to you contact the AXIS office at (510) 625-0110, annika@axisdance.org

Participants in the 2006 Summer Intensive said:

"Thank you for a wonderful, meaningful experience. You got me connected back to dance again!"

"This experience broadened my understanding of dance as art and I learned about compassion - giving and receiving."

"I was honored to be a part of such a committed group of dancers and teachers who shared their life experiences through their stories and their artistry through their teaching & dancing."

"By having the freedom to be in and out of my chair, I discovered new movement possibilities for myself."

 

 

AXIS SPRING PERFORMANCES & EVENTS

Photo: Judith Smith, Rodney Bell and Margaret Cromwell. Photo by Phil Sears.

and

are major sponsors of AXIS Dance Company's 2007/2008 Tour dates

Friends of Arts Education at Cerritos Center
Thu, April 17th @ 9:30am & 11:30am, youth performances
Cerritos, CA
http://www.friendsofaecc.com/indexv1.jsp

Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts
Fri, April 18th @ 8pm
Cerritos, CA
http://www.cerritoscenter.com/

Refiguring Dance Performance and Disability
(hosted by UC Berkeley Dept. of Theatre, Dance &
Performance Studies)
shared performances by AXIS Dance Company, Dandelion Dance
Theater, and Petra Kuppers
Sat, April 26th @ 8pm
Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, Oakland, CA
Tix are $15 at the door or via phone reservation in advance.
For information and to make advance reservations contact:
510-642-3982
http://theater.berkeley.edu/CurrentSeason/making.html

Bay Area Celebrates National Dance Week - East Bay Dances Together - FREE Performance
Sun, April 27th @ 1-3pm
Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts
1428 Alice Street (14th), Oakland, CA 94501
Information: annika@axisdance.org, T: 510 625 0110
AXIS Dance Company hosts a 90 minute performance of the finest East Bay dance companies followed by a "meet-the-artists" reception. This event is for dance enthusiasts of all ages and is WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE. This show will be a fun experience for both young and old.
http://www.bacndw.org/schedule.php?day=3

May Day: CounterPULSE's 3rd Anniversary
Sun, April 27, 8pm
Many of the Bay Area's most exciting performing artists gather to celebrate CounterPULSE's third birthday. Featuring AXIS Dance Company, Robert Moses Kin, Shinichi Iova-Koga, Joe Goode Performance Group, Jess Curtis/Gravity, Joanna Haigood/ Zaccho Dance Theatre, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, and Scott Wells & Dancers plus food, beverages, and a silent auction to benefit CounterPULSE.
For more inforamtion: http://www.counterpulse.org/calendar.shtml.
T: Tix $20-25

San Francisco International Arts Festival
Thurs/Fri, May 22nd & 23rd @ 7pm
Sat, May 24th @ 4pm
shared evening with Dandelion Dance Theater (San Francisco), Compania Y (Spain) and Jaques Poulin Denis (Canada)
The Forum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
http://www.sfiaf.org/

 

 

THANK YOU!

INDIVIDUAL DONORS...

BENFACTORS ($2500-$4999): Parker Monroe  & Teresa Darragh, Tom & Ancella Toldrian

PATRONS ($1000-$2499): Susan Foster & Mishana Hosseinioun

DONORS ($500-$999): Dean Beck-Stewart & Ben Covone, Charlotte Belser, Jon Houde, Charles & Gerry McAvoy, Chuck & Thoebe McAvoy, Cynthia “Roxy” Jones, Tom Metz & David Brightman, Nicoletta June Maes

SUSTAINERS ($250-$499): Doug Acker, Anna & Joseph dos Ramos, Marilynn Hall & Alan Baskin, Ray Lifchez, J. Dougal MacKinnon, Susan Malone, Bernadette Mendoza, Fred Sandsmark in loving memory of Jane Sandsmark, Gigi Shervanick, Elliot & Linda Halpern

SPONSORS ($100-$249): Gloria Aguila, Marsha Balian, Elaine Belkind, Shelley Bergum, Maryann Buchholz, Mary Kate Carter, Helen Cho, William & Sarah Cromwell, Bruce Dugstad, Patricia Dunne, Lainey Feingold & Randy Shaw, Lucille Karuzas, Robin Keller & Talia & Mark Geliebter, Mary Klipp, Phyllis Lewkowicz, Hank & Gail Liese, Simi Linton, Linda & Steve Magginetti, Nancy Newman, Patricia Orr & Deanna Orr, Edward Ortiz & David B. McMullen, Tom Ramos, David Risinger, Manuela Rohr, Paul & Lonnie Simonson, John Steinberg & Lauren Steinberg, Marilyn Straka, Mitchell Tsai, Brenda & Jim Waters, Diane Woods, Lawrence & Carolyn Zaroff

SUPPORTERS ($50-$99): Beth Alper Slepian & Ian Slepian, Martha Borst, Josie Byzek, Hilary Crosby, Karina Epperlein, Sonja Franeta, Mary & Larry Goldberg, Ruth Gorrin, Nancy Henderson & KathrynBlack, Arlene Karlin, David Landes, Pamela Markmann, Jerry & Jerry Moore, Joan Norris, Deanna Pankow & Annie Pankow, Anne Scarcella, Karen Schiller, Peg & George Schirle, Tony Sustak, Kae Tsukagoshi, Daunne Zinger

FANS ($10-$49): Rachel Barna, Leslie Bennett, Wendy Bolker, James S. Bunich, Deborah Cardenas, RT Carr III, Telory Davies, Jeff Friedman, Cindi & Howard Goldberg, Ted Gram-Boarini, Tyler Haaren, Margaret Kendrick & Angel Contreras, Julie Kinney, Yuko Kitaura, Ralph Kraetsch, Edith F. Laub, Sandy Metzler, Michael Miller & Ron Eastman, Mary  Mocine, Jean Morrison, Donald Moyer, Susan Musicant, Patty Overland, Laetitia Rebord, Carol  Rothman & Scott Ullman, Paul Rubin, Leslie Saxon-West, Joshua Schefers & Cashel O’Boyle, Alan & Laurie Senauke, James Shays, Mercy Sidbury, Allegra Silberstein, Janet Sovin, Erika Townsend, John and Martha Veranth, Leigh Walters Manning

 

Foundations Support :

• National Endowment for the Arts
• City of Oakland Cultural Arts & Marketing Department
• Alameda County Arts Commission
• California Arts Council
• Bayer Corporation Foundation
• Betty Faber Fund
• The Brickyard II Family Fund of the East Bay Community Foundation
• Cisco Systems Foundation
• Cresent, Porter and Hale
• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• MetLife Foundation
• The Oakland Methodist Foundation
• The San Francisco Foundation
• Special People In Need
• Morris Stulsaft Foundation
• TARGET
• True North Foundation
• Van Loben Sels RembeRock Foundation
• Zellerbach Family Fund

A HUGE thanks to all of these folks who provide in-kind services, volunteer their time, advise us, console us and cheer us on!
AXIS Board of Directors, AXIS dancers and their significant others, Jennifer Calienes, Lindsay Meeks, and Joyce Straub at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, Kurt Abrams, Sarah Bush, Larry Connolly & John Killacky, Sonya Delwaide & Mills College, Dylan Flocker, Joe Goode, Patrick Hajduk, InterPlay, Margaret Jenkins, Barbara Kaplan, Alex Ketley, Josh Klipp, Eric Kupers and Dandelion Dance Theater, , Trib LaPrade, LUNA Kids Dance and Patricia Reedy, Malonga Center for the Performing Arts, Victoria Marks, Terri O'Hare, Caroline Penwarden, Neil Ratzlaff, Nina Sazevich, Megan Schirle, Karen Schiller, Kary Schulmann, Shelley Senter, Leslie Smith, Jerry Smith, Suzanna Shubeck and ultrapop, Stafford, Christy Laura Thomas, Suzanne Van Houten and the 930 Clay Street Housing Co-op, Louise Vesper, Iva Walton, Kate Weare, Lisa Wymore.