AXIS Dance Company brings integrated dance to FIC

GUANAJUATO.

An example of integrated contemporary dance was presented yesterday by the American company AXIS Dance Company, within the 51st International Cervantino Festival (FIC), in Guanajuato, with a repertoire made up of works such as Broken stories, Tread and Desiderata.

“It is a quite varied and diverse program, in the sense that we do not present a repertoire with similar pieces, but rather, when creating them, the choreographers have had different visions and that is what we want to bring to the public: the difference of what “What artists with and without disabilities can do,” he told Excelsior the choreographer and artistic director Nadia Adame.

How much is this type of dance supported today on the world's stages? Adame was asked.

“There is a lot of support needed for companies, for artists in general and for artists with disabilities. In addition, there is the fact that we always have to prove that we are not doing therapy, but rather that it is art,” since many times people who approach the project confuse it with a support group.

And he added: “For a company like ours, which has been around for 37 years, it has been an intense and long-standing struggle in all these years to convince people that what we do is art and not a kind of therapy; “We are not therapists.”

How accessible are theaters today to your company's needs? “There are new theaters that have greater accessibility than others. However, it is true that people often think of accessibility for the public and not for the artists. Furthermore, there are quite new theaters in which the accessibility of the public is considered, but, on the other hand, that of the artists is neglected, who cannot access the bathroom in dressing rooms or cannot reach the stage, because there are some steps to enter, but here the important thing would be the conscience of engineers and architects.

Under the artistic direction of Nadia Adame and executive direction of Danae Rees, AXIS Dance Company is one of the most acclaimed ensembles of disabled, non-disabled and neurodiverse artists in the United States.

This group was founded in 1987 and has created world-class productions that challenge perceptions and redefine dance and disability.

This stage ensemble, based in the Bay Area, California, has toured more than 100 cities in the United States, Israel and Palestine, the United Kingdom, Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and Russia, and has been awarded the Isadora Duncan Dance award.

Multi-awarded

• Founded 37 years ago, AXIS Dance Company does art and not a kind of therapy. The group has received nine Isadora Duncan Dance Awards.