Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Dances With Wheels

One dancer leaps and twirls easily down the stage, while another pumps his arms furiously to cover the same ground in his wheelchair. There’s no doubt AXIS Dance Company flirts with the idea of ability in choreographic works made for those with and without disabilities — but most fascinating is the way the California troupe pushes the possibilities of physicality. The wheel of one performer’s upended chair becomes a delicate merry-go-round for another. A handshake prompts a series of wheelchair pirouettes. This creative merging of whim and wheel, human and hardware shrugs off any notions about limitations; indeed, audiences “may find themselves re-evaluating their own ideas of artistic perfection,” writes the Chicago Tribune.