Axis Dance finds new ways to break ground in ‘Kinematic’

Axis Dance Company was created to explore the outer possibilities of human bodies in motion. After nearly four decades of pioneering choreography for dancers with and without physical disabilities, the Berkeley-based troupe is back experimenting with new technologies and devices in “Kinematic/Kinesthetic,” a sojourn into a realm where art, disability, and access technology converge.

Presented in partnership with San Francisco’s Exploratorium and Stanford Live, the hour-long production premieres today as part of the Exploratorium’s After Dark series (with reprise performances Saturday afternoon) and May 21 at Bing Concert Hall, where the program also includes work by San Francisco choreographer and roboticist Dr. Catie Cuan.

“Kinematic/Kinesthetic” deploys telescoping crutches and robotic hexapod legs developed by engineering students at Carnegie Mellon and University of Maryland working with multidisciplinary artist Ben Levine. His collaboration with Axis Dance Artistic Director Nadia Adame, who choreographed the piece, started with the intention of “inventing new movement,” Levine said on a recent video call with Adame and Axis dancer JanpiStar.

Conferring with engineers and disabled dancers, he moved from the theoretical to the material. In essence, “Kinematic/Kinesthetic” is one step in an ongoing investigation that flows from the drawing board to the dance floor. “The prototyping process is a long one with many steps,” said Levine, who was born with Erb’s palsy.

As a dance curator in Washington, D.C., he had crossed paths with Axis several times. But the relationship took a major leap in 2021 when Axis tapped Levine as one of the choreographers in the company’s Choreo-Lab mentoring project. Marc Brew was still Axis artistic director, but Adame was already working with the company and she was impressed with his integration of children’s toys as mobility devices.

“I thought he had great ideas on how to use scooter boards creatively, changing the level of all dancers so all the movements happen in the same plane,” she recalled.

When she took over as the company’s artistic director the following year she immediately commissioned Levin to create “Tread,” a centerpiece of the 2022 home season. While he was in the Bay Area, “Ben showed me some drawings of these mechanical objects and I thought if we can we find the funding we could develop it in a different way,” Adame said.

With the support of a Hewlett Foundation 50 Arts Commission, “Kinematic/Kinesthetic” started taking shape, a trial-and-error process that depended upon the cast “trying to understand all the possibilities,” said JanpiStar. The Axis dancer, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico and uses a wheelchair, made it clear there’s still lots of work to do on the devices.

“We have crutches that are meant to enhance everyone’s movements. I’m trying to go away from what it is, turning it into something that adds more to what I can do. I use them with my chair, to connect with another person. With more money and more time, they could be lighter and more practical.”

A multi-disciplinary artist, Levine brings a singular body of experience to Axis. Named “Best Up-For-Anything Technical Director” by the Washington City Paper, he constitutes a one-man tech crew as a carpenter and lighting, scenic, and projection designer for dance and theater. He’s also a multifaceted maker, with more than a decade of experience as a director, choreographer, and installation artist.

With degrees in math and theater, Levine sees his trajectory as “a natural progression,” he says. “I’ve always been excited by ways to use my right and left brain. I’ve dabbled with all sorts of motor and actuators and sensors for all sorts of projects. Separately, I’ve had a disability arts practice and advocacy.”

With the arts world increasingly focusing on questions of identity, Levine sees “Kinematic/Kinesthetic” as a natural progression that bends his multifaceted pursuits into one project.

“I’ve been thinking, how can I take these two disparate aspects, experimenting with new technologies and disabled advocacy, and make a work that incorporates both?” he said. “This work is the answer.”

For Axis and Levine, “Kinematic/Kinesthetic” is more about opening up new terrain than planting a flag in the dance’s particular practices. The process itself is the revelation, and Axis dancers have shown Levine that there’s plenty of room to expand.

“I’ve learned this could be my life’s work, continuing to iterate on these ideas,” Levine said. “There’s only so much that can happen with theoretic choreography on the page. This process has been about testing what’s possible.”

Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.

AXIS DANCE COMPANY

Presents ‘Kinematic/Kinesthetic’

When & where: 7 p.m. May 8 and noon and 3 p.m. May 10 at the Exploratorium, San Francisco; $29.95-$39.95; 7:30 p.m. May 21 at Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University (presented by Stanford Live); $16-$68; axisdance.org