Artist Statement

Dancers from Kinetic Light soar, bounce, roll and fly from a series of sculptural portable ramps. Designed by artist Sara Hendren as interventions in urban accessibility and as spaces for play, this set of portable ramps become the stage set for a series of dances that reveal the joy of dancing in wheelchairs.

Kinetic Light ​is a project based collaborative working at the intersections of disability, dance, design, identity, and technology. ​Through rigorous investment in the histories, cultures, and artistic work of disabled people and people of color, Kinetic Light promotes disability as a creative force and access as an aesthetic critical to the creative process, not a retroactive accommodation. Momentum and Torque​ is a suite of dance duets and solos. Working together and alone, the dancers explore how the slopes and planes of the ramps generate unique movement. Sheppard’s solo is a powerful negotiation of risk and edge; Lawson’s a meditation on balance and grace. In their duets, the dancers build a relationship that at times yearning, passionate, and soulful and at times combative, exhilarating, and joyful. A rush to the end climaxes in a signature leap, lift, and balance. This performance is flexible and portable, and may take place multiple times in varied locations and times. Kinetic Light will collaborate with local businesses to build and invite audiences and create effective landing places during and following the performances.