Disability Arts Ensemble Kinetic Light Brings DESCENT To Lincoln

Disability arts ensemble Kinetic Light brings DESCENT to Lincoln on Saturday, January 27 at 7:30pm at Lied Center. 

Performed on a custom-designed architectural ramp installation with hills, curves, and peaks, DESCENT explores the pleasures of wheeled movement and reckless abandon. Combining dance, architecture, design, and technology, this performance by internationally-known disability arts ensemble Kinetic Light challenges cultural assumptions of what disability, dance, and beauty can be. The performance at the Lied Center will mark Kinetic Light's Nebraska debut!

Inspired by the sensual writings and art of French sculptor Auguste Rodin, DESCENT gives the mythological characters of Venus and Andromeda new life as interracial lovers. The sensuality of this work is palpable, and risk is interwoven throughout as wheelchair wheels fly precariously at the edge of the ramp. The Kinetic Light creators of DESCENT include dancer/choreographer Alice Sheppard, dancer/choreographic collaborator/technology lead Laurel Lawson, and scenographer Michael Maag. 

Kinetic Light: DESCENT will be performed at the Lied Center on Saturday, January 27, 2024 at 7:30pm, and tickets are available at liedcenter.org, (402) 472-4747, and at the Lied Center box office. 

Please note that Kinetic Light's touring policies require that masks be worn during this engagement. Access is integral to all aspects of Kinetic Light performances. This performance is expected to include haptic interpretation of sound scores; ASL interpreters; audio description through Kinetic Light's Audimance app; expanded accessible seating; tactile lobby experiences; sensory kits; a quiet space; and exit and entry welcome during performances. Please call the Lied Center box office at 402-472-4747 for ASL and haptic seating. Detailed access information is available at liedcenter.org/kineticlight. 

Kevin Gotkin, for Dance Magazine, commented, “DESCENT models a truth that is rarely understood among dance audiences: Disability does not signify incompleteness. In fact, it offers novel pathways to several movement styles, each of them whole and generative of unique choreographic forms.” DESCENT was voted 2018's most moving performance by the readers of Dance Magazine

DESCENT is performed on a ramp installation that is more than a set piece: it offers an entire alternate universe for Venus and Andromeda to explore and inhabit. The ramp was designed by Sara Hendren, a Massachusetts-based artist, design researcher, and writer, along with physics professor Yevgeniya Zastavker and a team of first-year engineering students from Olin College. Hendren ensured that the ramp would be a work of art by designing for beauty and wheeled movement potential, not simply for ADA (Americans for Disabilities Act) compliance and essential mobility needs.

Kinetic Light is an internationally-recognized disability arts ensemble. Working in the disciplines of art, technology, design, and dance, Kinetic Light creates, performs, and teaches at the nexus of access, queerness, disability, dance, and race.

The company is led by disabled artists; disabled artists create, design, and perform the work. KL's work speaks to and emerges from disability aesthetics and disability culture, and it is connected to the rich traditions and exciting contemporary conversations of disabled artists in all artistic fields. In Kinetic Light's work disability is not a deficit, it is a powerful, intersectional creative force that is essential to artistry. Access is integral to the art and creative process.

Founded in 2016 under the direction and artistic leadership of Alice Sheppard, Kinetic Light artists include Laurel Lawson, Michael Maag, and guest Wired artist Jerron Herman (2019-2023). The performing company is supported by a talented team of administration and production professionals who work behind the scenes and a roster of additional artists join us to contribute on a project basis. kineticlight.org

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