Events & Calendars Five College Dance Annual Lecture: "Under Wired: Intersectional Disability Aesthetics On and Off Stage," Delivered by Alice Sheppard

Five College Dance is thrilled to welcome dancer and choreographer Alice Sheppard for our 2020-2021 Five College Dance Lecture. Sheppard will deliver a public talk via Zoom entitled "Under Wired: Intersectional Disability Aesthetics On and Off Stage." With Kinetic Light's Wired at the center of this talk, Alice Sheppard invites you into a world where intersectional disability aesthetics and culture take the stage.
Leaving aside the deficit-based understandings of medicalized bodyminds, Sheppard lays out the principles of the newly re-emerging disability arts movement.
This event is free and open to the public, with ASL interpretation and captions provided.

Please register here to receive the Zoom link: https://amherstcollege.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYkdOmoqDsuHdaWmzFmCfK…

Please also visit our webpage for reading and viewing that we encourage you to engage in advance of Alice's talk, in order to situate it within the broader context of her and her company’s artistic practice and ethos: https://www.fivecolleges.edu/dance/alice-sheppard-events

Alice Sheppard is the artistic director of Kinetic Light, a leading disability arts ensemble. Sheppard studied ballet and modern dance with Kitty Lunn and made her debut with Infinity Dance Theater. After an apprenticeship, Sheppard joined AXIS Dance Company, where she toured and taught in the company’s education and outreach programs. As an independent artist, Sheppard has danced in projects with Ballet Cymru, GDance and Marc Brew Company in the U.K., and Full Radius Dance, Marjani Forté, MBDance, Infinity Dance Theater and Steve Paxton in the U.S. Her choreography has been commissioned by Full Radius Dance, CRIPSiE and MOMENTA.

As a Bessie Award-winning choreographer, Sheppard creates movement that challenges conventional understandings of disabled and dancing bodies. Engaging disability arts, culture and history, she is intrigued by the intersections of disability, gender and race. In addition to performance and choreography, Sheppard is a sought-after speaker and has lectured on topics related to disability arts, race and dance. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and in academic journals. alicesheppard.com // @wheelchairdancr

Image Description:
A purple poster with white text reads "Five College Dance Annual Lecture" above an image of Alice Sheppard smiling broadly. She is a multiracial Black woman with short curly blond and brown hair. Her lipstick is a bright fuchsia, which matches the straps of her top. She wears a brightly colored necklace with chunky round beads. The photo is by Beverlie Lord. White text reads: "'Alice Sheppard: Under Wired: Intersectional disability aethetics on and off stage.' Friday, February 26, 4:30-5:30 p.m., 2021 On Zoom. Five College Dance Annual Lecture. Free and open to the public. Registration link available at fivecolleges.edu/dance. ASL and captions provided." In the top left corner there is a black and white star logo and the text "FIVE COLLEGE CONSORTIUM." In the top right corner there is a black and white logo of four diagonal slash marks with one more going horizontally through them. In the bottom right corner is a black and white ASL logo of hands. In the bottom left corner there is a black and white logo with two C's in a television icon.