ID: Against an inky black background, Alice Sheppard, a multiracial Black woman with dark copper curly hair, balances. Head tucked in, palms to the ground, rear wheels of her wheelchair high to the sky. Her chair frame rests precariously on the stems of two crutches. Photo: Mengwen Cao
The UCLA IDP in Disability Studies and the department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance welcome Alice Sheppard, choreographer and activist. Alice will be guest teaching Victoria Marks’ Fiat Lux Seminar DANCE 19.1 during her visit to UCLA as a 2024-25 academic year Regents’ Lecturer. The course, titled Movement Movements: Disability Artistry Dance and Performance, will be offered Friday, Feb. 7, 1-3; Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 8 and 9 1-4; and Monday, Feb. 10, 6-8.
Course Description
In this course, students will learn about the important work of disability artistry in dance and performance. Alice Sheppard will tie together the political movement of ideas and the movement of disabled dancers, both on the street and on the stage. The course will consider how disabled bodies and minds craft new worlds of movement and performance, as disabled artists draw on their lived experience, traditions and histories of community expertise, artistry, and disabled wisdom. The course will also explore how access and access artistry have become provocative centers of artistic practice.
Class Dates & Times
Friday, Feb. 7: 1-3pm
Saturday, Feb. 8: 1-4pm
Sunday, Feb. 9: 1-4pm
Monday, Feb. 10: 6-8 pm
About the Instructors
Alice Sheppard
Living into a dare, dancer and choreographer Alice Sheppard resigned her tenured professorship to train with Kitty Lunn and Infinity Dance Theater. After an apprenticeship, Alice joined AXIS Dance Company where she became a core company member, toured nationally, and taught in the company’s education and outreach programs. Alice is the founder and artistic lead for Kinetic Light, a disability arts organization, working at the intersections of disability, dance, design, identity, and technology to create transformative art and affirm the intersectional disability arts movement.
Victoria Marks
Victoria (Vic) Marks is an award-winning choreographer whose work migrates between choreo-portraits and action conversations for people who don’t identify as dancers (veterans, dads, moms, sorority and fraternity students) — and dances for and with dancers that fuel Marks’ inquiries into movement.
