EDISON — A dance symposium that includes a workshop in the township will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, featuring dancers with and without disabilities.
The Clement A. Price Institute will present the AXIS Dance Company, which will begin the symposium with a full performance, co-presented by the Price Institute and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater, 1 Center St., Newark, at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17.
AXIS Dance Company’s engagement by the Price Institute also includes two free community classes on physically integrated dance. The first is set for 2:30-4:00 p.m., Nov. 18, at the Paul Robeson Campus Center, Rutgers University-Newark, 350 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Ninewark, partnership with the Office of Student Life.
The second event is slated for 6:30-8:00 p.m., Nov. 19, at the Minnie B. Veal Recreation Center, 1070 Grove Ave., Edison, coordinated by the Alliance Center for Independence (ACI), a community-based organization that promotes independent living for people with disabilities in Middlesex County.
The workshops are open to participants with and without disabilities.
Seen on “So You Think You Can Dance,” AXIS Dance Company has paved the way for physically integrated dance, and each year shares its artistic and education/ outreach work with thousands of people all over the world.
AXIS exists to change the face of dance and disability. Founded in 1987, AXIS emerged at a time when the Disabilities Rights and Independent Living Movements were making strides and the dance community was beginning to open its doors to people with disabilities, according to ACI representatives.
Artistic Director Judith Smith has taken AXIS to new heights by collaborating with leading contemporary choreographers and composers such as Bill T. Jones, Stephen Petronio, Meredith Monk and David Dorfman, ACI representatives said. With more than 75 works in its repertoire, AXIS has toured major dance venues and festivals in more than 100 cities nationwide, and in Europe and the Soviet Union.
Supporters of the symposium are the National Endowment for the Arts’ ArtWorks program; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; the Essex County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs; the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation; the Cultural Programming Fund at Rutgers University-Newark; and a National Dance Project grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts.
For more information on the Price Institute’s public programs, visit ethnicity.rutgers.edu. For tickets to the Nov. 17 concert at NJPAC, visit njpac.org. Use code 20CD for a 20 percent discount on ticket prices; Rutgers RUSH tickets will also be available for this performance.