Image Description: This Banner is a montage of images. The image on the left is Alice Sheppard, a light-skinned Black woman with short curly hair, suspends magesticaly from the ceiling; one arm clasped to a cable that hooks onto her wheelchair, and another outstretched straight down towards the floor. Jerron Herman, a dark-skinned Black man with a beard and kinky high top black hair, jumps up towards Alice’s outstretched hand. He is looking directly up at her and his right hand is just shy of meeting hers. His palsied left arm clings to his chest. Silver barbed wire cascades all around Jerron’s body, encircling him in a sculptural framework. Photo of Wired by Kinetic Light; photo by Grace Kathryn Landefeld/Jacob’s Pillow. The middle image is Alice, a light-skinned Black woman with short curly hair, and Laurel, a white woman with close- cropped blonde hair, hang from the ceiling. They each have one hand on a cable as they reach for each other with the other. They are nearly horizontal and their legs and feet face out. Silver barbed wire stretches between and beneath them, against the black backdrop. Photo of Wired by Kinetic Light; photo by Grace Kathryn Landefeld/Jacob’s Pillow. The image to the right is A grid of four square headshots, all featuring the artists of Kinetic Light. Clockwise, from top right: Laurel Lawson, a white woman with short blonde hair and blue eyes, gazes away from the camera with a wry smile highlighted by crimson lipstick. Jerron Herman, a Black man with a beard and black hightop hair, looks directly into the camera; he wears a blue shirt with very tiny stripes and holds his palsied hand in front of his chest. Alice Sheppard, a light-skinned multiracial Black woman with short very curly brown, red, and golden hair, looks over her shoulder and stares into the camera intensely. Michael Maag, a white man with a large white beard and flowing white/blonde hair, smiles at the camera; he wears thin framed glasses. Headshots by Robert Kim, Dan Kim, and Beverlie Lorde. A white all-caps text overlay reads “Performance Grantee Kinetic Light”
Performance Grant
2020 Spring Grantee
Kinetic Light
Kinetic Light
Image Description: A grid of four square headshots, all featuring the artists of Kinetic Light. Clockwise, from top right: Laurel Lawson, a white woman with short blonde hair and blue eyes, gazes away from the camera with a wry smile highlighted by crimson lipstick. Jerron Herman, a Black man with a beard and black hightop hair, looks directly into the camera; he wears a blue shirt with very tiny stripes and holds his palsied hand in front of his chest. Alice Sheppard, a light-skinned multiracial Black woman with short very curly brown, red, and golden hair, looks over her shoulder and stares into the camera intensely. Michael Maag, a white man with a large white beard and flowing white/blonde hair, smiles at the camera; he wears thin framed glasses. Headshots by Robert Kim, Dan Kim, and Beverlie Lorde.
Kinetic Light is a project-based ensemble, working at the intersections of disability, dance, design, identity, and technology. Through nuanced investment in the histories, cultures, and artistic work of disabled people and people of color, Kinetic Light promotes intersectional disability as a creative force and access as an aesthetic critical to creating transformative art and advancing the disability arts movement.
Image Description: Alice, a light-skinned Black woman with short curly hair, and Laurel, a white woman with close- cropped blonde hair, hang from the ceiling. They each have one hand on a cable as they reach for each other with the other. They are nearly horizontal and their legs and feet face out. Silver barbed wire stretches between and beneath them, against the black backdrop. Photo of Wired by Kinetic Light; photo by Grace Kathryn Landefeld/Jacob’s Pillow.
Image Description: Jerron Herman is a dark-skinned Black man with a beard and kinky high top black hair; his palsied left arm rests on his chest. He is wearing black pants and a white, sleeveless shirt, and he is wrapped from head to toe in spiraling barbed wire. He bends and lifts one leg while leaning and curving his body in the opposite direction. His eyes are closed and he is smiling, seemingly experiencing joy or ecstasy. Photo of Wired by Kinetic Light; photo by Grace Kathryn Landefeld/Jacob’s Pillow.
Image Description: Alice Sheppard, a light-skinned Black woman with short curly hair, suspends magesticaly from the ceiling; one arm clasped to a cable that hooks onto her wheelchair, and another outstretched straight down towards the floor. Jerron Herman, a dark-skinned Black man with a beard and kinky high top black hair, jumps up towards Alice’s outstretched hand. He is looking directly up at her and his right hand is just shy of meeting hers. His palsied left arm clings to his chest. Silver barbed wire cascades all around Jerron’s body, encircling him in a sculptural framework. Photo of Wired by Kinetic Light; photo by Grace Kathryn Landefeld/Jacob’s Pillow.
Wired is an immersive aerial dance experience of sound, light, and movement that meditates on the gender, race, and disability stories of barbed wire. Dancers spin, bounce, and fly, shattering the norms at the center of dance, design, and disability. The work features dancers Alice Sheppard, Laurel Lawson, and Jerron Herman, the work of lighting designer Michael Maag, and music by composers Ailís Ní Ríain and LeahAnn Mitchell.
Please visit Kinetic’s Instagram, Facebook and their website for more information.