This 12th annual danceAble event presents workshops, discussion and an electric evening of three works: The Narrowing by Sebastian Grubb, Light Shelter by David Dorfman (includes 10 Miami dancers) and the Florida Premiere of Full of Words by the noted British dancer and choreographer, Marc Brew. AXIS was recently featured on Fox TV's "So You Think You Can Dance".

"... Who, 20 years ago, believed that a dance troupe that integrated conventional dancers and dancers with disabilities could flourish on the basis of artistic merit alone? Fierce commitment and kamikaze attacks were everywhere in evidence... Today, the quality of the dancing takes your breath away. —Allan Ulrich, SF Chronicle

danceAble is a project for able and non-able dancers, produced and presented by Tigertail and Florida Dance Association. It focuses on dance as a vital art form for persons with and without disabilities.

View AXIS' Season 2012 Company Repertory Video on YouTube

Full of Words, by Marc Brew: With AXIS dancers as his palette of characters, Marc Brew created Full of Words as a series of duets/conversations between couples in everyday settings. Each couple begins a dialogue based on the game, "You say a word, I say a word and we will make a sentence." Once the sentence is constructed, the performers must finish their romantic conversations using only movement. The dancers use their bodies and movement as equivalents to letters, consonants, vowels, words, punctuation and sentences – creating their own unique romantic conversations.

As the conversations develop between each couple, the conversations build and overlap – their romantic histories intertwining across the space. Each encounter offers an enlightened understanding of our daily encounters with one another. The audience is reminded that every time we meet a person, something new and complex happens.

"I'm extremely excited to work with AXIS as their work is relevant and is still breaking new ground in contemporary dance. My previous experience as a nondisabled dancer and choreographer and now having a disability, means that I am able to truly challenge all of AXIS' performers expectations of their own limitations. With its stellar artistic team and staff I am honored to work with AXIS."
— Marc Brew

"While it's not always readily apparent what is being 'said' in each encounter, that ambiguity builds to a seething boil. Is that passionate exchange a lovers' quarrel or a romantic interlude? Is Bell recalling lost love, or railing against loneliness? Not that it matters. The conversations are engrossing to the point that we don't need to comprehend all the details – a credit to the intimacy of Brew's choreography and the intensity of the dancers."
— San Francisco Chronicle

Light Shelter, by David Dorfman, had its Florida premiere two years ago as part of danceable. This season's performance also includes segments performed by community members. Most of the eight local dancers participating this year also performed in the 2009 premiere.

The Narrowing, by Sebastian Grubb, is a very physical duet between Rodney Bell and Sebastian Grubb. The original score was composed by Michael Wall.

"The Narrowing welcomes you to re-examine your expectations as an audience member seeing a duet by two male performers for a physically-integrated dance company. The piece was created to take a look at the world of performance and the roles that we take on by participating in it. Both dancers generated their own material and adapted material from the other, as the attempt was to create a truly integrated and balanced piece. Over time, themes arose about the specific role of physical disability in a performance context. We wonder: are those themes irrevocably relevant to the final work? Are our roles as performers always distinct? And finally, can we be deconstructionist and still palatable?" — Sebastian Grubb

Workshops: SERIOUS FUN! Fundamentals of Physically Integrated Dance. Mixed-ability, Performance Technique and Improvisation with AXIS company members. To register, call 305 324 4337. All workshops will take place at Inkub8, 2021 NW 1st Place, in the Wynwood arts district of Miami, on Tuesday & Wednesday, January 24 & 25, 6:00-7:30 pm

Panel – A Strategy: How to Enter the Life of a Dancer. AXIS company members will join with Judith Smith, Artistic Director of AXIS. The panel will be moderated by Krista Miranda. It will take place Thursday, January 26, 7:00-8:00 pm, at Inkub8, 2021 NW 1st Place, Miami.

Read more about AXIS Dance Company at www.axisdance.org

Full of Words is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund/Forth Fund Project co-commissioned by Tigertail and NPN. The Creation Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). The Forth Fund is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. For more information visit www.npnweb.org.

This project is part of Is Paris Burning?, a series that fosters innovation in dance with a series of encounters. Is Paris Burning? is funded through John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's KnightArts Challenge. Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit KnightFoundation.org.

Tigertail's 2011/2012 Season is made possible by community partners and supporters including: Aquarius Press; Albion Hotel, Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation; Biscayne Times; Books & Books; Bresaro Suites; The Children's Trust; City of Coral Gables Cultural Arts Program; City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council; Consulate General of Brazil; Consulate General of the Netherlands; E.S. Moore Family Foundation; Florida Dance Association; Funding Arts Network; The Galler Group; Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau; John S. & James L. Knight Foundation; JPMorgan Chase; MiamiARTzine.com; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; Miami-Dade County Public Library; Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Miami River Inn; National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, supported by lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, with additional funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Community Connections Fund of the Metlife Foundation, and the Boeing Company Charitable Trust; National Endowment for the Arts; National Performance Network with major funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), Altria, MetLife Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation; Pridelines; Publix Super Markets Charities; Safe Schools South Florida; Sain-Orr Royak DeForest Steadman Foundation; The Law Office of Linda M. Smith; Sleepless Night; South Arts; State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; The Miami Foundation; VSA Florida; Vortex Communications; WDNA & WLRN FM; Wells Fargo and our many private supporters.