Kinetic Light

World Premiere
Oct 9-11, 2025
New York Live Arts

Laurel Lawson holds their body in a diagonal line as they balance atop Alice Sheppard’s wheels and shins. Alice supports from below as they lay back, arms and torso on the ground, hips lifted. Alice is a multiracial Black woman with short curly hair, Laurel is a white person with very short cropped hair; they both wear shimmery sleeveless bodysuits. Behind them, a projection of soft blues, purples, and greens looks like rain on a windowpane. Photo Cherylynn Tsushima.

VR: territory

Anchored to the sky by cables, two figures fly through the air, bodies horizontal, hands clasped, wheelchair wheels facing out. They emerge from a starry sky glowing with soft light, appearing through an opening in a geometric steel cage.

territory (2024) Revel in Your Body (2019) One + One Make Three (2021)

“There’s a strength, precision and grace that’s common of any professional dance performance. But then there’s something else: an honesty and vulnerability as the pair engages with the ramp, their chairs and each other.”
— EMILY NONKO, VICE

"Kinetic Light, a disability arts ensemble whose work is made by and for disabled people, has an ethic and aesthetic of access that is exceptionally thoughtful and thorough.
- BRIAN SEIBERT, THE NEW YORK TIMES

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Intimate Night

Alice Sheppard arches backwards from a kneeling position, her legs folded underneath her as her arms stretch behind her head, hands delicately resting on the ground. Laurel Lawson balances on Alice’s thighs, body curled in a ball. Laurel wraps their arms around Alice’s waist and lays their head on her stomach. Alice is a multiracial Black woman with coffee-colored skin and short curly blonde hair. Laurel is a white person with short hair wearing laced ankle braces. Their metallic jumpsuits glint rainbows. Photo Cherylynn Tsushima

Workshops: Equitable Accessibility

Exercises, tools, frameworks, & support to develop your access and equity practice

ALLways

July 17: Accessible Program Design & Strategy

Sept 9: Intro to Accessibility Thinking & Practice

Nov 20: Access as Creative Administrative Practice

full 2025 curriculum or custom classes for your org

A grid of 20 white icons representing many forms of access

Wired

Access as an Ethic:
Myriad Points of Entry to Wired

Alice, a multiracial Black woman with coffee-colored skin and short curly hair wearing deep red and copper and Laurel, a white person with cropped teal hair wearing gold with black leather, swing mid-air: upside down, arms outstretched and curved, bodies extending to the end of their arc. Wheels and frames shine; below, as if sucking them in, is a swirling vortex of twisting wire. Photo Nathan Keay

Descent

“One could argue that, with Sara Hendren’s architectural ramp, it is actually a trio—poetic, passionate and, frankly, haaaawwwt. Sheppard and Lawson are remarkably precise, electric performers.”
— EVA YAA ASANTEWAA, DANCE CRITIC

Venus balances on the footplate of Andromeda’s wheelchair, arms spread wide and wheels spinning. Andromeda opens her arms wide to receive her in an embrace. They make eye contact and smile. A starry sky fills the background, and moonlight glints off their rims. Photo BRITT / Jay Newman

"Most moving performance of 2018" - Dance Magazine

Under Momentum

Atop an artificial mountain, Laurel and Alice suspend face to face, falling backwards; heads lifted, backs arched, sculpted arms reaching overhead with palms flat to the sky. Copper bodysuits, black mesh, silver chairs glitter and reflect deep red light. Photo Lincoln Center/Christopher Duggan