Laurel Lawson spreads her arms wide as if stretching her wings. She looks out over the Hudson River through the massive windows at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Small ramps in various configurations are visible onstage around her. Photo: Lisa Niedermeyer
Press

Press Contact: Mariclare Hulbert

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  • " 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
  • “Kinetic Light allows disability to transform everything about the working process and the product.”
    -EMILY WATLINGTON, ART IN AMERICA
  • “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
  • “Disabled bodies and perspectives define Kinetic Light’s work….Though everyone is welcome in the audience, the group’s art is intended specifically for disabled people.”
    - MARGARET FUHRER, THE NEW YORK TIMES
  • “This ensemble of disabled artists is on the rise”
    - BRIAN SEIBERT, THE NEW YORKER
  • “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

Reviews & Articles

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  • "DESCENT models a truth that is rarely understood among dance audiences: Disability does not signify incompleteness. In fact, it offers novel pathways to several movement styles, each of them whole and generative of unique choreographic forms.”
  • — KEVIN GOTKIN, DANCE MAGAZINE
  • “Ms. Sheppard has been an innovator in disability arts, and this work illustrates just how much she’s expanded the notion of physicality in dance.”
  • — BRIAN SCHAEFER, THE NEW YORK TIMES