Danae Rees | Championing accessibility in the arts

Danae is the Managing Director of AXIS Dance Company, one of Americans most acclaimed ensembles of disabled, non-disabled, and neurodiverse performers, and she has taken the time to sit down with the QUT Alumni Team to discuss her career journey, AXIS Dance Company, and how organisations can create more accessible and inclusive workplaces.

What makes Axis Dance Company unique and what attracted you to the company?

AXIS is one of the nation's most acclaimed ensembles of disabled, non-disabled, and neurodiverse performers. AXIS was founded in 1987 and creates world-class productions that challenge perceptions and redefine dance and disability. As a Bay-Area (Berkeley) based company, we've toured over 100 cities in the US, Israel and Palestine, United Kingdom, Europe, United Arab Emirates, and Russia, and received nine Isadora Duncan Dance Awards.

What is unique about AXIS is that we collaborate with disabled and non-disabled artists (dancers, choreographers, composers, designers, etc) to create world-class productions that challenge the perceptions of dance and disability.

In tandem with a robust performance calendar, we provide unparalleled integrated dance education and outreach programs, building paths to dance education for disabled and non-disabled people of all ages, experiences, and spectrums of disabilities.

I was first introduced to AXIS when I initially came to California. It was through a colleague of mine who was a former dancer with the company. I was immediately drawn to their work and throughout my time in the Bay Area, I was involved with AXIS in a range of capacities before my current role as Managing Director.

As the Managing Director of Axis Dance Company what strategies do you have in place to assist in removing barriers for anyone wanting to participate?

AXIS creates opportunities locally and abroad for disabled people to engage in dance by championing access, inclusion, and equity in dance and in the wider community. So inclusive practices are embedded into everything we do - internally and externally. This includes strategies for our staff, our community and our audiences.

Beyond our dancers, over half our dancers and board are disabled. As an employer there are often barriers to how people are able to enter the workforce. We've recently removed requirements for college/university degrees. There are very few performing arts training programs out there that welcome disabled artists, so the experiences that bring them to the field are very different. Because of this we include language that is reflective of experience more than qualifications in our job descriptions. Like everyone else post-pandemic, our staff are also able to choose a hybrid work environment to support their access needs.

For our community and our audiences, it's about considering the ways they are able to engage with us virtually and in-person. We always ask what their access needs are prior to the event. Knowing what access needs are in advance allows AXIS to ensure we can provide the support individuals need to participate fully. This can range from sign language and/or captioning for Deaf and hard of hearing, large font text for those who are visually impaired, or more breaks for those with chronic fatigue.

How has technology assisted in connecting people, particularly in the field of integrated dance

The pandemic is a perfect example of where technology helped the performing arts industry to pivot to accessible online engagement. Particularly here in the US, when we went into lockdown, many arts organisations quickly turned to online content - be it classes, workshops or performances. This was a time when the arts became more accessible than ever before. Particularly for some in our disabled community who, even pre-pandemic, were unable to leave their homes. The explosion of arts experiences that became available to them was phenomenal. AXIS definitely did a lot more online context during this time and we saw a lot of new participants engaging with us. Moving forwards, we know that we need to continue to offer hybrid experiences to our community.

The accessible tools that technology provided included closed captions, language translations and audio descriptions, through simple tools like Zoom. So it was easy for arts institutions to be more accessible in that moment. However, now that we are in a place where everyone is “returning to normal operations,” the access that was made available to audiences in the virtual world is not being translated to the in-person experience. We're working with theatre venues and corporate organisations around how they can enhance accessibility for the in-person experiences - including closed captions, sign language interpretation, audio descriptions, and strategies around more accessible marketing.

What do you find most rewarding when doing your advocacy work in schools educating students about accessibility, inclusion, dance and disability, and contemporary dance?

The bulk of my career has been in dance and dance education, so I am passionate about the arts experiences students are able to receive in schools. But to also be able to bring social justice issues, like accessibility and inclusion, dance and disability to the forefront through the art is exponentially more impactful for students. They remember what they experience, what they learned and what they can take away more through dance, theatre, music and visual arts.

What is the Choreo-Lab program? And what are some of the exciting outcomes that have come out of it?

Our Choreo-Lab program was born out of a need in the field - which goes further to the lack of training opportunities for disabled artists in general (which we are also supporting). The goal of the AXIS Choreo-Lab Fellowship is to develop, refine and advance the artistic skills of emerging disabled choreographers. The Lab offers an inclusive environment where established, disabled artists mentor the fellows to challenge boundaries and explore perception-changing art. During the Lab, participants are led through a creation process stemming from their own concept, collaborating with an integrated group of performers, including AXIS dancers and professional dancers from the local community. The Lab provides studio space, dancers, and administrative support for every choreographer. This opportunity also includes ongoing mentorship and professional development support in the year following the Lab. Moving into our sixth year, we are starting to see the real impact of the fellowship with our alumni. Previous fellows are being commissioned by large institutions to create work, they're receiving more funding to support the creative work and they're more in the forefront of the dance field (in the USA).

What work stills needs to be done to remove barriers in the creative arts and society broadly?

A lot of progress has been made but there is always more that can be done. Technology is playing a large role in removing the barriers to accessibility but the world needs to go deeper. We want to ensure that any work in accessibility and inclusion is not just about ticking a box or finding solutions to the physical barriers (like putting in a ramp). It's about creating long-lasting accessibility.

More conversations are happening that are moving away from the medical model of disability and pushing for the social model of disability.

Society needs to look more broadly at disability. When you mention the word disability, society tends to immediately go to physical disabilities. AXIS is expanding to also include invisible disabilities and neurodiversity in our work and how we advocate for inclusion.

What advice would you give to others wanting to create more accessible and inclusive workplaces?

We are currently creating an Access Guide to Presenting & Touring in the Performing Arts. Based on our experiences over the last 36 years. It's a resource we feel is needed in our field so that theatres, performance venues and booking agents are more informed about accessibility from the audience and the artist point of view.

In the past, there have been many venues where they say it's accessible but it is purely from the audience's perspective. They neglect to consider what the backstage experience is like for disabled artists or even those that work with them who may have access needs.

More recently, we've been working with corporate organisations to translate our knowledge and experiences to support creating more accessible workplaces.

No matter what your field of work, the best advice I can give is to make sure accessibility is not an afterthought. It should be embedded into what you do, how you work and who you work with. It's also important to remember that one person’s experience is not everyone's experience - one person’s visual impairment is not the same as another's, so a “one fits all” approach doesn't work. Giving options is important to meet people's access needs.

Workplaces need to adopt a universal design approach - it supports everyone.

Throughout your career you've worked with and run education and dance programs within communities that are underserved, what inspires you to do the work that you do?

I grew up with a single mother who worked hard to give me the opportunities I had as a kid. So no matter where my career has taken me, I want to work in places & spaces that ensure access to the arts is available to everyone.

You've lived in California for many years now, what initially inspired you to make the move and subsequently stay overseas for so many years?

I actually spent 10 years in London before coming to California. When I first graduated from QUT, I spent the first year and a half teaching dance at a high school in Brisbane. I was eager to learn more outside of my experiences in my private dance school, high school dance program and QUT. So I took initially took two months in the UK and Europe to take as many dance classes as possible, see shows and meet with people - but it just didn't feel like enough time. So about a month after I returned I approached the school Principal and told them I was going to pursue teaching overseas. I left not long after that on a working holiday visa that just kept getting renewed. When my now husband received a job opportunity in California, I was excited by another opportunity to learn and experience more. So my California adventure began from there.

What is one skill you couldn't live without and why?

I have been reflecting a lot lately that backwards planning is a skill of mine. Having an end goal that I need to meet and working backwards, planning the details of what I need to do to get there. I think this primarily comes from my life as a teacher, but it's translated and served me well in all the other roles I've had in my career.

Do you have a question for Danae? Connect on LinkedIn or via the Axis Dance Company website.

Photo credit: Kristen Terlizzi