Alice Sheppard

Sheppard earned a doctorate in medieval studies at Cornell University.{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehoya.com/promoting-disability-activism-through-dance/|title=Promoting Disability Activism Through Dance|last=White|first=Jasmine|date=26 February 2016|work=The Hoya|access-date=5 October 2017}} She worked as an associate professor of English and Comparative Literature at Pennsylvania State University (PSU).{{cite web|url=https://longmoreinstitute.sfsu.edu/pp./alice-sheppard|title=Alice Sheppard - Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability|website=longmoreinstitute.sfsu.edu|access-date=13 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006113503/https://longmoreinstitute.sfsu.edu/pp./alice-sheppard|archive-date=6 October 2017|url-status=dead}} In 2004, she attended a conference on disability studies, where she saw Homer Avila perform. After talking with him at a bar, she took on a dare to take a dance class.{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.com/news/2014/jan/29/invitation-dance/|title=Invitation to Dance|last=Palladino|first=D.J.|date=29 January 2014|website=Independent|access-date=5 October 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://invitationtodancemovie.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-consecrated-dance-space.html|title=Invitation to Dance: A Consecrated Dance Space|website=Invitation to Dance Movie|access-date=6 October 2017}}{{Cite web|date=2018-06-18|title=Disability Is A Creative Force|url=https://www.dancemagazine.com/disability-dance-2574024089.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1?rebelltitem=1|access-date=2021-12-09|website=Dance Magazine|language=en}} At the conference, she also met Simi Linton, who is the creator and co-director of Invitation to Dance, where Linton's own account of disability is intertwined with the stories of others, including Sheppard, whose image graces the cover of the film.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1776210/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl|title=Invitation to Dance (2014)|website=IMDb.com|access-date=6 October 2017}} According to the other director of the film, Christian von Tippelskirch, "Alice Sheppard...is a central figure [in the film]. She is an amazingly talented, forceful dancer, whether on stage or at a party". The first dance lesson Sheppard took was taught by Kitty Lunn.{{Cite news|url=https://www.metro.us/new-york/dancers-with-disabilities-continue-to-fight-for-acceptance/zsJogb---ncnMGl5bN9E6|title=Dancers with disabilities continue to fight for acceptance|date=3 July 2015|work=Metro US|access-date=5 October 2017}} 2 years later she resigned from her academic professorship, and began her dance career. She continued her dance lessons with AXIS Dance Company, became an apprentice dancer in 2006 and then became a company member in 2007. Alice had studied ballet and modern dance {{Cite web|url=http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/02/25/dance-alice-sheppard/|title=Dance artist expresses complex ideas through movement|last=Ruidas|first=Kalani|date=25 February 2015|website=Golden Gate Xpress|access-date=5 October 2017}}{{Cite web|last=AliceSheppard|title=About|url=https://alicesheppard.com/about/|access-date=2021-12-10|website=Alice Sheppard|language=en-US}}

During her apprenticeship, Alice explored techniques of dancing in a wheelchair and learning how disability can generate its own movement. She learned to listen to her body. Post-apprenticeship, Sheppard toured nationally and taught for the Axis Dance Company in their education and outreach programs.{{cite web|url=https://3arts.org/awards/judge-popup/alice-sheppard/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006162530/https://3arts.org/awards/judge-popup/alice-sheppard/|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 October 2017|title=3Arts|website=3arts.org|access-date=6 October 2017}} In 2012, she became an independent dancer and has since worked with companies in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Sheppard is a multiracial, queer, Black Briton.{{cite interview |last=Sheppard |first=Alice |interviewer=Molaundo Jones |title=Member Spotlight: Alice Sheppard of Kinetic Light |url=https://blog.fracturedatlas.org/member-spotlight-alice-sheppard-of-kinetic-light-a940769776f |website=Fractured Atlas |access-date=4 November 2020 |date=5 September 2019}}{{cite interview |last=Sheppard |first=Alice |interviewer=Sara Reisman |title=Performance-in-Place: An Evening with Kinetic Light |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bb3c259e666696f13768624/t/5f1f5093bc710302fc5d9ac9/1595887764109/Kinetic+Light+Transcript+6_15.pdf |format=Transcript |date=9 June 2020 |quote=Alice Sheppard: Hi. I'm Alice Sheppard. I am a light skinned multiracial black woman...}} She has preferred not to detail the specifics of her disability.

File:Alice Sheppard and Laurel Lawson perform "Excerpt from Snapshot (Minsky's Burlesque, New Jersey, ca. 1954)" - 2.jpg

In 2014, Sheppard collaborated with GDance and Ballet Cymru to create the performance Stuck in the Mud. The performance was presented as a promenade – an interactive performance where performers guided the audience through a tour of the site.{{cite web|url=http://welshballet.co.uk/productions/stuck-in-the-mud/|title=Stuck In The Mud - Ballet Cymru|website=Welshballet.co.uk|access-date=6 October 2017}} She has also performed with Full Radius Dance in both 2014 and 2015.{{cite web|url=http://fullradiusdance.blogspot.com/2015/01/|title=Full Radius Dance|website=Fullradiusdance.blogspot.com|access-date=6 October 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6J4JaWTLzE|title=It is four years ago and it is yesterday EXCERPT: Quartet|last=Full Radius Dance|date=24 August 2014|publisher=YouTube}}

In 2017, she collaborated with the Marc Brew Company to create BREWBAND, a performance that combined live rock music with live dance.{{cite web|url=http://www.marcbrew.com/productions/brewband-new-work-in-development/|title=BREWBAND|date=27 October 2015|website=Marcbrew.com|access-date=6 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903123034/http://www.marcbrew.com/productions/brewband-new-work-in-development/|archive-date=3 September 2017|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2017/brewband-review-sadlers-wells-london/|title=Marc Brew Company: Brewband review at Sadler's Wells, London|last=Elderkin|first=Rachel|date=26 April 2017|work=The Stage|access-date=5 October 2017}} The show "blurs boundaries between musicians and dancers and challenges audience's perceptions of what live performance is".{{cite web|url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/marcbrewcompany-presents-brewband-dance-lgbt#/|title=MarcBrewCompany presents: BREWBAND|website=Indiegogo}}

In 2017 Sheppard's dance company, Kinetic Light, created a piece entitled Descent (styled in all caps). Performed on an architectural ramp installation, The performance acts out the story of Andromeda and Venus, re-imagined as interracial lovers.{{cite web|url=http://mancc.org/artists/alice-sheppard/|title=Alice Sheppard - Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography|website=mancc.org}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Sheppard performed Descent with Laurel Lawson in wheelchairs.

In 2017, Alice Sheppard became one of two 2017-2018 recipients of a fully supported production residencies from Gibney Dance. The award will provides resources to develop and stage new works.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/arts/dance/gibney-dance-jack-ferver-alice-sheppard.html|title=Gibney Dance Expands Its Residency Program|last=Barone|first=Joshua|date=19 December 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=4 March 2018|issn=0362-4331}}

In February 2018, Sheppard performed at the ribbon cutting of an additional 10,000 square feet (930 m²) of space at the Gibney Dance Center. She also spoke at the 2018 Dance/NYC Symposium on a panel about growing the field of disability dance in NYC.{{Cite web|url=https://alicesheppard.com/event/alice-performs-gibney-dance-center-ribbon-cutting/|title=Alice Performs at Gibney Dance Center Ribbon Cutting - Alice Sheppard|website=alicesheppard.com|access-date=4 March 2018}}

In July 2018, she graced the cover of Dance Magazine, credited with "moving the conversation beyond loss and adversity."{{Cite news|url=https://www.dancemagazine.com/disability-dance-2574024089.html|title=Alice Sheppard Proves It's Time To Redefine Virtuosity|date=18 June 2018|work=Dance Magazine|access-date=30 July 2018}} Sheppard was featured as recently as February 2019 in the New York Times article, "I Dance Because I Can." This article features the work of both Sheppard and fellow artist and member of Kinetic Light, Laurel Lawson. "I Dance Because I Can" emphasizes the connection between "art and social justice", detailing the ways in which Sheppard's work responds to and evolves out of disability culture and aesthetics.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/opinion/disability-dance-alice-sheppard.html|title=Opinion {{!}} I Dance Because I Can|last=Sheppard|first=Alice|date=27 February 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=9 March 2019|issn=0362-4331}}

In January 2019, Sheppard was one of 58 artists who were awarded the Creative Capital award.

Alice creates choreography that challenges conventional understandings of disabled and dancing bodies. She engages disability arts, culture, and history. She is intrigued by the intersections of disability, gender, and race. Intersectionality is what leads Alice to collaborating with other artists. Sheppard's dances use her wheelchair as an extension of her body.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/west/2016/04/20/physics-dance-wheelchair-art/KEYJEbL4O04uLBDToTFDdM/story.html|title=Physics + dance + wheelchair = art - The Boston Globe|last=Putnam|first=Bailey|date=20 April 2016|work=Boston Globe|access-date=5 October 2017}} She also uses crutches in her routines. In 2016, she incorporated the use of ramps, built by engineering students at Olin College. Sheppard also creates choreography that involves sex and sexuality.{{Cite news|last=Sheppard|first=Alice|date=2019-02-27|title=Opinion {{!}} I Dance Because I Can|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/opinion/disability-dance-alice-sheppard.html|access-date=2021-12-10|issn=0362-4331}}

Her work doesn't confirm familiar stereotypes of disability. Her work explores the multiple identities she inhabits. Being honest, telling the complicated history and cultures of disability, race, gender, and sexuality. She believes disability is more than the deficit of diagnosis. It is an aesthetic, a series of intersecting cultures, and a creative force. She also believes that movements don't represent triumph over disability{{Cite web|last=Sheppard|first=Alice|title=Manifesto|url=https://alicesheppard.com/intersectional-disability-arts-manifesto/|access-date=2021-12-10|website=Alice Sheppard|language=en-US}}

Below is a list of works choreographed by Sheppard.

• Wynn Newhouse Award (2015){{cite web|url=http://www.wnewhouseawards.com/pp./Awards.html|title=Awards|website=Wnewhouseawards.com|access-date=6 October 2017}}{{Dead link|date=April 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• Dance/NYC Disability Dance Fund (2017){{cite web|url=http://www.dance.nyc/partner-resources/disability/fund|title=Fund|website=Dance.nyc|access-date=6 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622232735/http://www.dance.nyc/partner-resources/disability/fund|archive-date=22 June 2017|url-status=dead}}
• Creative Capital Foundation's MAP FUND (2017){{cite web|url=https://mapfundblog.org/2017-map-fund-grantees/|title=2017 MAP Fund Grantees|date=22 May 2017|website=Mapfundblog.org|access-date=6 October 2017}}
• New England Foundation for the Arts [NEFA]: The NDP Production grant (2017){{cite web|url=https://www.nefa.org/news/nefas-national-dance-project-announces-awards-new-dance-production-and-presentation-0|title=NEFA's National Dance Project Announces Awards for New Dance Production and Presentation|date=17 July 2017|website=Nefa.org|access-date=6 October 2017}}
• Dance Magazine's Reader's Choice Award: Most Moving Performance (2018){{Cite web|url=https://www.dancemagazine.com/readers-choice-2018-2621663253.html|title=These Are the Performances Our Readers Loved the Most This Year|date=1 December 2018|website=Dance Magazine|access-date=9 March 2019}}
• United States Artists Fellowship (2019){{Cite web|url=https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/2019-fellows/|title=United States Artists » 2019 Fellows|access-date=9 March 2019}}
• Creative Capital Award (2019){{Cite web|url=https://creative-capital.org/2019/01/11/announcing-the-2019-creative-capital-awards/|title=Announcing the 2019 Creative Capital Awards|website=Creative Capital|access-date=9 March 2019|date=11 January 2019}}

• "Orosius, Old English translation of," in Michael Lapidge, ed., The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, (1998), pp. 346–347.
• Of This Is a King's Body Made: Lordship and Succession in Lawman's Arthur and Leir (2000){{cite journal|jstor=27869543|title=Of This Is a King's Body Made: Lordship and Succession in Lawman's Arthur and Leir|first=Alice|last=Sheppard|date=6 October 2017|journal=Arthuriana|volume=10|issue=2|pages=50–65|doi=10.1353/art.2000.0028 |s2cid=161568612 }}
• "The King's Family: Securing the Kingdom in Asser's Vita Alfredi," Philological Quarterly 80 (2001): pp. 409–439.
• "Noble Counsel No-Counsel: Advising Ethelred the Unready," in Via Crucis: Essays on Sources and Ideas in Memory of J. E. Cross, edited by Thomas N. Hall, Thomas D. Hill, and C. D. Wright. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, (2002), pp. 393–422.
• "Love Rewritten: Patronizing Meaning and Authorizing History in the Prologue to La3amon's [Layamon's] Brut," Mediaevalia 23 (2002): pp. 99–121.
• Families of the King: Writing Identity in the {{underline|Anglo-Saxon Chronicle}} (2004){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QU3IQNiMmUYC|title=Families of the King: Writing Identity in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle|first=Alice|last=Sheppard|date=6 October 2017|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=9780802089847|access-date=6 October 2017|via=Google Books}}
• "After Words," PMLA, 120 (2005): pp. 647–641.
• "A Word to the Wise: Thinking and Wisdom in the Old English Wanderer," in Source of Wisdom: Studies in Old English and Insular Latin in Honour of Thomas D. Hill. Charles D. Wright, Frederick M. Biggs, and Thomas N. Hall, eds. University of Toronto Press, (2007). pp. 647–641.

• "Black Booty" at Spelman College (2010)
• "Showing Spine" at Barnard College (2012)
• "Embodied Virtuosity: Dances from Disability Culture" at Emory University (2014).{{cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/108937946|title=Alice Sheppard on Disability Dance and Access|first=Hal|last=Jacobs|date=14 October 2014|access-date=6 October 2017|website=Vimeo.com}}
• "Practicing Dance: Backstage with a Disabled Dancer" at Arkansas State University and SUNY Geneseo (2014){{cite web|url=http://www.astate.edu/news/arkansas-state-to-present-backstage-with-a-disabled-dancer-|title=Arkansas State to present 'Backstage' with a disabled dancer|date=March 26, 2014|website=Arkansas State University|access-date=20 May 2018}}
• "The Second Annual Longmore Lecture" at San Francisco State University (2015)
• "Trained to Kill: Disability, Race and Dance" at University of Alberta and Georgetown University (2016)
• "Adaptive Gear, Art, Aesthetics" at Olin College (2016)
• "Disability Across Disciplines Symposium" at University of Virginia (2016)
• "Overturning Expectations: Dance and Disability" at 92Y (2017){{cite web|url=http://www.culturebot.org/2017/04/27142/mobilizing-bodies/|title=Mobilizing Bodies: Dance & Disability at 92Y, Petronio at The Joyce, & Work Up 3.1 at Gibney|date=8 April 2017|website=Culturebot.org|access-date=6 October 2017}}

• "Does Disability Need Fixing?" at HUBweek (2018){{Cite web|last=HUBweek|title=Does Disability Need Fixing?|website=YouTube|date=7 March 2019|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rdAPN-OkuI|access-date=9 March 2019}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://alicesheppard.com Official site]
• [https://vimeo.com/18435571 ODD] alic
• Excerpts of [https://vimeo.com/199040422 I Belong to You, Trusting If/Believing When and Doors]
• [https://vimeo.com/214909756 Succumb]
• [https://vimeo.com/225740034 Descent]

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