Axis Dance co-founder Smith will retire
Just two weeks after Axis Dance Company’s celebratory 30th anniversary performances, co-founder and longtime Artistic Director Judith Smith has announced that she will retire in February. Smith’s decision was especially surprising because she took on a new role, overseeing advocacy and development, in May, when choreographer Marc Brew came on as the Oakland company’s artistic director.
The official statement cited that the 57-year-old Smith faced “health issues.” “Truthfully,” Smith said by phone, “I’m exhausted. I’m out of gas.” She clarified that Feb. 28 will be her final day of administrative duties, and she will help her replacement transition into the executive director job even after her official end date. Jeanie Bunker will continue as president of the Axis board, which is looking at internal candidates.
“I am taking a break, and I am not sure how much I’m going to want to do after,” she said. “I know that I do not want to be an executive director any longer; I just don’t want that much responsibility.” Smith was a champion equestrian before she was paralyzed in a car accident at age 17, and she plans to spend more time with horses and in nature.
Replacing Smith may not be easy, because she has been the driving force behind elevating Axis into a nationally and internationally recognized dance company and leader in disability advocacy, education and outreach. She commissioned most of its repertory of innovative works, including those by world-class choreographers Bill T. Jones, Kate Weare and Margaret Jenkins. Her numerous honors include the 2009 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award, KQED’s Local Hero award in 2005, and Theatre Bay Area’s 40 People That Have Changed the Face of Bay Area Theatre in 2016.
“Judy is a pioneer, a creative risk taker, a movement builder,” said William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Program Director John McGuirk in a statement. “She, and the physically integrated dance company she founded, have impacted many individuals, communities, and our nation.”
Axis is well established at the forefront of the integrated-dance genre, but 30 years ago, “There were people that said what I wanted to do, especially around the commissioning, wouldn’t be possible,” Smith says. “I knew that it was.” Garnering support from major foundations, and developing programs like the 2016 National Convening on the Future of Physically Integrated Dance in the USA, are among Smith’s significant achievements.
“I feel really good that we have robust programming, that we’ve got support from national foundations — a lot because of the advocacy work that I started,” she says. When she eventually returns to the field, she expects to focus on broad-scale advocacy. “With all of the experience and the history that I have in the integrateddance field, and as a disabled woman,” she says, “I can use that knowledge better not heading a dance company.”
However, Smith is circumspect about the challenges facing Axis and the disabled community, from insufficient dance training to lack of recognition for the art form.
“Disability in general is still left out of the discussions of diversity and equity,” she says. “One of the huge challenges for a company like Axis, and for people living with disabilities, is that there have got to be cultural shifts that are on a nationwide, institutional, systemic level.”
As she steps away from that battle, however temporarily, Smith does allow herself a measure of satisfaction. “The most important thing is knowing that (Axis) has changed lives, and it’s changed perceptions. In a small way, I like to think it’s made the world a better place, at least for some people.”