Touching Access

This paper traces the user experience of disabled audience members as they attend a Kinetic Light performance. Focusing on touch and sight as types of sensory encounter, Lawson and Sheppard draw in sensory studies to analyze how audiences experience dance. Particular focus points are the use of Kinetic Light's Audimance app for audio description as an example of how technology drives artistic innovation and audience experience as well as Kinetic Light work in haptic composition and device development.

About the speakers

Alice Sheppard is the Founder and Artistic Director of Kinetic Light, where she is also a choreographer and dancer. Trained in ballet and modern dance with Kitty Lunn, Sheppard began her career with Infinity Dance Theater before joining AXIS Dance Company, touring internationally and contributing to the company’s education and outreach programs. As an independent artist, she has performed with numerous companies in the United States and the United Kingdom, and her choreography has been widely commissioned. A Bessie Award–winning choreographer, Sheppard is also a sought-after speaker on disability arts, race, and dance. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, academic journals, and the anthology Disability Visibility, and she is a 2020 Disability Futures Fellow.

Laurel Lawson is a founding member of Kinetic Light, serving as a choreographic collaborator, dancer, costume and production designer, and Access & Technology Lead. Lawson leads the company’s technological and design initiatives, including audio description systems, haptic interfaces, performance wheelchair design, and the development of Access ALLways, a holistic, disabled-led framework for equity and accessibility in performance and cultural spaces. Their dance career began with Full Radius Dance, where they performed for over fifteen years, and their broader transdisciplinary practice spans choreography, immersive performance-installations, and artist–technologist collaboration. Lawson is also the CTO and co-founder of CyCore Systems, and their work has been recognized with a Dance/USA Artist Fellowship and a Creative Capital Award.