Lisa Bufano is an interdisciplinary artist from Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Lisa was a competitive gymnast as a kid. After a bacteria infection led to the amputation of both her feet and fingers when she was 21, Lisa pursued animation and sculpture at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. After a 15-year career as primarily a visual artist, Lisa is finding dancing to be challenging and engaging work. Lisa would like to thank Peter Couture, prosthetist at Next Step O & P, for 13 years of encouragement and friendship. Next Step fits Lisa's prosthetics and cheetah (running) legs.
Sonsherée Giles is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana and now resides in Oakland, California. She is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and costume designer. She moved to the Bay Area to attend Mills College where she received her MFA in dance performance/choreography. Since 2001, she has been collaborating with Jerry Smith.
Jerry Smith is an interdisciplinary artist/composer. He has a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA in painting from Boston University. He lives in Oakland, California. Most of his recent artistic work has been music composition and sound design, video, stage and costume design for dance in collaboration with his wife, Sonsherée Giles. He has also recently created music for peck peck dance ensemble in San Francisco and video work in collaboration with performance artist Leyna Papach for a piece performed in Amsterdam, NL and Prague, CZ. Recently he has done sound design for AXIS Dance Company in Oakland, CA.
Alliger Arts is a producing entity created by Executive Producer Jeremy Alliger dedicated to presenting and promoting artistic endeavors that push boundaries and challenge perceptions.
Projects include the creation, touring and presentation of unique artistic events and producing landmark festivals, (including Aerial, Hip Hop, Jazz Tap and Wheelchair). Alliger has received the prestigious Massachusettes Commonwealth Award, the Disability Rights Advocates Eagle Award, and Emerson College's Alumni Achievement Award.
AXIS Dance Company creates and performs high quality contemporary dance by people with and without disabilities. AXIS performs their award-winning repertory locally and on tour throughout the United States. AXIS also maintains an extensive community education/outreach program, Dance Access and its youth component Dance Access KIDS! which offer ongoing classes, workshops, assemblies and presentations for adults and youth of all abilities.
