The sweet moment shared by the dancer and choreographer from Elche, Asun Noales, continues as she surveys a tranquil lake. Her next stop is San Francisco, where she will premiere a new piece with Axis Dance Ensemble on September 16.
She faces a triple challenge. First, she must collaborate with dancers she has not yet met. Second, she must trust one of them who will perform from a wheelchair. Third, everything must come together in just four weeks.
The opportunity came from Nadia Adame, a Spanish artistic director who recently took the helm at Axis Dance Company in San Francisco. The company is known for collaborating with dancers who have functional diversity. Adame announced a program titled Ahead, featuring three world premieres at the ODC Theater from September 16–18. One of these premieres bears Noales’s temporary title, exploring desires, pleasures, and human relationships with a quintet of performers.
In discussing the project, Noales recalls a long history of collaboration. A past interview conducted for La 2 in 2005 and a subsequent collaboration in Madrid helped shape the current venture. The artist from Elche has co-produced work showcased at the Joyce Theater in New York, a reflection of the enduring pride she feels in seeing her ideas reach major stages. The theater, a landmark for dance, remains a source of inspiration and validation for her evolving practice.
Earlier this week, Noales began connecting with the dancers via Zoom, with travel to San Francisco planned for the following week. The process involves exploration, mutual discovery, and the challenge of devising movements that translate well across cultures and physical abilities. Online rehearsals require creativity, but the team is determined to begin production despite the physical distance.
Current collaborators include Zara Anwar, Alaja Badalich, David Calhoun, JanpiStar, and Louisa Mann. The group improvises, sharing movement directions, forming pairs, switching roles, and generating ideas that shape their unique movement quality. Noales notes she can only guide the process up to a point before the creative energy takes over.
Noales describes the difficulty of working with performers from different cultural backgrounds and with diverse training within a compressed four-week window. She must adapt to dancers with and without disabilities, rethinking her approach to create from bodies with varied physicalities and appearances. The experience also raises awareness of how wheelchair dancers are perceived on stage, a factor that informs the gaze and dynamics of any production.
As Noales prepares for her San Francisco debut, she emphasizes the importance of collaborative exploration. The project will unfold without a traditional stage setup, relying on light to define space. John Bernard is responsible for lighting, ensuring that the physical presence and spatial relationships of the performers remain central to the audience’s experience.
This will mark Noales’s first exposure to San Francisco, following a prior excursion to New York. She previously performed at the Lloyd Theater with a company from the Canary Islands, presenting a piece titled Phoenix. A New York Times review highlighted her bravery in delivering a solo performance, solidifying her reputation in both American and international dance circles. The experience underscores the vitality of cross-cultural exchange in contemporary dance.
With heightened anticipation, Asun Noales continues to shape her artistic identity as a peripheral artist who consistently earns recognition for bold, innovative work. The collaboration with Axis Dance Ensemble promises a remarkable blend of electronic textures, harmonies, and live soundscapes, with an approach that embraces both electronic and a cappella influences to propel the narrative forward. This approach aligns with the ensemble’s dedication to fusion and experimentation in movement.
Creative discussions extended to costume planning, with a wardrobe supervisor coordinating remotely to ensure comfort and mobility. The ensemble’s staging emphasizes intimate, tactile interactions, using lighting to delineate space and enhance the physical storytelling of each moment. The production team’s goal is to present a performance that feels immersive and unforced, inviting the audience to experience the dancers’ bodies and relationships in a new light.
For Noales, the San Francisco engagement represents a pivotal moment: a gateway to broader audiences and a platform to test new collaboration methods. Her path has included notable appearances in New York and collaborations with esteemed choreographers, and this project continues her trajectory toward impactful, boundary-pushing dance.