Petrichor– the smell of earth after rain World Premier October 2019 ​ ​​ Choreographer: Jennifer Archibald ​ Rehearsal Director: Sonsherée Giles ​ Dancers: Bradford Chin, Sonsherée Giles, ​ AJ Guevara, Yuko Monden Juma, DeMarco Sleeper, and JanpiStar Music: The Shaman's Heart II by Byron Metcalf, Steve Roach ​ ​ ​ In My Room by Fennesz Lighting Design: Walter Holden ​ Costume Design: Julie Bell ​ Summary If gratitude unlocks the fullness of life - to always be grateful should be simple. Archibald offers snapshots of intimate connections and pushes the dancers of AXIS to face how gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. "It's important to me that the dancers I work with can personalize the work. Being truthful on stage is empowering and seeing the artists come to terms with their individual connections to gratefulness is a journey that can be shared by everyone involved in the rehearsal process.” —Jennifer Archibald Collaborators Jennifer Archibald, Choreographer for Petirchor is the founder and Artistic Director ​ ​ of the Arch Dance Co and Program Director of ArchCore40 dance intensives, and is an Alvin Ailey School and Maggie Flanigan Acting Conservatory graduate. She has choreographed for the Atlanta Ballet, Ailey II, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Kansas City Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Ballet Nashville and Grand Rapids Ballet. Next season she will create new works for Ballet West and Sacramento Ballet. She is a recipient of the Joffrey Ballet’s Academy of Dance Choreographic Winning Works award, and Choreographic Fellows for Alvin Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab. She has worked commercially for Tommy Hilfiger, NIKE and MAC Cosmetics as well as chart-listed singers and actors. Ms. Archibald was the Movement Director for Michael Kahn’s ORESTEIA for DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company. She was recently ​ ​ appointed as the first female Resident Choreographer in Cincinnati Ballet’s 40-year history. She is on faculty at Columbia University’s Barnard College and the Yale School of Drama. To learn more about Jennifer visit www.jenniferarchibald.com Walter Holden, Lighting Designer for Petrichor graduated from California Institute of ​ ​ the Arts with a M.F.A. in Theatre (emphasis in lighting design) in 1994. His love of theater was born at Southeastern Oklahoma State University while earning his B.A. in theater. His passion for dance was discovered at CalArts. Since that time he has worked in all areas of lighting design. He has toured with Earth, Wind & Fire, Pantera, Kenny G, John Tesh and numerous other bands. Along the way he has managed to design theatre at Hope Summer Repertory Theatre for 3 summers and countless corporate events. These days, when not designing corporate events, he focuses on lighting dance and theatre locally and has been fortunate enough to work with local choreographers Christy Funsch, Randee Paufve, Megan Nicely, Nina Haft, Sonya Delwaide, Catherine Davalos, Dana Lawton, Kate Mitchell, and directors Mary Armentrout, James Dunn, and Allen Taylor. Walter also toured as Production Manager and Lighting Director for Capacitor and AXIS Dance Company. Currently, Walter runs his own company, Lumenography, and teaches Lighting for Dance at St. Mary’s College. Walter is blessed with the support of his wife, Alisa Rasera, and their amazing daughters, Iris and Viola. Julie Bell, Costume Designer for Flutter, has been sewing since the age of eight. By ​ ​ trade she is a Nurse Midwife. She started sewing costumes when her daughter was a young dancer and found she really enjoyed the creative outlet and has been costuming ever since. AXIS Dance Company exists to redefine dance & disability. Founded in 1987, AXIS is ​ the nation’s most acclaimed ensemble of performers with and without disabilities. Based in Oakland, CA, AXIS’ list of collaborators includes Bill T. Jones, Stephen Petronio, Yvonne Rainer, Ann Carlson, David Dorfman, Marc Brew, Meredith Monk, Joan Jeanrenaud and Fred Frith. AXIS has toured to over 100 cities in the US, Europe and Russia. The Company has received seven Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and has appeared twice on FOX TV's So You Think You Can Dance, exposing their important and relevant work of physically integrated dance to millions. Through education and outreach programs thousands of children and adults of all ages and abilities are inspired to dance each year. www.axisdance.org .