Dancing From the Inside Out

"What's the equivalent, in a wheelchair, of leaping?" The question sounds absurd...only because our perspective is limited. Change the view to a stage where the Axis Dance Troupe, in which three of the dancers dance in their wheelchairs, are performing and the question makes perfect sense. Producer/director Sarah Shockley weaves the personal stories of the three dancers--Bonnie Lewkowicz, Uli Schmitz, and Judith Smith--together with movingly beautiful footage of the dancers in rehearsal and performance. Bonnie, a dancer before an accident paralyzed her; Uli, afflicted with polio at the age of 3, and Judith, a championship horsewoman before her accident, work out through the medium of dance the ambivalent feelings they have towards their wheelchairs which serve as both their legs and their prisons. In one incredible sequence, Bonnie and a male dancer engage in an intimate duet in which the chair becomes almost invisible. These are not "special cases" that the dance troupe has made room for: any one of these people could dance circles around any one of us. An uplifting film that again reminds us all that many limitations exist only between our ears. Winner of a Chris Award at the Columbus International Film Festival and a Golden Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival, Dancing From the Inside Out is highly recommended. (R. Pitman)