founder / director |
April (Axé) Charmaine, Ah-shay, Mama Shae, Ms. Axé are all fond and welcomed greetings for the woman who started dancing at the age of 9, not knowing at the time that dance would become the healing force and constant grounding of her life, she became a first year student at the Denver School of the Arts, went on to Cleo Parker Robinson Dance TrainingGroup (later to teach youth programming), took her first international dance and drumming excursion to Ghana, West Africa in 1998, all while picking up an innumerable force of classes from master teachers from around the world, including an intensive study and award certification from the Silvestre program in Salvador de Bahia, Brasil in 2015.
Her later practice has called her into the depths of embodiment through the bodies of work involving embodied rites of passage work with Soma Source, infused with 5 Rhythms and deep dives into the conscious and ecstatic dance movements. She founded Sol Vida Dance Studio, The Denver Dance Project, East Dance Company, and The Edge. Axé has served on the Colorado Governor's Council for Physical Fitness, Metropolitan State University's Alumni Board and was nominated and awarded MSU Denver's Statement Maker Award as well as Outstanding Woman Award in 2013. As a traveling artist, also known as The Nomadic Renaissance Woman- she has trained, taught and performed in Ghana, Colombia, France, Spain, Guatemala and the United States.
Follow Axé on Social Media
Her later practice has called her into the depths of embodiment through the bodies of work involving embodied rites of passage work with Soma Source, infused with 5 Rhythms and deep dives into the conscious and ecstatic dance movements. She founded Sol Vida Dance Studio, The Denver Dance Project, East Dance Company, and The Edge. Axé has served on the Colorado Governor's Council for Physical Fitness, Metropolitan State University's Alumni Board and was nominated and awarded MSU Denver's Statement Maker Award as well as Outstanding Woman Award in 2013. As a traveling artist, also known as The Nomadic Renaissance Woman- she has trained, taught and performed in Ghana, Colombia, France, Spain, Guatemala and the United States.
Follow Axé on Social Media
"I believe that dance is meant to express our deepest feelings and greatest longings. Dance is meant to connect us to our inner truth and give us a way to make meaning of the world. It is my gift to help people cultivate and activate their authentic expression through allowing the body to shake it and shine! " - Axé
"A bold and brilliant leader" - Melissa Michaels, Golden Bridge, SomaSource
"She (Axé) meets each person “where they are” as an individual, performer and person. Her work is always organic, unique, and beautiful. It is and always has been clear to me that dance is Axé tool to empower. - Lee Lee Newcomb, Kent Theatre Denver
"Axé brought me back up and showed me what dance is really about. If it wasn't for the passionate, kind loving Axé, I wouldn't have ever danced again. She taught me to love dance on a completely different level and taught me that dance is something I need in my life." -Keely, high school student
#iamadancer
#solvidaworldwide
#divinebootyshaking
#TheEmbodiedRevolution
#solvidaworldwide
#divinebootyshaking
#TheEmbodiedRevolution
