founder / director
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LIGHT BRINGER. BRIDGE BUILDER. SPACE HOLDER. SAFE SPACE CREATOR. WELLNESS WARRIOR. EMBODIMENT GUIDE. CURRICULUM SPECIALIST. EMPOWERMENT SPEAKER. ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION ADVOCATE. UNSCHOOLING MAMA. INTERDISCIPLINARIAN ARTIST. HOLISTIC DANCE + PERFORMING ARTS EDUCATOR AND EMBODIED RITES OF PASSAGE INITIATE.
April (Axé) Charmaine, Ah-shay, Mama Shae, Ms. Axé are all fond and welcomed greetings for the woman who has lived in the fields of dance, education, inspiration for 30 + years--she 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, The Edge, Unwind and Grind: The Official Divine Booty Shaking Experience™)and most recently, One Sol.
Axé was awarded "Pick of the Fringe," in 2007 for her piece in the Boulder International Fringe Festival, Sol Bound: Stomping Spirits, Breaking Free, Catch Me Beaming. She served on the Colorado Governor's Council for Physical Fitness, Metropolitan State University's Alumni Board, was nominated and awarded MSU Denver's Statement Maker Award, Outstanding Woman Award and Health & Wellness Instructor. She is a Certified Teacher in Drama and Dance Education. 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.
She loves to perform from time to time, practices Reiki with friends and family, and is an advocate for the Unschooling and Worldschooling movements. Personal interests include kayaking on still waters, taking vision walks, hugging trees, and adventuring to new places.
Choreographer of over 35 musicals, guest artist and guide in over 100 venues she has been Commissioned as a guest artist, resident and speaker for: Bronx Museum of the Arts, Colorado Ballet, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, CoDEO, Dance Lab NYC, Destiny Arts, Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver Art Museum, Ecstatic Dance Oakland, Ecstatic Dance LA, Eye Zen Presents, Girl Project, Mizel Museum, Museos de las Americas, Rocky Mountain Children’s Choir, Catchpenny Kids Theatre, Colorado I Have A Dream Foundation, Institute for African American Leadership, Girls Inc, and PlatteForum.
Career Highlights include: Once on This Island, West Side Story, The Lion King, Hairspray, Footloose, Nick Cave H.E.A.R.D., Silvestre Technique Training (Salvador de Bahia, Brasil), Hydraulics Phat Like Mean, Blues for Mr. Charlie, The Emperor Jones, One Race Woman and Out of Site: SOMA.
Her greatest gifts in life are creating safe spaces for authentic personal expression and inspiring people to live their true dreams.
Dance Mentors & Guides: Cleo Parker Robinson, Curtis Frasier, Thomas Dixon, Susan Richardson, Nejla Yatkin, Rosangela Silvestre, Melissa Michaels, Iraka Hikaru, Justin Zollo, Dr. Marilyn "Cookie" Hetzel, Melody Duggan, Omar Aena, Matthew Murphy, William Taylor, Benjamin and Mercy Ayette, Maputo Mensah, Seth Eisen, her grandmother, mom and son.
April (Axé) Charmaine, Ah-shay, Mama Shae, Ms. Axé are all fond and welcomed greetings for the woman who has lived in the fields of dance, education, inspiration for 30 + years--she 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, The Edge, Unwind and Grind: The Official Divine Booty Shaking Experience™)and most recently, One Sol.
Axé was awarded "Pick of the Fringe," in 2007 for her piece in the Boulder International Fringe Festival, Sol Bound: Stomping Spirits, Breaking Free, Catch Me Beaming. She served on the Colorado Governor's Council for Physical Fitness, Metropolitan State University's Alumni Board, was nominated and awarded MSU Denver's Statement Maker Award, Outstanding Woman Award and Health & Wellness Instructor. She is a Certified Teacher in Drama and Dance Education. 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.
She loves to perform from time to time, practices Reiki with friends and family, and is an advocate for the Unschooling and Worldschooling movements. Personal interests include kayaking on still waters, taking vision walks, hugging trees, and adventuring to new places.
Choreographer of over 35 musicals, guest artist and guide in over 100 venues she has been Commissioned as a guest artist, resident and speaker for: Bronx Museum of the Arts, Colorado Ballet, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, CoDEO, Dance Lab NYC, Destiny Arts, Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver Art Museum, Ecstatic Dance Oakland, Ecstatic Dance LA, Eye Zen Presents, Girl Project, Mizel Museum, Museos de las Americas, Rocky Mountain Children’s Choir, Catchpenny Kids Theatre, Colorado I Have A Dream Foundation, Institute for African American Leadership, Girls Inc, and PlatteForum.
Career Highlights include: Once on This Island, West Side Story, The Lion King, Hairspray, Footloose, Nick Cave H.E.A.R.D., Silvestre Technique Training (Salvador de Bahia, Brasil), Hydraulics Phat Like Mean, Blues for Mr. Charlie, The Emperor Jones, One Race Woman and Out of Site: SOMA.
Her greatest gifts in life are creating safe spaces for authentic personal expression and inspiring people to live their true dreams.
Dance Mentors & Guides: Cleo Parker Robinson, Curtis Frasier, Thomas Dixon, Susan Richardson, Nejla Yatkin, Rosangela Silvestre, Melissa Michaels, Iraka Hikaru, Justin Zollo, Dr. Marilyn "Cookie" Hetzel, Melody Duggan, Omar Aena, Matthew Murphy, William Taylor, Benjamin and Mercy Ayette, Maputo Mensah, Seth Eisen, her grandmother, mom and son.
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"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
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#TheEmbodiedRevolution
#solvidaworldwide
#divinebootyshaking
#TheEmbodiedRevolution
