Oakland dance company reaches out to disabled veterans

A desire to explore life beyond the circular track led competitive wheelchair athlete Dwayne Scheuneman to the world of dance.

It was a place the track-and-field enthusiast never thought he’d find himself.

“I had no idea about any kind of dance,” said Scheuneman, a Navy veteran and one-time mountain bike racer more accustomed to high-octane sports. “I was a typical football-watching, beer-drinking guy.”

Scheuneman’s newfound cross-training regimen soon became a passion. It eventually brought him to AXIS Dance Co., a pioneering physically integrated contemporary dance group based in Oakland, which he joined in 2014.

Today, Scheuneman, 48, is a member of the widely respected troupe known for pairing dancers with and without disabilities in dynamic commissioned works by renowned choreographers, including Bill T. Jones, Sonya Delwaide and Joe Goode.

Read more at East Bay Times…