Kinetic Light’s innovative virtual reality (VR) experience, territory, will make its world premiere on July 12–13, 2025, at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts, as part of the Opening Week Celebration for the newly reimagined Doris Duke Theatre. This state-of-the-art venue serves as a living lab for bold, immersive works that fuse dance with cutting-edge technology, showcasing performances during Opening Week (July 6-13) by artists such as Camille A. Brown & Dancers, Annie-B Parson, Shamel Pitts | TRIBE, Eiko Otake, Unwired Dance Theatre, and Kinetic Light.
Co-directed by Kiira Benz and Alice Sheppard, territory is a disability-centered VR experience created by Kinetic Light in collaboration with Double Eye Studios. Set in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world, it envelops users in accessible movement, light, vibration, and sound, offering a blend of utopian and dystopian narratives. The experience reimagines Kinetic Light’s acclaimed stage production Wired, an aerial and contemporary dance work exploring race, gender, and disability through the lens of barbed wire in the United States. Performers Jerron Herman, Laurel Lawson, and Alice Sheppard star, with scenography by Michael Maag, sound design by Q Department, spatial audio by Mach1, and access design by Lawson and Sheppard. Alice Sheppard, Laurel Lawson, and Kiira Benz will attend the premiere.
territory stands out as the first aesthetically accessible VR headset experience of its kind, immersing users in a fantastical universe shaped by human-made barriers and borders. It introduces cosmic figures, dark forces, partnerships, and new worlds, all while prioritizing artistic and equitable access. Kinetic Light has integrated innovative access features, including spatial and multitrack audio descriptions, haptics, and creative captioning, into the VR development process. Earlier this year, the ensemble showcased their unique approach to disability aesthetics, access, and technology at the 2025 SXSW festival.
Founded by Alice Sheppard in 2016, Kinetic Light is a disability arts ensemble working at the intersection of access, queerness, disability, and race. The company centers disabled people as creators and experiencers in dance, film, technology, and design, viewing access as a creative, intersectional, and relational commitment. Learn more at kineticlight.org.
The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, a global leader in dance, runs through August 2025, offering a vibrant lineup of performances, talks, and workshops. For details on the festival and the Opening Week Celebration, visit jacobspillow.org.
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