AscenDance Project

Specialties

Performing entirely without the use of ropes, their work exhibits strength and grace enhanced by the effects of gravity on the dancers and their ability to overcome it. Using a 24 ft long and 12 ft high climbing wall, AscenDance artists move through three dimensions, using time and space as inconsistent and unpredictable variables.

History

Established in 2006.

A vertical stage, without the use of ropes, has a suppleness and grace enhanced by the effects of gravity on the dancers and their abilities to overcome it. AscenDance Project integrates the technical precision and strength of climbing with expressive movement and music to create a new kind of aerial performance on a vertical stage.

The group has given numerous performances in varied settings including the theatre and outdoor stages. Recent events include the San Francisco International Arts Festival, May/​June 2008, the Outdoor Retailer Expo in July 2009, and the Boulder International Aerial Dance Festival, August 2009. For the San Francisco International Arts Festival, AscenDance Project presented Levitate, a show on Union Square free to the public. Performances ran from May 23 to June 7, 2008. From August 2 – 15 2009, AscenDance also participated in the 11^th Annual Aerial Dance Festival in Boulder, Colorado.

Meet the Business Owner

Isabel R.

Business Owner

Isabel Jessica von Rittberg grew up in Wuppertal-​Beyenburg, Germany, a small historical village in Western Germany. As a child, she danced ballet, played the piano and spent more time on horseback than on foot. Her summers in the Rocky Mountains instilled in her a love of nature. Isabel graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Latin American/​Iberian Studies and a French minor from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In preparation for her senior thesis, she spent a year in Santiago de Chile where she performed with a Chilean African-​Brazilian dance group and further developed her rock climbing skills. The grace and fluidity of a climber executing technical movement captured Isabel’s attention. The urge to convey the magnificence, grace and fluidity of a climber’s delicate and strong movement led her to start the AscenDance Project: a genre that unites climbing, dance and music.