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gerda knig, the tiny director of germany's din a 13 ... has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair -- except when she is onstage ... a graduate student of psychology, knig started dancing in a workshop with alito alessi, a pioneer in the disabled dance field. ''he questioned everything, beauty, normality, what is professional,'' she says. ``there was one woman who was very very spastic, and he just said that's nice movement, and afterwards this woman did incredible movements no one else could do. that made everything in my head different." ... knig founded din a 13, a group of able-bodied and disabled dancers, in 1996, and the group has received considerable acclaim. knig thinks audiences respond because she stays focused on larger human issues. ''i never work on a disabled theme, i'm not interested,'' she says ... body distance between the minds, which knig and marc stuhlmann perform friday, portrays a struggling, passionate relationship. both dancers are nude and painted blue from the waist up. some have found the half-nude knig in an often sensual duet with an able-bodied man disturbing. knig calls this american prudishness.
- jordan levin, "for disabled dancers, challenge is internal," the miami herald 24 june 2003
