What does it mean to dance?

When AXIS Dance Company takes the stage at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, the troupe will challenge the audience’s perception of dance, movement, disability and ability.

“They can expect to see really good dance, commissioned from some of the nation’s top choreographers,” Judith Smith, the company’s artistic director, said by phone from Burlington, Vt., where AXIS was performing. “The first thing they’re going to see is really good contemporary dance choreography, great costumes – we have strong production elements and the production value is very high. They’ll get to see something they probably haven’t seen before.”

That something is dancers in – and out of – wheelchairs. Smith, 44, became disabled in a car accident when she was 17 and spent the next 10 years trying “to find out how to live my life again.” An accomplished equestrian and athlete before her accident, she found the physicality she craved in contact improvisation and the martial arts.

In 1987, Smith was training at the same kung fu school as Thias Mazur, who also worked with a disability theater company in San Jose, Calif. Mazur was bored with what was going on in contemporary dance at the time, and she wondered if dance could be extended to people who used wheelchairs. Mazur signed Smith on as a willing but clueless participant in what would become AXIS Dance Company.

“I knew nothing about dance,” Smith said, laughing. “But I became hooked on dancing and moving with other people.”

She and others in the group learned quickly, and their first performance at a major San Francisco Bay area arts festival was a resounding success. They attracted attention and fielded requests for future performances.

“It just kind of snowballed,” Smith recalled. “We didn’t actually set out with the intention of becoming a dance company, but that’s what happened.”

At first, Smith says, it was daunting to place herself in the presence of people who have studied dance for their entire lives, but that has changed over time.

“It’s not as intimidating because we have ways of moving that they [dancers without disabilities] can’t,” Smith said. “Everyone has their own issues and feelings of intimidation about their bodies. It’s not so different, but for those of us who are disabled, those feelings about the

body are perhaps a little more extreme, but we’re not that different.”

The Oakland, Calif.-based company attracts dancers with and without disabilities who are interested in exploring new ways of movement. Their work expands the boundaries of traditional dance under the guidance of such renowned choreographers as Bill T. Jones, who said, “AXIS showed me what dance could be.”

“There’s just so much potential for movement that can’t happen without the particular combination of dancers and equipment we have,” Smith said.

Over nearly two decades, AXIS earned critical and professional acclaim for presenting cutting-edge work of the highest quality. In Voice of Dance, critic Rebecca Katkin wrote, “Seeing AXIS perform would give anyone … new insight on dance … it gives new meaning to range. Meanwhile, it sticks to the old definition of excellence.”

Excellence is the goal, Smith says. AXIS works with some of the top choreographers in contemporary dance. Thursday’s performance will include “Suite sans Suite,” choreographed by Quebec native Sonya Delwaide; the East Coast premiere of “Dust” by Victoria Marks, which “works to shift the viewer’s experience of who the performers are”; the premiere of “Flesh,” a work by artist and choreographer Ann Carlson that incorporates the music of Meredith Monk; and Jones’ acclaimed “Fantasy in C Major.”

“It’s hard to miss with choreography like this,” Smith said.

In addition to Thursday’s performance, company members will spend the week doing educational outreach in the area, including a master class for University of Maine dance students, a workshop in dance education and a performance at Old Town Elementary School.

“It’s instructive and it’s educational, both about dance and about disability,” Smith said.

Much like their regular performances. But make no mistake – Thursday’s show may open your eyes to the possibility of what dance can be, but it’s worth going for artistic merit alone.

“It’s a very strong show,” Smith said. “People who follow AXIS say it’s one of our strongest.”

Tickets are available by phone at (800) MCA-TIXX or 581-1755. For more information about AXIS, visit www.axisdance.org. Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.