About

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.

Isabel Von Rittberg, Artistic Director, founded AscenDance Project in 2006 and the group has given numerous performances in varied settings including the theatre and outdoor stages.

Mission Statement

All human beings can relate to music, basic rhythms and movements. Life is based on rhythms. We are surrounded by the earth's cycles; we are guided by the rhythm of our heart beat. Whether we are walking, running, talking, dancing, sleeping, or simply breathing, we follow patterns. Dance is about what unites us, not about what separates us.

By isolating and simply understanding the movements of climbing, AscenDance Project creates choreographed/synchronized climbing--a dance on the wall to the rhythm of music. A climber's body moves through several different positions when traveling across the wall. Technical movements in the climbing world referred to as "drop-knees, heel-hooks, toe-hooks, dynos, lock-offs, straight-arm hangs, high-steps etc." help the dancers move with ease and grace. Using their strength most efficiently they seem to be smooth and rapid without effort.

For the performers, a climbing wall offers more terrain to explore. For the audience it presents an interesting perspective. With the production of a dance-climb show, AscenDance Project hopes to bring together climbers, dancers, artists, musicians, and an audience that can appreciate a fusion of these elements, whether at a climbing competition or a theatrical setting.

Founder's Notes

I was driving through Utah's stunning Virgin River Gorge on my way from California to Montana, when the early evening sunlight was reflecting on the red sandstone cliffs surrounding me. Infatuated with the melodies of Thomas Otten, grasping onto the steering wheel with my forehead glued against the windshield, I was enjoying imaginary bodies dancing on the immense vertical terrain around me. For the fist time, I felt the immediate connection of my strong passions for climbing, music and dance. When rock climbing, it was the continuous flow of vertical movements that generated in me a strong mental focus and a powerfully physical strength that allowed me to gracefully overcome my body weight. My vision of climbers executing technical and powerful movements to music was clear and strong, and so was my mission: to convey the magnificence, grace and fluidity of a climber?s delicate and strong movement. --Isabel Jessica von Rittberg, Artistic Director and Founder, AscenDance Project