Dancer and choreographer Jess Curtis, a champion of accessibility in the performing arts, has died, according to an announcement on Instagram from his sister Jenene, close collaborator Keith Hennessy and several others. On Instagram, Hennessy posted that Curtis collapsed from an apparent heart issue during a bike ride in San Francisco on March 11 and passed away unexpectedly.
“Jess’ community of friends and peers is deep and wide,” the statement reads. “The positive impact of his creative work will be felt for years. Earlier that same day Jess expressed gratitude for the wonderful life and network of friends he was enjoying. We are all in shock and deep grief.”
Curtis had been a major figure in dance for decades. In 2000, he founded the company Gravity, which has brought critically acclaimed performances to 60 cities and 13 countries, and became a crucial platform for the art form in San Francisco and Berlin. In 2017, Curtis launched Gravity Access Services, a leader in accessibility for the performing arts, especially for blind and visually impaired audiences.
“I’ve been really interested in finding ways that allow people to experience dance-based performance not just by looking at it,” Curtis told KQED that year, “but by feeling it whooshing past you, and hearing the performers, describing what’s happening, in poetic ways.”
[Watch: Jess Curtis explains his creative process in a 2015 episode of KQED’s ‘Spark*.’]
Gravity Access Services’ offerings include live, creative audio descriptions of what takes place on stage, haptic tours that invite blind and visually impaired people to feel a performance space before the show, and consulting on accessibility in show logistics and marketing.
