Adams is an exuberant young man, whose athleticism and training as a cheerleader inform all of his movement. The ensemble includes an intriguing collection of bodies. The individual dances follow a similar pattern: a principal character becomes isolated from the ensemble, confronts an inner demon, and then moves to joyful self-acceptance. The piece is composed of roughly three main parts-a prologue, a series of three dances that highlight a principal character, and then a final ensemble dance-that combine movement with text created from the performers' lives. A fourth character, Christopher Pilafian, acts as a silent, magical master of ceremonies, inciting the action, observing it from outside, or joining it. The performance follows the emotional journeys of the three principle characters who play themselves: Catherine Cole, Matthew Adams, and Nancy Colahan (who, together, have five feet). Though Cole is a newcomer to disability, Five Foot Feat shares many themes and aesthetics with other dance companies that integrate disabled and nondisabled performers. Her association with director Rod Lathim-who founded Access Theatre in 1979, one of the earliest professional theatre companies that integrated disabled and nondisabled artists-further situated Cole as the latest inheritor of the disability art legacy. Because Cole had been touted as a must-see disabled artist, I was curious how she would express herself as such, given that her identities as a disabled person and as a dancer are so remarkably new.

I had heard how this experience not only transformed her body but her career, adding the roles of dancer and playwright to an already flourishing reputation as a scholar of African theatre. Given our overlapping social circles, I was privy to news of her experience with cancer, which resulted in the amputation of her entire left leg in 2001. I also felt a personal connection to Catherine Cole, though we had never met, because I currently teach in a faculty position she once held. Friends and colleagues had been urging me to see this latest addition to the growing disability art movement, a movement I participate in as artist, scholar, and advocate. I traveled from Tallahassee, Florida, to Santa Barbara, California, to attend a performance of the dance / theatre piece, Five Foot Feat.

Nancy anka feet