Bill Shannon Portrait
"Crutch" is a documentary following Bill Shannon, a performance artist who has performed all around the world. Crutch Documentary/Bill Shannon

Bill Shannon is a badass performance artist who just happens to have a disability. Shannon incorporates his crutches into his dance performances and he confronts social norms and conventions of what it means to be "handicapped." "Crutch" is a new documentary by Sachi Cunningham and Chandler Evans that follows Shannon around the world.

The filmmakers launched a Kickstarter campaign for "Crutch" and the film has already surpassed its goal of $100,000. What's great about the film is it follows Shannon for over 40 years and covers every format of film -- from VHS to digital -- which means you'll get a rich and varied look at Shannon's life and art. The documentary is meant to celebrate Shannon's work and life and is not meant to be one of those "feel good" stories of someone overcoming their disability.

"I went to first grade with Bill in Pennsylvania and was friends with him until high school," Cunningham said to International Business Times. "We connected around 10 years after college and he called to catch up. He started working on the choreography of Cirque du Soleil's "Varekai" and I was looking for a documentary project and that seemed like a good one!" This was around 14 years ago, but Cunningham knew it was a great story and one she wanted to share. She and Evans went to Brown University and happened to catch up, which led to their involvement in the "Crutch" documentary.

In regards to the documentary, the filmmakers let Shannon and his performance shape the project. "We were fascinated by his movements and his performance. When we did the first promo it went viral. This was in 2006 and in the early days of YouTube," Evans recalled. "The day Steve Chen and Chad Hurley announced Google acquired YouTube they posted a video on the front page to do that and handpicked "Crutch" to follow the announcement."

Shannon travels all around the world and "Crutch" captured his performances in France, Helsinki, Moscow, the Sydney Opera House and Japan. "We were the first people that were allowed to be embedded with NHK and Bill was featured in two of their TV shows," Evans said. Japan is likely to feature heavily in "Crutch" as they followed Shannon for two weeks while touring the country. "It sort of has a 'Lost in Translation' motif to it because he was dealing with a different culture. It was really interesting to see him explain and deconstruct their assumptions about disability in Japan and do it in such a clear and concise manner.

Bill Shannon
Bill Shannon performing on the streets of New York City. Crutch Documentary/Bill Shannon

As a child, Shannon was born with Legg-Calve-Perthes, a degenerative hip disorder, and Evans said you would never know Shannon had a disability without his crutches. "Within the life of the disability, you go in and out of appearing to be able-bodied or disabled," Cunningham said. But to think of "Crutch" as a sentimental documentary would be missing the point.

"It's really not 'triumph over adversity,' which is the classic disability story," Evans said. "So-and-so has something and they work really hard to overcome it and everyone claps at the end of the film." Cunningham calls it "inspiration porn."

Bill Shannon
Bill Shannon performing with his skateboard and crutches. Crutch Documentary/Bill Shannon

"We're not going after that story at all. Bill is, first and foremost, an artist. He's a great dancer and skateboarder who happens to use crutches. The focus is on his work and how he's an international provocateur. He's flipping the script on the assumptions that able-bodied people make about people with disabilities," Evans said.

The filmmakers are busy editing "Crutch" and expect to finish the film by the fall. From there, it's the exciting road to film festivals starting with Sundance. Much like Shannon, the documentary is about "trusting yourself that you have a story despite what people say. It's about the perseverance," Evans said.