Kris Lenzo, 53, lifts Anita Kenney during a performance of “Ashes.” Lenzo, suspended upside down from a rigging, lost his legs at age 19 and finds his late arrival to dance “freeing.” (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Lenzo and Kenney run through there routine in a quiet hallway before having to go on stage. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Lenzo built a simulator in his basement so that he can get accustomed to hanging upside down in the weeks leading up to a performance of “Ashes.” (David Pierini)
Lenzo climbs his basement steps after a home workout. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Dance coach Sandra Kaufmann, right, shares observations after a recent rehearsal. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Lenzo and Kenney run through there routine in a quiet hallway before having to go on stage. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Lenzo enters at the back of the stage to begin assisting in the setup of the “Ashes” rigging. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Lenzo and Kenney have collaborated on many dances and share an ease prior to performances. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Sweat drips down Lenzo’s face after a recent rehearsal. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Lenzo lifts Kenney during a performance of “Ashes.” He said some of the most physically challenging moments of the dance are when they are separated and he is just suspended upside down. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Lenzo holds Kenney as she expresses the fear of separation during “Ashes.” (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Lenzo is suspended for nine minutes for the dance and when he is finally freed from the rigging, he pauses to catch his breath. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Lenzo’s wife, Sheri, and daughter, Cynthia, greet him after his performance. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Lenzo said he has led a remarkable life, one he wouldn’t trade to get his legs back. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Kris Lenzo asked Stephanie Clemens, director of the Academy of Movement and Music to consider building a wheelchair ramp so he could more easily watch his 3-year-old daughter dance.
The ramp was eventually built, but it came with a request. Lenzo was asked by Clemens to commemorate the event by doing a dance about disabilities with his daughter.
Lenzo rolled his eyes. He was the type of guy who danced maybe once a year, like at a wedding reception.
But he did the dance and even though his daughter eventually moved onto other pursuits, Lenzo kept dancing.
Lenzo, in fact, has danced “Ashes,” in which he and a partner interpret loss and separation, 18 times now. He performed it as part of Momenta’s recent “Dances for Autumn” recital.
Lenzo, 53, is suspended upside down from a rigging relatively unseen by the audience and conducts a series of muscular, storytelling lifts and holds. Lifting his partner, Anita Kenney, is not the hard part. Where a dancer with legs can use his feet to brace himself to relieve pressure, Lenzo’s lower back, buttocks and hamstrings take all the strain of being suspended for nine minutes. Circulation is compromised.
But Lenzo, who lost his legs in a work accident at age 19, finds that dance is freeing and well worth the pain. He has danced in Chicago and St. Louis and teaches workshops on integrated dance.
“I didn’t see this coming,” Lenzo said of his development as a dancer. “I’ve really enjoyed doing it. Dancers are open-minded and creative. I like dance because you can push the envelope.”
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