Twenty-five years ago, dancer and choreagrapher Ginger Lane was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident ending what she thought was her abilty to perform, until now.

She will retrun to the stage during the second weekend of Momenta, Oak Park’s Academy of Music and Movement’s professional dance company’s spring concert to perform her dramatic duet “Prayer” with dancer Anita Fillmore.

The final two concerts will take place at  8 p.m. Saturday, March 13 and 7 p.m. Sunday, March 14 at the studio, 605 Lake St., Oak Park.

Lane’s journey back to dance began a few years after she learned of the academy’s 30-year history of incorporating students with special needs into traditional classes and performances while her granddaughter was a student there.

“Just because someone has a disability shouldn’t mean your expectations of what they can do should be different,” said Stephanie Clemens co-founder of Oak Park’s Academy of Movement and Music and co-artistic director of Momenta.  “They may not be able to do it the same way but they have a way to do it. It is important help each person find their own success.”

It is the support she finds at the academy, paired with a fiery motivation and outspoken demeanor that fuel Lane to share her unique point of view with the dance world.  Lane has said she is not interested in hearing how inspiring and wonderful people think she is to do something like this despite being in a wheelchair. 

Instead she wants her work to be evaluated on its artistic merit.

“It is not about overcoming my disability, it is about contributing to dance and pushing the boundaries and expectations of movement,” Lane said. “It is like getting older, we all have limitations. We can’t do the same things we did when we were 18, so we have to learn to adapt
our thinking or in this case, choreography, to fit the current situation.”

Set to the music of German composer Franz Schubert, “Prayer” tells the story of a mother and daughter. Lane also said it is a personification of her younger self and what it means to let go of a dream and give flight to another.

“At one point Anita [Fillmore] climbs on my chair and reaches for the sky and reaches for her mother,” Lane said.  “One part of it is grief and sadness and working through loss and then discovering that you can make it on your own.”

While it is billed as a duet, Lane’s wheelchair acts almost like a third character in the dance. A specially crafted platform is mounted on the back of Lane’s chair allowing Fillmore to perch, pose and twist her body garnering the fullest potential of expression.

This is something Lane's dancing partner Fillmore is particularly pleased with.

“Before I did this duet I hadn’t seen too much wheelchair dancing where I felt they were really dancing,” she said.  “I felt wheelchair dancers were just part of the set and the other dancers were moving around them.”

Among some of the other works featured over the two weekends will include a reprise of of “Journey,” by choreographer Randy Duncan who is best known for his work in movies like “Save the Last Dance,” and with dance companies such as the Joffrey Ballet and the River North Chicago Dance Company. “Journey” was the finale to the 2006 Dance for Life benefit to help those impacted by HIV/AIDS.  When it was originally performed it featured dancers from the best companies in Chicago and now Momenta dancers will take up the challenge as well.

Another piece is “Spring Waters,” a duet created by Asaf Messerer of the Bolshoi Ballet. Seldom performed due to the tremendous strength and technique needed by the dancers, it is two minutes of fearless lifting and leaping. It will feature Momenta member JP Tenuta and
Hubbard Street dancer Karen Castleman.

For both Lane and Clemens memorable dancing comes down to good choreography. Clemens sees her role with Momenta as a collector of dance pieces that both challenge her dancers, even those with physical limitations, and educate the audience. And Lane hopes her work with
this concert might just change the way audiences view dance forever.

For more information, call 708-848-2329.

By Elizabeth Vassolo | TribLocal.com reporter