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Lawrence Shapiro

First Above-Knee Amputee to Lead Integrated Dance Project in Canada

In 2016, I was awarded a grant from the Ontario Arts Council’s ‘Deaf and Disability Arts Projects’ Program here in Canada. I am an integrated dancer and received training through AXIS Dance in California several years ago. Through my grant from the Ontario Arts Council, I was able to hire a choreographer, dancers and rent a venue and of course I was the lead performer. Our project “Discovering” premiered in Toronto, Canada in June of 2016 to a sold out audience. It became the first integrated dance piece in Canada to feature an above-knee amputee in a leading role.

My training represented weeks of fitness prior to the first rehearsal and then weeks of rehearsal. It was exhausting and exhilarating. I am very proud of my achievement