newsminer.com

Ed Krieger

FAIRBANKS — Six years ago, Lyena Strelkoff was a performance artist — an actress who had danced her entire life, a self-described “eclectic artist” who relied heavily upon physical motion and theatrical body movement.

In less than a split second, one moment on Oct. 4, 2002, her life was forced to change.

“As soon as I heard the crack, I knew exactly what was happening,” she says when sharing her story. “That branch I’d been resting my hand on broke.”

In a fraction of a second, she continues, she went from being an artist — a physical being who loved dancing, running, hiking, climbing, moving — to being a paraplegic. It was a change, a catastrophe, but it was not a stop sign. She continued to rely heavily on personal expression, perhaps more than ever, but used different means, embracing an identity as an artistic paraplegic.

“In terms of my work, I refocused, but that isn’t to say I stopped dancing, I just put more emphasis on my writing,” she said. “It is much more important and pressing to have a way to make sense of my experience and to have a way to build bridges between myself, what I was experiencing, and others.”

Strelkoff was nearly 34 at the time — she returned home in her wheelchair after eight weeks of rehabilitation in the hospital on her 34th birthday, coming home for the first time to a wheelchair-accessible house. Now she’s 39 and reflects often on that dramatic turn her life took.

“A catastrophe can happen at any moment, to any person, even if you do everything right,” she said. “That’s life. This is life.”

Now, when she performs, she tells her audiences all she did was climb, as she’d loved to do since she was a child; she saw “the perfect tree” and started to go up.

Some could say she’s still climbing.

“At first after my accident, there were many people who didn’t understand spinal cord injuries; they thought if you just gave it time it would heal like a broken bone, that it will be OK,” she said. “But that is usually not the case, and it was painful to be amongst such misunderstandings.”

Personal expression, which she would have done through dancing before that branch broke, became something Strelkoff had to find a way to focus on, and writing gave her an outlet. Just months after her accident, she dove back into art, coordinating her work with her rigorous physical therapy schedule, and in May 2003 took the stage to share her story, in her own words, with her production “Road to Recovery.”

“One of the purposes was to educate people in my life about spinal cord injuries and what I was going through,” she said, noting the success and purpose of that show birthed her one-woman play, “Caterpillar Soup.”

“People respond (when they see the play) to this life that feels to them foreign, frightening and mystifying,” she said.

Thanks to the Fairbanks Arts Association, Strelkoff will share that play and experience in Fairbanks on Sept. 20.

Telling her story is therapeutic — “it helps me feel less alone in my experience,” she said — and, she hopes, helps people relate to her situation. In the beginning, she set out battling her own fears that sharing her story would help her but not be interesting or worthwhile for others. She quickly learned she was wrong. Watching a taping of her first show, “Road to Recovery,” showed her the power of her message — “I could see what was happening for the audience,” she said — and she understands now her message may be more powerful than even she can really understand.

“After one show, I received a comment from an audience member that said, ‘I went to the show expecting to be inspired, but I didn’t expect to be transformed,’” she recalled. “I didn’t expect that kind of reaction. That is one of the things that surprised me.”

She meant for the story, she said, to depict her personal transformation, but found it is a transformational journey her audiences take with her, seeing their own story intermingled with hers whether directly related or not — one man said he saw his story of emotionally recovering from a brutal beating. These individuals “go on that journey with me,” she said, and at the end of that hour-and-a-half show, they’ve transformed together.

While “Caterpillar Soup” brings many tears, it also brings many laughs, as Strelkoff shares funny and ridiculous moments. She jokes about learning the process to move from “chair to bed to chair to bathtub to chair to floor to chair” and so on. Being honest and sharing personal truths is something she believes is undervalued in a society that revels in the fictional entertainment of television and film.

“We’re not telling each other our stories, and there is so much power there,” she said.

That belief helped lead to Strelkoff’s other planned activities in Fairbanks: two workshops to be held Sept. 18 and 19. The first, Writing Your Personal Story, is a workshop meant to help those interested in writing with approach: “How to get started, how to choose material, evaluate that material, and how to gear the process toward their goal,” Strelkoff said. The second workshop, Coping and Thriving with Personal Change or Loss, offers an intimate atmosphere for individuals seeking support as they face catastrophe.

“I’ve been dealing with this for six years now, and I am happy to say that I really love my life,” she said. “That makes me a resource, and I want to share that resource.”

Both workshops are free and open to the public but require RSVPs by Sept. 8 because space is limited. To reserve a space, call the Fairbanks Arts Association at 456-6485 ext. 226 or e-mail melissa@fairbanksarts.org. The following evening, Sept. 20, Strelkoff will share her self-written and self-performed performance, “Caterpillar Soup.”

Melissa Hougland, associate director of FAA, said the organization considers Strelkoff’s appearances “a wonderful opportunity” for the Fairbanks community.

“To talk to and see someone who has experienced such a huge life change, and is an amazing artist that has accomplished so much, is such an experience,” she said, noting the workshops offer “a great chance to ask her how she was able to over come these challenges and do what she did.”

What: Two workshops led by artist Lyena Strelkoff — Writing Your Personal Story and Coping adn Thriving with PErsonal Chagne or Loss — and a performance of her one-woman play, "Caterpillar Soup"

When: Writing Your Personal Story workshop — 7 p.m. Sept. 18; Coping and Thriving with Personal Change or Loss — 7 p.m. Sept. 19; "Caterpillar Soup" — 7 p.m. Sept. 20

Where: Bear Gallery, third floor Alaska Centennial for the Arts, Pioneer Park

Admission: Workshops are free, RSVP by Sept. 8 by calling 456-6485 ext. 226 or e-mail melissa@fairbanksarts.org; play $15 admission, tickets on sale Sept. 2 at the Bear Gallery. Call 456-6485 for information

Contact Features Editor Erica Goff at 459-7523.