Photo courtesy of Paul Nordman
At the beginning of the pandemic, Prince Lyons was living in London. The St. Louis-bred dancer swiftly returned home for safety. Then, George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minnesota. Lyons felt compelled to empower his community.
“I used to teach at a local dance studio that I also trained at,” Lyons says. “It was also an all-Black studio, and I started thinking about all the Black girls and boys that I taught and was like, Man, it’s so imperative that you create work or that I’m present with the youth, especially in my own community, and I felt like I was doing a disservice to my community by just being a token, by being a Black American in the UK.”
We’re All Pretty Broken, Lyons’ new short film, is the result of that thought process. The 40-minute dance film primarily tackles the disparities in the public-school system by highlighting the struggles of Black high school students. Lyons started working on the film last fall and completed it during his residency with the Kranzberg Arts Foundation. The film will debut with five screenings held from May 24–28 at .ZACK in the Grand Center Arts District.
The film captures the lives of three high-school students while they’re in Saturday detention: Roxie, a rebel; Zane, a queer outcast; and Jordan, the troublemaker. Although We’re All Pretty Broken was shot at St. Louis University High School for only two days, Lyons says he’s happy with the result.
“I really wanted to use this film to express kind of what the title is—we’re all pretty broken,” Lyons, 27, says. “Everybody’s going through things…high school is such an important time in their lives, but it’s also the time when you’re the most confused. I’m supposed to use these four years to determine what the rest of my life looks like? You have teachers who are probably my age and still unpacking trauma that they went through in high school, so it’s just a really compassionate circle, and I tried to capture [it] using my mediums, which are dance and video.”
Lyons isn’t a stranger to using his creativity to tell stories. As a freelance performing artist, he’s choreographed with Visceral Dance Chicago and Big Muddy Dance Company. He’s also a model and has worked with brands such as Nike, Kohl’s, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. But We’re All Pretty Broken is his debut film. He said his transition into film was seamless, especially considering that his project was partially inspired by his own high-school journey.
Image courtesy of Arik Sexton
The North County native attended Jennings High School, which he says was a fairly positive experience. However, he remembers the school’s drama department being under-resourced and how that impacted him.
“When I think back to my time at Jennings, I think that as a student, I actually was very, very fine, but I craved so much exposure,” Lyons says. “I had some good moments, but we were unaccredited. I think their main concern was to get us to graduate high school more so than it was to expose people to new opportunities.”
That’s why he hopes the film can provide a source of inspiration for Black students in St. Louis. He wants them to have what he didn’t have.
“As I was looking at high-school films, one that’s very close to my heart is The Breakfast Club, and I didn’t really see any Black films that talked about the high-school experience in an emotional way,” Lyons says. “You get that with your The Breakfast Clubs, Pretty Little Liars. I know you get that with Degrassi…there are very few representations of Black people going through things not related to crime, especially at this age, so I kind of paralleled it to The Breakfast Club. Because it’s a dance film, there are moments of speaking, but it’s heavily interpretive, so you’ll be watching a lot of hip-hop dancing.”
Directed by Lyons and produced by Brian Verbarg, We’re All Pretty Broken stars Arik Sexton, Josselyn Baker, David McCall, Lyons, and Mvstermind. Lyons says he saw Mvstermind perform during a show last year for fellow St. Louis artist Jordan Ward and instantly wanted to partner with him. The rapper plays a janitor in the film, and the cast dances to two of his songs. Mvstermind says he loves how the film personifies the story of St. Louis and can be promoted to larger audiences.
“When they presented the full routine to me, it was a big honor to see some St. Louis individuals really coordinating and putting together a dance piece to my music,” Mvstermind says. “That was really fresh to see. It just reminded me of being on set. I have family members who were janitors and things of that nature, so it was just kind of smooth to play that janitor who’s navigating and finding their dream.”
After the screenings, Lyons plans to take a break from work, but he eventually wants the film to be shown in classrooms across the state. He wants St. Louis students to know that their dreams are possible, just as his were.
“I encourage everyone to see it and view it compassionately and humorously, and to see it twice,” Lyons says. “I just look at who I was in St. Louis, and I’m so happy that I’m returning to the child that I was. I had these dreams in wanting to do everything, and I’m happy that I’m getting to a place where I can do that, so all of this just feels like an incredible feat for me. It really is an incredible place and inspiration to watch young creatives here doing everything.”
Special screenings on May 25 and May 27 for We’re All Pretty Broken will feature meet-and-greets and cast talkbacks. Tickets for the screenings can be purchased here.
