"We dancers walk a high wire without a safety net," says Homer Avila, "but what an incredible shock to physically experience the extremes that this reality can mean." One Sunday in late February of this year Avila was riding high on a positive review in the Boston Globe. By Thursday he was free-falling with a diagnosis of chondro sarcoma, a very rare form of cancer. On April 12th, his right leg and hip were amputated.

Most people would assume that amputation would spell the end of a dancer’s career. But not for Homer. "I am fortunate to have discovered something that completely engages me and manifests my being; basically, my destiny," he says of dance. And so Homer is exploring ways to dance on one leg, with and without crutches. Homer, who performed with Twyla Tharp, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, Mark Morris, Ralph Lemon and Momix, has created a moving and challenging body of work with his partner Edisa Weeks. Asked if Homer ever seriously entertained the idea of leaving dance, Weeks immediately responds, "Never." Instead, Homer says the crisis has given him a chance to "apply the lessons I’ve learned in art: what you do with what you are given."

Like many dancers, Homer was unable to afford health insurance for most of his career. While working for the Santa Fe Opera, he had been forced to join the union, AGMA, which automatically enrolled him in an insurance policy. Despite having suffered undiagnosed leg pain for months, he actually hesitated before extending his coverage through COBRA, a federal policy that allows workers to buy into their ex-employer’s insurance.

"Holy Toledo!" he says now, "I really shake thinking of the sort of care I would have received without insurance." Luckily, he pieced together the premiums and got coverage. Nevertheless, when his diagnosis came through, it was clear to those around him that he would need more substantial support. Not only would his premiums have to be paid, in addition to the imponderable costs of rehabilitation, therapy, and re-education, but Homer’s basic expenses had to be covered as he restructured his life. Weeks, along with Linda Tarnay, Elsie Management, and a host of other friends, alerted the famously disparate dance community to Homer’s plight. To everyone’s credit, the individual forces that make up modern dance in New York City rallied together around one of their own.

On June 3rd, a benefit performance at St. Mark’s Church kicked off One Step Forward, a fund initiated by the New York Foundation for the Arts (NFYA) for artists with debilitating injuries. The stage was shared by singer Lauren Flanigan and the companies of Ailey II, Zvi Gotheimer, Jane Comfort, Twyla Tharp, John Jasperse, Momix, Seán Curran, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, Mark Morris, and, most triumphantly, Avila/Weeks Dance. There was a sense of excitement and camaraderie, an electricity that reverberated around the sanctuary as dancers saluted Homer, who sat swathed in purple silk in the first row. In celebration and tribute, the event raised both money and consciousness. A similar effort was made later in June for dancer Alan Danielson, who is recuperating from a serious heart disease. (Funds gathered for specific artists can be made tax-deductible through One Step Forward, though monies for each artist are kept separate. Contact NYFA for further information.)

Homer’s crisis has spurred discussion at NYFA, where new programs are being developed to help artists face financial challenges. "The very basic human survival needs of artists require further attention," says Ted Berger, Executive Director of NYFA. Instead of duplicating the work of other organizations, NYFA "hopes to collaborate with others in the field," says Berger. The Actor’s Fund, for example, offers impressive programs for which downtown dancers are eligible. The Actor’s Fund is also helping Homer to search for accessible and reasonably-priced housing.

Homer has been too proactive to be either angry or depressed. He has used some of the money raised by One Step Forward to take workshops with Susan Klein and Alonzo King, experiences that have helped him to "get familiar with my new morphology." King describes Homer as having a "fanatically positive attitude, a largeness of spirit. He showed us that limitations are only in the mind. He was turning on one leg, jumping on one leg, using his elbow, using that body to find new ways to speak in dance."

During a rare break between rehearsals for a production of Einstein’s Dream, Homer muses on his recovery. "Being a strong-willed person takes having had a lot of dark times. At this moment of utmost clarity you either dwell on what’s befallen you or you fully embrace what you have left."

Suki John, who recently gave birth to Rafael Cocchi, writes and choreographs in New York and Havana.