Prince PRNZ Lyons
Photo credit: Jentrie Bentley
5(ish) Questions for is a chance to discover and learn about St. Louis Creatives, Community Champions, and, well, just interesting people in and around our city. It's a deep dive into what they love and where their passion lies. It's an opportunity for all of us to see our region from a different perspective. This written interview is a peek into their lives and their outlook on St. Louis.
Meet Prince Lyons, a performing artist, choreographer, and creative director who is driven by the desire to create honest, meaningful work that challenges societal narratives. Inspired by St. Louis' raw creative energy, PRNZ emphasizes the importance of rest and movement in overcoming creative blocks, and reflects on how returning to St. Louis to create for and with the city reshaped his career and purpose.
Photo credit: Brian Verbarg
Tell us about yourself..
I’m a performing artist, choreographer, and creative director originally from St. Louis. Dance was my first language—it gave me a way to move through the world, to communicate, to survive. I trained under the incomparable Alicia Graf Mack and graduated from Webster University before carving out a career that’s taken me from touring with Madonna to creating original dance films that speak to social inequality, grief, and joy. Right now, I split my time between Los Angeles and wherever the work calls me, but St. Louis will always be the root. It’s where I became the artist I am.
Photo credit: Guilherme Licurgo
What gets you out of bed every morning?
The desire to make something honest. Whether I’m choreographing, directing, or just putting on music to move in my living room, I wake up wanting to create something that feels like me. Something that challenges the narrative or shifts how people see beauty, masculinity, or Blackness. I’m also driven by the people I’ve lost—their memory fuels me.
What inspires you about St. Louis?
St. Louis has a kind of rawness that’s always stayed with me. There’s power in how people here create with what they have. The talent in this city is wild—dancers, musicians, visual artists, thinkers. And there’s a real urgency behind the art, like it’s stitched into our survival. That energy raised me, and I try to bring it into every room I walk into, whether I’m in a rehearsal studio or on a film set.
How do you push through creative blocks or periods of low motivation?
I remind myself that rest is part of the process. Sometimes, stepping away—going outside, eating a good meal, having a real conversation—unlocks something I couldn’t force through. I also look back at old journals or photos to reconnect with what I was feeling before the block. Movement always helps, too. Even if it’s just 30 seconds of dancing with no camera, no goal—just me.
What moment or decision has most profoundly changed the trajectory of your life or career?
Leaving St. Louis was a turning point, but deciding to come back—on my own terms—shifted everything. For so long, I thought success meant leaving and never looking back. But returning to create work for this city, with this city, made me realize how deep my roots are and how much I want to invest in the next generation here. That decision gave my work purpose beyond myself.
Photo Credit: Matt Seidel
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