Marlies Yearby, a 1996 Tony Award-nominee for her choreography for Rent, will participate in Montclair State University's
"A Journey Toward Peace of Mind" arts and health symposium. The second
annual symposium, which this year focuses on mental health issues, is
part of the New Jersey Arts in Health Initiative, which will take place March
3, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Yearby will conduct a workshop
called "Moving the Authentic Voice," and will perform an excerpt from
her multi-media project, Woo'men. Yearby collaborated with noted
composer/musician Nioka Workman and award winning video artist Michelle
Halsell to create Woo'men, a dialogue that brings together participants
of diverse generations, traditions, and cultures, to examine the
origins of identity revealing each one's "authentic self." Yearby is a
creative artist who has worked as a choreographer/director for the past
20 years. She founded her company Movin' Spirits Dance Theater in 1988
for the creation of new multimedia works built collaboratively with
writers, composers, visual artists and multi-media artists.
"Yearby
is one of several renowned guests scheduled to explore, discuss and
facilitate the understanding of the interrelationship between the arts
and personal health," accordinng to press notes.
The all-day symposium, open to the public,
will also feature a presentation and demonstration by South African
artist Kim Berman. Berman was active in the apartheid movement in
Africa for years. She came to the United States to study printmaking in
Boston where she earned an M.F.A. from Tufts University. Returning to
South Africa the day Nelson Mandela was released, she started a
community-based workshop where poor, talented, impoverished black
artists—many of whom suffer from HIV/AIDS—in the township and the
surrounding provinces who otherwise would not have a chance could study
art as well as literacy, business and computer skills.
Other
highlights will include the keynote address by Gary and Chandri Barat
of the Barat Foundation, a not for profit educational corporation
dedicated to expanding creative opportunities through immersion
programs designed to maximize artistic and intellectual achievement and
personal growth; a hypnosis and creativity demonstration; an open forum
on body image in conjunction with National Eating Disorders Awareness
Week; workshops, hands-on activities and more.
The New Jersey
Arts in Health Initiative (NJAHI) is a collaborative project to
facilitate, document and demonstrate the interrelationships between the
arts and health in the state through partners such as universities,
hospitals, community organizations, social service agencies, state
agencies, arts professionals and individuals.
A $25 registration
fee is required; advance registration is recommended. For more
information or to register, contact Marie Sparks, Montclair State
University--973-655-7070,
thebodytalks@mail.montclair.edu or call Lois Saperstein, Center for the Arts at 732.591.2362.
Visit
www.montclair.edu/arts/oeco/NJAHI.html for more information.
