Rent Choreographer Yearby Appears at University Symposium, March 3

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.