To celebrate Women’s History Month, Linda Mannheim and Marie Alonzo of West Windsor are part of an evening of innovative and risk-taking choreography in “I’ll Have What She’s Having Dance Project.” The performance takes place at the Yvonne Theater, Rider University, on Saturday, March 13, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.
For information call 609-497-2100, ext. 332.
The performance features original and creative works of women modern dance makers. Christine Colosimo, director of the dance department at the Princeton YWCA, conceived the cooperative event to support the artistic and creative maturity of women choreographers age 35 and up. Mannheim, Alonzo, and Colosimo are joined by Fara Lindsay, Deborah Orenstein, Paulette Sears, and Susan Tenney.
Marie Alonzo presents a poignant duet, “Unveiling the Bamboo,” with text by West Windsor poet Elizabeth Madden-Zibman and music by West Windsor composer Jeff Nathanson. Drawing on the sorrowful stories and images of once-vibrant women as they suffered under Taliban rule, the dance journeys through life stages, from the ravages of stolen dignity to freedom and personal fulfillment.
Alonzo will also premier a new work, Water Dreams, in collaboration with West Windsor visual artist Connie Tell and Gerry Hemingway of Plainsboro. The music for this piece is “Vertigo,” a piano composition by Carol Heffler of West Windsor. “This new work, with special paper set designs, explores the endless half-filled/empty canvases of life’s many dreams —aspiring, unfulfilled, broken, and continuing,” says Alonzo.
Alonzo received her MFA in dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and earned her doctorate in arts education from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she has taught and presented papers on the development and aesthetics of Asian-American modern dance. She has performed with HT Chen & Dancers, Asian-American Dance Theatre, Ruby Shang, and Hikari Baba Dancers.
Her work has also been produced several times by the Mulberry Street Theatre in New York. She is on the faculty of the Princeton Dance and Theater Studio and on the board of the West Windsor Arts Council.
Linda Mannheim presents “Just a Little Something,” to live percussion music by Ranjit Arapurakal. The short piece of seductive athleticism becomes a physical and rhythmical dialogue between dancer and percussionist.
Born in Syracuse, New York, Mannheim did not begin dancing until her senior year in high school. Dark-haired and over 5’8” at a young age, her family members were mostly blonde, blue-eyed, and very petite. The middle child, she has two brothers. “I was a throw back to the family build and look; I slouched a lot.” Nobody thought about dance lessons for her.
Florida State had a very strong dance deparment — even for women dancers over 5’8” tall on pointe. “I was lucky,” says Mannheim. “People believed that I was capable even with a later start. She holds a BFA and MFA in Dance from Florida State University.
“Dance was the first thing that I tried that I really felt very challenged. It required physicality and a focus with incredible attention to mind and body.
After college, Mannheim was an apprentice to the Martha Graham Dance Company and a trainee at the school in New York City. When she injured her back and felt a need to nurse it, she enrolled at Syracuse University and earned her MPA in Arts Administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School.
She performed and taught in Washington, D.C. for 13 years, where she was a professor of dance at American University and also served also on the faculties of the Washington Ballet and the Maryland Youth Ballet. She then spent two years in California before a job change brought her to West Windsor six years ago.
Over the years, she has performed with the companies of Daniel West, Liz Lerman, and Cathy Paine. Now on the faculty of Princeton Dance and Theater Studio, she is also a certified Pilates instructor.
Mannheim has two daughters, both adopted from China. Jade, 8, is a student at Dutch Neck School. Jennifer, 10, goes to Village School. Neither is interested in dance. “I try to expose them to Chinese holidays and we are lucky enough to live in a population with many other Asians.”
“I’m enjoying working with Marie and Christine — the brains behind the idea,” she says. “We were all wondering where the other modern dancers in the area were, and we all found each other. It’s been very rich.”
The title of the new dance project stems from the now-famous restaurant scene featuring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in “When Harry Met Sally,” written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner.
During the rehearsal process, images of the dancers were taken by West Windsor resident Elliot Gordon. As a young boy, he learned photography from his grandfather, William Goldenberg, a portrait photographer. Gordon — a retired Naval Reserve Commander, corporate toxicologist for an Israel-based agrochemical company, and marathon runner — now uses his photography for advertising projects.
The dance project seeks professional dance artists who meet the guidelines of the cooperative and who are interested in contributing their work for future dance concerts. Contact Christine Colosimo at 609-497- 2100 ext. 332 for information.
