Biography
Marianna Allen is an emerging dance artist based in New York and New Jersey. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Mason Gross School of the Arts with a BFA in Dance Performance as well as minors in Gender & Media Studies and Women’s & Gender Studies. Marianna has studied several dance styles including ballet, Horton, postmodern, contemporary, tap, jazz, Gaga, West African, Somatics, Yoga, Pilates, improvisation, and choreography. She has attended intensives at David Dorfman Dance, Koresh Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. While at Mason Gross, Marianna performed in several works by renowned guest and faculty choreographers including Chuck Wilt, Dawn Marie Bazemore, John Heginbotham, and Abby Zbikowski, as well as choreographed and collaborated with peers to create and perform dance works and films. Professionally, Marianna has danced for OcampoWang Dance, DanceKerr & Dancers, John Evans and Ani Javian, Julia Ramirez, Chantal Taluba, and Friends Who Dance Collective. Her choreographic work has been showcased through Mason Gross School of the Arts and Dance New Jersey. Marianna is currently searching to expand her performance experiences and collaborate with other artists to new art and performance in her professional life.
Artist Statement
"I approach movement creation as a vehicle to explore identity and personal expression. I am interested in how creative movement joins the physical body with mind and spirit to allow performers to shape their identity, create new identities, or explore the ways we relate to each other and our world. In my current work, I am particularly inspired by the ways we situate ourselves in relation to each other through shared experiences, and how those experiences inform our own life journey. Through a mixture of set choreography, improvisation, and collaboration, I look to allow my dancers the freedom to create and explore themselves and their own ideas within a set framework. Through my current choreographic process, I aim to combine virtuosity with humanity to encourage the audience to relate to the way dancers interact with each other on stage, and to view a timeline of intersecting experiences through a creative lens."
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- Marianna
Current Work
Marianna is a freelance dancer in New Jersey and New York. Her current projects include dancing for OcampoWang Dance, DanceKerr & Dancers, and Friends Who Dance Collective. She has also recently performed for Julia Ramirez, Chantel Taluba, John Evans and Ani Javian.
