BIOGRAPHY
Sharon Mansur is an interdisciplinary dance artist and lover of motion. Her creative practice integrates spontaneous and set movement material~ visual and visceral landscapes~ traditional and experimental performance and art making techniques ~ live art events, situations, landscapes, public art performance/installations ~ and dance on film.
Improvisation as a research and performance approach is a particular focus, integrating inner and outer perceptions, as well as embodying subtle layers of presence, identity, and memory. Since 1991, her multi-dimensional performance projects have been witnessed in theaters, galleries, parks, plazas, parking lots, street corners, gardens, cafés, apartments, train stations, empty storefronts, fields, rivers and other intriguing venues throughout the U.S., as well as live performances in the UK, Argentina, Ireland, Ecuador, and Mexico, and dance film screenings in Germany, Ireland, Indonesia, Canada, and Italy.
Originally from Boston, MA and of Arab-American and Italian-American heritage, she lived for many years in the Washington, DC metro area, as well as time in NYC and Minnesota. Sharon started loosely directing the performance project mansurdance in 2002, collaborating in cahoots with several near and far flung movement, sound, light design and visual media artists. She has been fortunate enough to perform in the work of BodyCartography, Jess Curtis/Stephanie Maher, David Dorfman, David Roussève, and Sara Rudner. She has also collaborated with Daniel Burkholder, Clare Byrne, Kitty Clark, Ronit Eisenbach, Christy Fisher, Maré Hieronimus, Cyrus Khambatta, Joanna Rotkin, & Ginger Wagg, among other adventurous artistic types.
Sharon's art making has been supported by Dance Place, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the University of Maryland, and The Bossak-Heilbron Charitable Foundation, and the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, among others. Her creative practice is informed by Contemporary dance, Improvisation, Authentic Movement, Laban/Bartenieff and other Somatic studies, Reiki, visual arts, creative writing and music, plus invaluable relationships with artists, creative folks and community members.
Sharon holds a B.A. in English and Dance from Connecticut College, and an M.F.A. in Dance from George Mason University, is also a C.M.A. Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst via the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, C.M.T. Certified Massage Therapist, and Reiki Level III Practitioner.
Sharon has served as full-time Dance professor at the University of Maryland and Winona State University, as well as part-time faculty/guest artist at American University, George Mason University, George Washington University, Goucher College, Howard University, Luther College, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
She is currently living in the river town of Winona, Minnesota by the Mississippi, and on the bodywork staff at Infinity Chiropractic Wellness Center & Yoga.
Sharon Mansur is an interdisciplinary dance artist and lover of motion. Her creative practice integrates spontaneous and set movement material~ visual and visceral landscapes~ traditional and experimental performance and art making techniques ~ live art events, situations, landscapes, public art performance/installations ~ and dance on film.
Improvisation as a research and performance approach is a particular focus, integrating inner and outer perceptions, as well as embodying subtle layers of presence, identity, and memory. Since 1991, her multi-dimensional performance projects have been witnessed in theaters, galleries, parks, plazas, parking lots, street corners, gardens, cafés, apartments, train stations, empty storefronts, fields, rivers and other intriguing venues throughout the U.S., as well as live performances in the UK, Argentina, Ireland, Ecuador, and Mexico, and dance film screenings in Germany, Ireland, Indonesia, Canada, and Italy.
Originally from Boston, MA and of Arab-American and Italian-American heritage, she lived for many years in the Washington, DC metro area, as well as time in NYC and Minnesota. Sharon started loosely directing the performance project mansurdance in 2002, collaborating in cahoots with several near and far flung movement, sound, light design and visual media artists. She has been fortunate enough to perform in the work of BodyCartography, Jess Curtis/Stephanie Maher, David Dorfman, David Roussève, and Sara Rudner. She has also collaborated with Daniel Burkholder, Clare Byrne, Kitty Clark, Ronit Eisenbach, Christy Fisher, Maré Hieronimus, Cyrus Khambatta, Joanna Rotkin, & Ginger Wagg, among other adventurous artistic types.
Sharon's art making has been supported by Dance Place, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the University of Maryland, and The Bossak-Heilbron Charitable Foundation, and the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, among others. Her creative practice is informed by Contemporary dance, Improvisation, Authentic Movement, Laban/Bartenieff and other Somatic studies, Reiki, visual arts, creative writing and music, plus invaluable relationships with artists, creative folks and community members.
Sharon holds a B.A. in English and Dance from Connecticut College, and an M.F.A. in Dance from George Mason University, is also a C.M.A. Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst via the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, C.M.T. Certified Massage Therapist, and Reiki Level III Practitioner.
Sharon has served as full-time Dance professor at the University of Maryland and Winona State University, as well as part-time faculty/guest artist at American University, George Mason University, George Washington University, Goucher College, Howard University, Luther College, and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
She is currently living in the river town of Winona, Minnesota by the Mississippi, and on the bodywork staff at Infinity Chiropractic Wellness Center & Yoga.
