Monk, Meredith

Monk, Meredith

(1943– ) dancer, choreographer, musician; born in Lima, Peru. Born while her American mother, a singer, was on tour, she grew up in a musical household. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, she joined the Judson Dance Theater (New York City) in the mid-1960s, later founding her own performing arts group, the House (1968). She was a leading member of the "next wave" dance movement and her multimedia "opera epics," Vessel (1971) and Quarry (1975), which both won Obies, have arresting primitive music composed and "sung" by Monk, whose unique voice spans several octaves. In the 1980s she produced several new multimedia pieces, making her Carnegie Hall debut with Book of Days (1985), an ambitious work in progress.