SOUTH PARIS —  Karen Montanaro grew up a dancer.

As a young woman, she danced with the Ohio Ballet and the Darmstadt Opera Ballet in Germany before meeting master mime and Celebration Barn founder Tony Montanaro. For more than 10 years, the couple toured and taught internationally.

Tony Montanaro died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 71. However, Karen continues to teach and tour. She remains on the board of the Celebration Barn Theater in South Paris and performs her own fusion of disciplines that she calls “Mimedance.”

The questions

Name: Karen Montanaro

Age: 50

Hometown: Great Barrington, Mass.

Single, Relationship or Married? Widowed

Children? None of my own.

People seem to describe you in slashes: Dancer/choreographer/mime artist/writer/teacher. How do you describe yourself? I think of myself as a mover and a movement specialist. I study the way things (i.e., people, animals, objects, etc.) move. Then I copy those movements in an effort to capture the “essence” of who or what I’m copying. When I teach, I use movement as a key to engage people’s enthusiasm and free up energy that would otherwise be suppressed.

How has your focus on disciplines changed over the years? I started out as an avid ballet dancer . . . and I mean AVID! I loved the ballet form and how it meshed with music. I still love ballet, but I found myself caught up in a dogged and impossible pursuit of physical perfection. This nearly did me in. Anorexia. Depression. Anxiety. Then I met Tony Montanaro. Tony was a phenomenal and inspired mime artist. When I first saw Tony perform, something shifted and my life changed instantly. Tony was the first person to say that I should express myself when I danced! It’s incredible for me to remember this now, but at the time I thought, “You mean it’s not about how skinny I am or how many pirouettes I can do or how high I can jump? You mean, that people actually want to see ME?” Since then, I’ve been on a quest to find out who this “ME” is and how to express myself as truthfully and as honestly and as courageously as possible.

What’s taking the majority of your time these days? Teaching, performing and communicating with absolutely everybody.

Tony has been gone more than 10 years. Yet, the man and his methods continue to be touchstones among those performers who worked with him. What do you think accounts for his continued relevance? Tony encouraged people to be spontaneous, to follow their impulses, to let themselves be moved and inspired. He had techniques to help people do this. Self-revelation is and will always be relevant.

Does he continue to inspire you? Absolutely. Tony and his love are vital forces in my life.

Do you see similarities among the people who Tony worked with? Yes, in so far as each one of them is unique and not one of them looks like anybody else!

You’ve performed all around the world. What keeps you coming back to Maine? I lived in different parts of the world but always came “home” to Maine. I don’t like the long winters, but they’re a small price to pay for this feeling of being home.

You continue to work in schools. Do you have a favorite age or group of kids to work with? All age groups are my favorite! I absolutely love my job and the diversity of people/ages/cultures/socioeconomic backgrounds, etc. that I work with. I’ve learned so much about the mystery and the miracle of communication.

The Celebration Barn Theater remains a vital place for so many. What keeps it going? Inspiration and creativity keep the Celebration Barn going. Talk about sustainable sources of energy!

You’ve been a teacher for a long time. What do you learn? I learn how to communicate with people. I look for the light to go on behind people’s eyes. This tells me that they’re engaged and excited about what we’re doing and what they’re learning. That light is my guide as I teach and learn.

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