Mara Neimanis creates theatre in the air using suspended steel sculptures and invented aerial apparatus. Drawing on traditions of Mask Performance, Clown, and Commedia dell' Arte, her work integrates circus arts with physical acting to create stories, text, characters, and time which explore the rich interplay of imagination between air and ground. Mara just returned from Brighton England where she was the featured performer for Dementia Care Matters 5th Congress performing Noami's Flight and teaching workshops for Care Home staff. Dementia Care Matters is the largest conference for dementia care in the U.K. She is currently working with Dr. David Sheard in using aerial studies in training people who work with families and patients with dementia. She is working with The Old Market Theatre in Brighton on a national U.K. tour in 2016.
Mara trained at The San Francisco School of Circus Arts, Trapeze Arts, Oakland, and The Toronto School of Circus. She was a proteje of aerial pioneer, Terry Sendgraff, and a graduate of The Dell'Arte International School Of Physical Theatre where she served as an instructor and company member for seven years. In Baltimore, Mara was a Creative Alliance Resident Artist from 2004-2007, where she created her touring solo aerial show, Air Heart.
Mara has toured aerial performances and taught residencies internationally in The United Kingdom, Israel, Latvia, Canada and Costa Rica. She has written a variety of scripts and created productions including The Beauty of Their Dreams, a collaboration with Arachne Aerial Arts for the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival in Reston, Virginia; For That Which Returns, also with Arachne; The Snow Queen, an aerial adaptation of the famous dark fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen using a mixed hearing and deaf ensemble; Gravity Stories, developed at Stevenson University with theater students and students in the Sociology department. She is a collaborator and instructor for Teatro Abya Yala in Costa Rica, and for 2010-2011 served as aerial choreographer for Abya Yala's production, Vacio. Other collaborations include aerial choreographer for Naoko Maeshiba's production, Paraffin; and Borders and Borderless, written and performed with elders and youth of the Yurok Nation in Northern California. She has served as a guest artist at the UNA University in Hereria Costa Rica, The University of Costa Rica in San Jose, Rhodes College in Memphis, University of Missouri Graduate Theater Dept. Kansas City, University of Missouri Theater Dept., Springfield, University of Toronto Theater Graduate Department, Cal Arts department for film and video, MICA, and most recently at The Studios Of Key West
In-Flight Theater was the creator and producer of the 3 year annual Baltimore Alley Aerial Festival before the shut down of Load Of Fun. Original solo shows that tour include Air Heart, Naomi's Flight, Points of Grief, and Out Of The Blue. Mara teaches on going classes in Aerial Studies, Physical Acting, and empowerment work, at In-Flight Studios in the Station North Arts District in Baltimore. Neimanis is a guild certified Feldenkrais practitioner and teaches Awareness Through Movement as a part of Aerial Studies. She is currently working on a book, On Creating an Aerial Theater, and seeking to publish next year.
Grants and Awards Include:
2003 California Native American Culture Grant for New Works;
2007 Quest Fest For The Deaf commission for new works;
2009 Baltimore Community Artist Award;
2011 Baltimore B Grant Award
2008 & 2013 Maryland State Arts Council Award For Individual Artists;
Degrees:
BFA, English and Theatre, Niagara University
Dell'Arte certification in Physical Theatre
MFA, Theatre, Towson University
