Monk, Meredith (Jane)

(born Nov. 20, 1942, Lima, Peru) Peruvian-born U.S. composer and performance artist. She was raised in Connecticut and New York and attended Sarah Lawrence College. She soon formed her first group, The House (1968), to explore extended vocal techniques (many learned from study of other cultures) in combination with dance, film, theatre, and other elements, in genre-defying works such as Juice (1969). One of the original creators of performance art, she has remained unique and unclassifiable.

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.