Mona Banzer

Where you come from:
Bamberg, Germany

Where you live now:
Brooklyn, NY

What age you were at the time of the photograph:  40

How old you expect to live to be:  hopefully 80

Have you ever known anyone who died of AIDS?
yes.  dancers from the downtown dance scene of Manhattan, yet their names have escaped me – I was not close yet appreciated their stage work.

Have you ever known anyone who died at a young age?
Bamberg:
– one friend wanted to escape to east Berlin and got shot right on the wall of Berlin, which was then still divided – late ‘80s
– one friend lost his mind through drugs and thought he was VanGogh.  he cut his ear off and bled to death.

What is something that you do that gives you real joy in life?
– contact dance
– therapy/coaching work with my clients
– authentic movement
– hiking in the woods
– going to the beach
– making cloth
– altering cloth
– furnishing rooms

What about yourself do you really like?
my passion for life
my need to connect deeply with people
my pleasure of being intimate with people
my authentic self
my physicality
my wild imagination and sensitivity for music (when listening)

What would you like to see people do to change the world?
be more curious for life
ask for what they want and need
be more bold
be more open

What are your favorite memories?
floating in a small inflatable boat with 4 adult friends on a lake and getting hysterical

having dinner with two friends and undressing because it was so hot

doing authentic movement with many lovely people over the last 30 years

laughing with friends over memories about our crazy times we had in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s………….life has gotten far more serious with more responsibilities and the pure existential fight to stay on top of the game