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Marie Whitman is a Writer, Performer and Teaching Artist who creates dynamic written and spoken word as well as cross-pollinations of poetry, dance and visual installation. She is an accomplished Director and Producer and Co-Founder of Women Crossing the Line Performance Festival as well as the former Artistic Director and Founder of NOMAC: North Miami Arts Collective. In recognition of her work utilizing Poetry for community outreach and activism, Marie was chosen by The Poetry Foundation to become one of the Foundation's Incubator Fellows. Whitman was a recipient of the FEAST Miami Artist Award Grant for her outreach program “Poetry with a Purpose,” which brought a year-long poetry program into Women In Distress Women’s Shelter. Marie Whitman's interdisciplinary performance work has been commissioned and presented by Miami Design District’s Site Specific Performance Series, Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, the Spoken Soul Festival and through Williamsburg Arts Nexus at Triskelion Arts in New York City. Marie was commissioned by the Harvey Milk Festival where she presented "Hope is a Poem," a poetry performance, interactive installation and writing workshop. She created a site-specific haiku poetry installation and performance at The Pinecrest Gardens for Miami Dade Cultural Affairs Arts for Wellness Festival. |
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Marie has frequently worked with Choreographer Jenny Larson. Whitman provided original poetic text and vocal soundscape for Larson’s Here and Now Performance, “On the Other Side of the Lake” as well as her “Searching for Arctic Winter.” Whitman also danced in Larson's site-specific work "Land" as well as provided original text for this piece which was presented by Pioneer Winter Collective's Grass Stains program.
Marie Whitman danced with Dance Esaias in Miami, where choreographer Esaias Johnson created a dance piece based on one of Marie's original poems. She worked with the nationally acclaimed Isadora Duncan Foundation and was responsible for auditioning, selecting and rehearsing children to perform in the South Florida performances of the Company’s national touring production on the life of Isadora Duncan. |
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Marie Whitman has provided choreography and movement coaching for recording artists on both RCA and the BMG Nashville record labels and has taught for countless community dance programs and studios in New York, North Carolina and South Florida. Marie’s dance and movement education highlights include study on scholarship with the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation in NYC, the Martha Graham School and intensives in Skinner Releasing and Movement Improvisation with Stephanie Skura in Seattle.
In November of 2018, Marie Whitman and Performance Artist and Puppeteer, Jean Minuchin, founded The Women Crossing the Line Performance Festival. As co-curators and co-producers, Whitman and Minuchin presented a program featuring seven South Florida women artists who shared work in dance, theater, music, poetry and visual art. Women Crossing the Line Performance Festival was presented at the theater inside the Main Library in Fort Lauderdale and due to the positive response, this festival will now be a yearly program. |
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Marie Whitman is an accomplished Teaching Artist and member of Broward Cultural Council’s Arts in Education Coalition, a prestigious organization of professional Teaching Artists selected for their knowledge, experience, skill and achievements.
She has worked with youth of all ages presenting poetry and spoken word workshops for the Dranoff Foundation’s Piano Slam, Fort Lauderdale Public Library, Project LEAP (Leaders of Equality through Arts and Performance) and YMCA’S Youth Force Program. |
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Whitman has been a frequent Teaching Artist with Memorial Healthcare’s New DAY Program which seeks to divert juvenile offenders from the delinquency system and reduce recidivism. She has led many writing and spoken word programs with New Day as well as facilitated the production of three books of poetry containing the writings of the teen poets.
In collaboration with Christina G Smith Community Mental Health, Marie presented writing workshops to youth experiencing emotional or behavioral challenges. She presented Dance/Creative Movement Workshops for the Very Special Arts Festival in North Carolina working with disabled youth. |
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One of Marie's signature offerings is her unique, on-site Pop-Up Poetry Salon, where she creates poems on-demand on her 1963 vintage manual typewriter.
Her Pop-Up Poetry Salon has been featured by such clients, venues and events as Hyundai, Orange Island Arts Foundation, Miami Book Fair International, The Pottery Barn, West End Art Fair, Downtown Arts Days, The Grind Coffee Project, Miami Beach Art Deco Festival, Lotus House, Redland Farm and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. |
Marie Whitman also brings her creativity to her profession as an experienced Wellness Practitioner. She is a graduate of Educating Hands School of Massage in Miami and has studied Thai Massage, Connective Tissue Massage, Yin Yoga and Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.
Marie's dynamic healing arts sessions include her signature Yogassage, which combines restorative yoga, massage and meditation as well as her unique pairing of Yoga and Poetry including the workshop The Word Within: A Yoga and Writing Workshop which she co-created with Teaching Artist and Yoga Instructor, Sergio Mora. From 2017 through 2019, Marie has been working in addiction recovery centers throughout South Florida, facilitating classes in Poetry, Creative Arts for Wellness and Yoga and Meditation
Marie's dynamic healing arts sessions include her signature Yogassage, which combines restorative yoga, massage and meditation as well as her unique pairing of Yoga and Poetry including the workshop The Word Within: A Yoga and Writing Workshop which she co-created with Teaching Artist and Yoga Instructor, Sergio Mora. From 2017 through 2019, Marie has been working in addiction recovery centers throughout South Florida, facilitating classes in Poetry, Creative Arts for Wellness and Yoga and Meditation
