“What do you get when you when you cross Marcel Marceau with Anna Pavlova? Answer: Karen Montanaro.”

       — Aragon Herald, Spain

"Our distinguished panel of judges was impressed with Karen's phenomenal technique and control but most importantly they recognized that Karen has fused her prodigious skill in both mime and dance into a new art form, using the body as a descriptive tool -- painterly, narrative and lyrical.” 

       —Donna McNeil, Former Director of the Maine Arts Commission.

Over the years, Karen has gained a reputation for “bringing the fusion of pantomime and dance to its highest level of expression.”

—Main Echo, Hanau, Germany.

Karen is a world-renowned dancer and mime artist, an award-winning choreographer, and the innovator of “mimedance” a fusion of two classical art forms.

Karen studied ballet at Cantarella School of Dance (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), Ram Island Dance Center (Portland, Maine), and on scholarship at the Joffrey Ballet School (New York, New York). She danced professionally with the Ohio Ballet (Akron, Ohio) and the Darmstadt Opera Ballet in Germany before joining forces with mime master Tony Montanaro to study, perform, and teach internationally.

Since 2010, Karen has committed herself to bringing scientific rigor to the defense of arts in education. An exquisite logic reveals the singular capacity of the arts to meet the individual’s most basic need for both autonomy and connection (i.e., to both “stand out” and “fit in”). Karen presents her unique and inspiring insights in an informance titled "Seeking the Source of Our Highest Goosebumps: Rethinking the Role of Public Education in Raising a Happier, Higher-Performing Generation".

In 2022, Karen premiered her one-woman show Tony Montanaro: A Love Story. This show, directed by Robert Post, was funded through a generous grant from the Maine Arts Commission that was matched by television celebrity Tom Bergeron.

Karen currently tours her one-woman shows and offers residencies in movement, mime, and dance in schools throughout the United States.

Dancing with John Livery’s 1911 portrait of Anna Pavlova. The story of this photo.