I have choreographed and I dance this piece which is a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, as well as being an anti--violence against Womyn piece. Marilyn suffered every form of abuse during her lifetime. Many people also believe that she was murdered, including myself. Therefore, I have created a piece in which she has risen from the dead and has come back imbued with the power of Womyn throughout Herstory.

I have brought her back and contemporized and re-empowered her in order to give her the final word about what she was worth as a Womyn, and also about what all Womyn are worth. She has created her own piece to speak out against both the violence that she experienced as a Womyn, and against the violence which most Womyn past and present continue to experience all over the world.

I have made her contemporary with a lilac wig, but kept her famous make-up style, and I have her dancing in her white terry cloth bathrobe which she wore in a famous photograph while reading, as well as duplicating her pose from this photo at the beginning of this piece. I have done so to show her as a person and not as a sex symbol. She is dancing to the 60’s song “These Boots are Made for Walking,” because that is the decade in which she died. She is wearing large black motor cycle rider style boots to show the power of Womyn in their fight against violence. The first section of this piece is very purposefully done in silence. It depicts all Womyn raising themselves up and taking bac their own power through this reincarnation of Marilyn.

Marilyn has within her all of the spirit and empowerment and power, of all the Womyn all over the world (both living and gone.) As she is dancing , she is particularly representing those who have died at the hands of male violence. This Worldwide empowerment is reflected in the choreography through my choice of traditional African, Chinese, South East Asian, French (Ballet), Hip Hop, Aboriginal, Japanese, Hawaiian, Tai Chi, Yoga, and North American dance moves from the 60’s to the present. This is a serious and powerful piece and she dances it with a serious expression and strong, highly varied movements. The boots make loud strong sounds as they stomp and the metal parts on them rattle. They are another prop chosen to “speak out “on behalf of all Womyn.

In one incident in which Marilyn was abused on set, several crew men rigged up a giant fan to blow up her dress to see whether or not she was wearing any underwear, because they had heard that she wasn’t. This became a famous photo but it was in reality a painful attack on her, and it also caused pain to her spouse who was on set at the time.

I have allowed her to reclaim this situation at the very end of the piece, and to show her pride in both herself and in all Womyn. She chooses of her own accord to raise her bathrobe and underneath it she is wearing a pair of traditional men’s underwear in purple on which I have designed/and or created the placement of several logos. There are large silver Womyn’s symbols splayed diagonally over the man’s genital area (claiming its correspondingly traditional male power as being equalized for Womyn also) as well as on each thigh.

On the back of her underwear, when she turns and shows the audience in the final moments of this piece, is Marilyn’s final word on the worth of both herself and of Womyn all over the world.

It says “ICON.”

This is a very moving and powerful piece about extremely important, worldwide issues. After I finish doing a live dance performance - only then do I have someone bring out my cane as a further way of surprising and inspiring audiences. I would be very proud to share it with and thus, inspire your audience.

This piece varies slightly from performance to performance due to the silent part, but it is always under 5 minutes. It is a solo piece and I have a DVD of the song, with the first minute or so done in silence. I just need the full stage area well lit to be able to see as I travel forwards, backwards and sideways on the entire stage frequently. I have a few small props which I bring also, as seen on the DVD.

Ariel Len

Zoey’s Projects