Laura Montanari

Woman Hugging Self

This audio/video performance invites the audience to encounter the “Woman Hugging Self” archetype through song form and video art. Singer/songwriter Larthia (AKA Laura Montanari, a TC doctoral graduate from the Music Education program) and movement researcher Lucia Guarino embarked on this artistic and spiritual journey that began with an initial encounter with the painting “Woman Hugging Self” by public school art teacher James Antonson—an unsettling and illuminating spark that eventually led to the production of a concept EP ("Sottovoce (Dittico)") (featuring Emilio Merone and NuminAlf) and subsequent production of music videos by movement researcher and choreographer Lucia Guarino.

The three-video playlist can be viewed below or accessed externally here.

Translation of the lyrics can be found on www.larthiamusic.com

About Laura Montanari

Laura Montanari was born and raised in Umbria, Italy. She is a postdoctoral fellow in music education at Montclair State University, an adjunct professor of songwriting and music & the American experience at NJIT, and music & movement at Bank Street College of Education.

Her research focuses on embodied learning, body music, and the relationship between songs and history, namely how songs can serve as primary sources, illuminate pivotal historical moments, and reveal diverse cultural perspectives and non-hegemonic historical discourses.

Her career as a singer-songwriter has guided her pedagogy and scholarship. She relies on songwriting and arts-based methodologies to access different ways of knowing. Her music is published under the pseudonyms Larthia and Cupra:Ring.

A woman, seated at a piano next to an acoustic guitar, leaning on an upright electronic keyboard
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