Today we’d like to introduce you to Mona Jean Cedar.
Hi Mona, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Born in New York, I enthusiastically make Los Angeles home – the city that sustains my eclectic endeavors of mixing sign languages, dance, and poetry. Academically, I hold an AA in Dance and an AS in American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreting from El Camino College; it’s there I started composing poetry and choreography with ASL and other sign languages. For my Bachelors in Deaf Studies from California State University at Northridge, I produced a show where I choreographed with multiple sign languages: ASL, Japanese, Russian, Germany, Italian, and Dutch. (No, sign language is not universal)
It wasn’t until 2019, though, that I founded Pas d’ASL – Dance of All Sign Languages – a totally inclusive dance company choreographing with various dance genres and sign languages from around the world. I held weekly classes and workshops teaching dances choreographed with sign languages from different countries.
After producing several recitals, we was invited to perform at the DeafNation World Expo in Las Vegas in 2022. Later that year, I was also invited to perform in San Francisco at the Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival. Our company’s repertoire includes Folklorico dance with Mexican Sign Language, Bollywood dance with Hindi Sign Language, Flamenco with Spanish Sign Language, lyrical with French, and Ballet with Russian Sign Language. The company’s signature dance has a mind-blowing seven sign languages in their piece entitled “Celebration.”
I started my poetry slam adventures by competing on the Long Beach Slam team in 1996 in Portland, OR. In 2003, Marc Smith invited me to interpret the National Slams in Chicago, which turned into my annual residency interpreting at the slams until COVID shut it all down. This earned me a treasured “Spirit of the Slams” award in 2011. Pilote Le Hot invited me to Paris, France, in 2007, where I interpreted his international slams every year until I represented the United States in their Coupe du Monde de Poesie in 2011. In 2015, I started interpreting at The Women of the World Poetry Slams in Albuquerque, NM., and added the Individual World Poetry Slams in 2018 again, until COVID. Even during the pandemic, I continued interpreting for the Chicago Poetry Foundation virtually.
One of my most beneficial experiences was being granted a scholarship to attend The National Theater of the Deaf’s Actors’ Academy.
Going to the Julliard School in New York City for Theatrical Interpreting on Broadway was a life-changing event. That led to the founding of ASL Cabaret – “a celebration of ASL performing artists.” We hosted all the stars in the Deaf Entertainment community – Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, Daniele Durant, CJ Jones, Shaheem, Amelia Hensley, etc. and many actors from Broadway and TV. We went from our humble beginnings in my friend’s punk dive bar to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills in four short years.
I’ve danced professionally in Rudy Perez’s post-modern dance ensemble, Collage Dance Theater’s site-specific company, Avaz’s folk dance group, and with ballet, tap, and jazz shows here in So. California and in tours of Europe and Japan in a variety of situations.
One of the most creative things I’ve ever done was to create several sign/dance rituals for Burning Man starting in 1991!
Which leads us to Circuitry & Poetry, the act I do with my husband, Jeff Boynton, because our first collaboration was for Burning Man.
{Circuitry& Poetry is Jeff Boynton’s DIY circuit bent electronics accompanying Mona Jean Cedar’s communicative arts of dance, poetry, and sign language.
(… as you know…) To circuit bend, Jeff attacks the circuit boards of inexpensive electronic devices, prodding them into new sounds to compose. Mr. Boynton’s deep classical music background informs his performances, providing a soundscape for Mona Jean’s performances. Jeff also has created multiple light and sound technologies that allow Mona Jean’s sign and dance movements to control his instruments’ “music.”
Ms. Cedar performs her originally composed spoken word poetry and choreographs with ASL. Exponentially communicative, the highly visualness of sign language exponentially increases the expressiveness of both the poetry and the dance.
Together, as C& P, Mona Jean, and Jeff have performed at Burning Man, for several Bent Fests, all over LA, at the REDCAT, toured in Germany, Paris, France, and New York City, and … have great plans for the future!}
Another endeavor Jeff and I produce is HPTEGSCBMBLA -the Highland Park Thursday Evening Gentlemen’s Society Circuit Bending Marching Band and Ladies Auxiliary. As the title states, we are a marching band with circuit-bent toys and crazy blue and green costumes. We’ve been marching in parades for 19 years, including the Doo Dah and the NELA Holiday parade.
And I hold a Comprehensive Certification as a Pilates Instructor through Body Arts and Science Inc.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing really traumatic, an actually kind childhood. “Running away from home” directly out of high school, moving 3000 miles away from a small country area to Los Angeles, was a bit of a cultural shock! I wandered around for several years, fell into freebasing, climbed out, struggled living solo, marriage, and divorce – ended up with a house and mortgage/zero equity -put myself through university… Once I found my artistic community, life felt more fulfilling. Found my artist husband, yet once we started living together, our house burned – gutted, lost 90+% of everything. Rebuilding was a deeply upsetting and gratifying experience. We are still dealing with the aftermath. It’s always a struggle being an artist. One unique obstacle is because my art includes ASL, and being an abled, white, hearing artist competing in a Deaf world for grants to the disabled, I’m not even on the list of grantees. I also find it difficult to be a producer, PR, booking agent, businesswoman… Artistically, it’s pretty tricky trying to blend ASL and English since they use totally different modalities: ASL- visual, conceptual, gestural; English aural, verbal, spoken, and are different linguistically – syntax, grammar, morphology. And now I’m getting “older”!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My day job is as a freelance American Sign Language Interpreter. I presently have an ongoing assignment with USCIS interpreting for a deaf officer who conducts Citizenship interviews for about 30 hours a week. Interpreting has provided me the opportunity to be exposed to a wide variety of experiences. I’ve interpreted university classes, cruises, conferences (ComiCon-Star Wars cast, BeautyCon-Snoop Dog, EM-Elon Musk, VidCon), political events (Bernie Sanders, Al Gore, Andrew Yang, Pete Buttigieg), lots of Hollywood awards ceremonies (too many stars to list) and as mentioned before lots of Slam Poetry. As I am freelance this allows me the flexibility to accept other work or to clear my schedule for performing and travel. Many of my other professional gigs are arts-related. I interpret a lot of poetry, theater, events, concerts, and for dance companies. This kind of work requires a lot of creativity, especially for musicals and poetry. I’ve done lots of Broadway plays, musicals, Shakespeare, slams, and concerts – rock, including a K-Pop concert once. One of my favorites for many years now is the DTLA Summer Dance series at the Music Center. Occasionally I am paid to perform my own art, either poetry or dance, and sometimes for performing with my husband. For this reason, I call myself an Aesthetic Interpreter – I bring beauty, creativity, and art to the act of interpreting. I am always looking to collaborate with other performing artists!
How do you think about luck?
I simply feel most fortunate to be born with a decent, strong body a quick mind, into a loving family in a safe small-town environment, was given dance lessons early (although not of any level close to professional), instilled with an attitude that I could become whatever I wanted, to have landed in Los Angeles, to have found my tribe, and to be able to pursue my artistic desires. I do feel lucky that I bought my house in Highland Park in 2000.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pasdasl.com
- Instagram: pasdasl
- Facebook: facebook.com/monajeancedar
