Contact Improv Class w guest Dan Bear Davis

Daniel has taught Contact Improvisation and Composition internationally since 2007 and has been teaching Axis Syllabus since 2013. Whether teaching physical skills or compositional practices, his intention is to foster tools for informed choice and increased possibility. He has performed in theaters, on submarines, desert rocks, construction scaffolding, and art galleries. He’s made pieces about dementia, gender, war, heritage, identity. He cares about image, awe, and beauty. In creating a wide and rich acceptance of what it is to be human in a more-than-human world. He has been blessed with opportunities to perform with Guillermo Gomez Peña, Nita Little, Nancy Stark Smith, Live Art Installations, Felix Ruckert, Kira Kirsch, Erika Tsimbrovsky, Scott Wells, Krista DeNio and many other inspiring body/minds. Daniel's creative practice is driven by awe and wonder for humanity and an equally poignant curiosity and respect for the more-than-human world. His work prioritizes content over genre, weaving text, dance, video, music and new media. He considers all work to be site and context-specific and is interested in mobilizing audience agency through interaction and unconventional use of space. His work has been presented at the Imagining Bodies Symposium in Tallin, Estonia, Dancing in Place Festival in Malaysia, the San Francisco International Arts Festial, SoWat Now Contemporary Performance Festival, and Looking Left Festival in California, and at the SEEDS Festival and E|MERGE Residency at Earthdance Center, MA (which he also produced and curated for its first three years). His interest in the human experience has recently brought him to work with the real stories of under-represented people offering up their unique experiences as a site for connection. He has directed this work with EchoTheaterSuitcase project in collaborative ensembles of veterans and non-veterans as well as assisting in choreography of a performance of The Artistic Ensemble created and performed by inmates at San Quentin Prison. He is about to enter his first year as full time faculty at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.