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Professional Biography — Dance

Brendan P. Behan, MFA
a.k.a., Breandán P. Ó Beacháin

Dancer Brendan P. Behan, a tall, white cisgender male, stands upright performing in a low-lit dance studio on a wooden floor. His arms are held out to the side, elbows bents, forearms extending forward from the elbow at a ninety-degree angle, hands cupped palms-down, and his back is angled toward to the audience behind him at a roughly 45-degree angle. His head is tilted forward as he looks down at the ground where his bare feet, both in contact with the floor, curl upward from the toes lifting off the floor below. Behind him are audience members variously sitting on the floor and in chairs in front of a brick wall. The wall has a double wooden ballet barre affixed to it with white string lights, which are lit, woven through it.

Brendan performing Box Cake (2015)

Education

  • Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Dance

  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois

  • Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Chicanx Studies

  • Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California

Professional Biography — Dance

Brendan P. Behan (he/they) is a Chicago-based dancer, choreographer, and artist-scholar who holds an MFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Brendan has been presenting his choreographic and movement research in cities across the United States since 2008. His archival research looks at performance, ecology, street dance cultures, and the organization of urban space. His current work focuses on how hip hop artists in Tehran make use of and relate to the built environment through their artistic practices. A former lecturer at Millikin University and UIUC, Brendan currently leads the dance program at the Robert Crown Community Center in Evanston, Illinois.

Brendan worked and performed for nearly a decade as a professional dancer with the Los Angeles-based Laurie Cameron & Company and with San Francisco Bay Area dance companies punkkiCo and Loose Change, among others. His first choreographic dance work, Heir, premiered at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco in March 2008.

Brendan's choreography engages both live, outdoor performance and dance films. Among his dance film works are his solo pieces Myth Fail (2009) and Beautiful Place (2013) both of which bookend a four-year embodied movement research investigation of the Tijuana River Estuary, an intertidal, coastal wetland that straddles the U.S.–Mexico border at the Pacific Ocean. His dance-film piece, Supply & Demand (2010), has been presented at film screening events in Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Seattle. Brendan received his MFA in dance from UIUC where he was awarded a faculty honor for his choreography in his live dance performance piece, Pxyxl OR Padrão e Compasso OR [...] (2016).

See my recent dance works here.

Let's dance! My current class schedule is here.

Biografía profesional de danza (versión en español)

Brendan es un artista escénico, coreógrafo y profesor de danza con especializaciones en danza moderna, técnica release, improvisación, hip hop y salsa. Despuês de estudiar en la Universidad de la Habana, Cuba, y terminar su pregrado en estudios chicanxs en Claremont McKenna College, EE.UU., Brendan empezó a trabajar como bailarín profesional por los próximos ocho años en la compañía de danza moderna Laurie Cameron & Company de Los Ángeles, California, y las compañías punkkiCo y Loose Change de San Francisco, entre otros grupos. Brendan estrenó su propia coreografía en el museo M. H. de Young Memorial Museum en San Francisco de 2008, y desde entonces, ha presentado sus obras coreográficas por todo Estados Unidos. Terminó su maestría en danza en la Universidad de Illinois Urbana-Champaign donde fue premiado por su coreografía en su obra, Pxyxl OR Padrão e Compasso OR [...] (2016), al terminar sus estudios. Actualmente, Brendan enseña danza en el Centro comunitario Robert Crown ubicado en Evanston, Illinois.

Obras recientes

Biografia profissional de dança (versão português)

Brendan é um artista cênico, coreógrafo e professor de dança. Ele tem especializações em dança moderna, técnica release, improvisação, hip hop e salsa. Depois de estudar na Universidade de Havana, Cuba, e cumprir seu bacharelato em estudos chicanxs en Claremont McKenna College, EUA, Brendan começou a trabalhar como bailarino profissional pelos próximos oito anos na companhia de dança moderna Laurie Cameron & Company baseada em Los Angeles, Califórnia, e nas companhias de São Francisco punkkiCo e Loose Change, entre outros grupos. Brendan estreou sua própria coreografia no museu M. H. de Young Memorial Museum em São Francisco em 2008, e desde então, ele tem apresentado suas obras coreográficas por todos os Estados Unidos. Brendan terminou seu programa de mestrado em dança na Universidade de Illinois Urbana-Champaign onde ele foi premiado por sua coreografia na sua obra, Pxyxl OR Padrão e Compasso OR [...] (2016). Atualmente, Brendan ensina dança no Centro Comunitário Robert Crown localizado em Evanston, Illinois.

Obras recentes

Come dance with me! Check out my current classes here.