about me
Shifu Damon Honeycutt, M.F.A.
I am a transdisciplinary warrior/artist who holds advanced degrees in both creative and analytical fields of study in tandem with professional experience that is multifaceted, informed and worldly. Starting my training in martial arts and music at the age of eleven, my journey has been a forging of movement and sound in conjunction with the scholarly and the martial thus cultivating experiential threads of connection within the artistic, critical and movement arts manifesting in a career that has taken me to perform in over twenty countries working with Dance companies such as Pilobolus, Nai-Ni Chen, and Scapegoat Garden and perform in such international venues as the Berlin Opera House, Wien Stadthalle and, The Folies Bergere. My work now is focused on teaching, researching and cultivating embodiment practices and their relationship to the creation of music, dance and performance. I hold an M.F.A. in Music Composition from The Vermont College of Fine Arts, an M.A. in Conscious Evolution and Integral Studies from The Graduate Institute and a B.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts where I did studies in both the Music and Dance departments. My main teachers include Paul and Suzee Grilley, Hu Jian Qiang, twice all-around Wushu champion of the People’s Republic of China; Beijing Opera performer Qi Jian Guo, and Paulie Zink, the western inheritor of Da Sheng Pigua Men. I have now returned to teaching my arts in the service of transmission and community.
Teaching Philosophy
I was blessed with direct and personal training that I have coupled with years of experience as an artist and scholar. I have had the guidance of many teachers and mentors that I traveled to learn from and this has allowed me to have a strong personal commitment to evolve and transmit the traditions and knowledge I have been given.
It is my belief that any wisdom tradition practitioner needs depth in knowledge and technique, both within a multifaceted or transdisciplinary context. My philosophy in regards to teaching is really one of mentoring and relationship with the art both myself and the student share. As with the Daoist axiom that teacher and student travel together. This starts with listening, guiding and supporting the student's ideas and vision while at the same time engendering that individual with tools that they can carry beyond the walls of the studio that have been part of for years. The philosophy of embodiment that stems from ancient traditions of self-inquiry and exploration has been the backbone of my personal cultivation and professional career in the arts and education. The cultivation of embodiment philosophy is a ‘coming to knowing’ that is defined by the process of one's individual journey through practice creating a meta-discipline that informs all aspects of the practitioners' life. I do not do this, the art does. I feel that we as teachers are guides. I firmly believe the student has the power to choose their path, and I also know we all need to have a strong foundation in our art form in order to ask for help and guidance. My goal is to facilitate the student to achieve a depth of understanding in an authentic, informed and confident way.
Testimonials
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"I have known Damon since the fall of 2014 when we were introduced by fellow artists working at the intersection of dance and martial arts.
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Damon is a great artist; he is an expert-level martial artist, an international-level professional contemporary dancer and a masterful composer of new music. It has been a great pleasure and honor to collaborate with him. He has had extraordinary teachers and his practical experience as an artist is both deep and diverse. Discovering that we had both created pedagogical approaches for actors and dancers using the partnering approaches found in the traditional Chinese martial arts and in Chinese theatre, our affinity and mutual interest has led us to collaborate, beginning in the winter of 2016 to combine our ideas into a more comprehensive, detailed and accessible method to cultivate the performer’s presence, responsiveness and insight. So far we have taught master-classes for professional dancers together, co-facilitated a practical research workshop at the 2017 international Martial Arts Studies Conference in Cardiff, UK together and are currently creating a scholarly video essay on our research for the peer-reviewed Journal of Embodied Research.
Damon’s ideas about interdisciplinary art, about martial arts as a meta-discipline and model for the collaboration of art forms and artists, and about translational competences between artists, have already been inspirational for me. He is a great joy to work with and his generosity, ease, wit, and insight generate new practical and conceptual paths both in the studio and in conversation.
For martial arts and self-cultivation enthusiasts, working with Damon is dream come true. I offer him every endeavor my deepest respect and strongest recommendation."
Daniel Mroz, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Theatre, University of Ottawa
Author, The Dancing Word
Damon,
You are a master teacher in every sense of the word.
I was mesmerized by your ability to engage, encourage, excite and explain so that every student could comprehend the task, translate your words into physical manifestations, take risks and grow as artists.
What a gift you gave Dance Alliance today for its 40th anniversary!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Mary Anne,
President Dance Alliance
Teaching students