Backstage with Damon Honeycutt
Damon is a transdisciplinary artist whose work involves the intersection of many traditions. He holds an MA in Conscious Evolution and Integral Studies from The Graduate Institute and a BFA from California Institute of the Arts in Music Composition.
Starting his training in martial arts at the age of 11, he sought out teachers, masters, and institutions that would help him understand the nature of traditional forms and mesh them with contemporary practice. This search has a yielded a wide-ranging cultivation of the scholar-warrior arts and afforded Damon the opportunity to work with artists and educators from around the world.
Damon has worked with PickleShoes, Scapegoat Garden, The New York Jedi, Nai Ni Chen Dance Company, Mei Yin Ng, Beijing Opera Company Yuan, Burat Wangi Gamelan, Oddfellows Playhouse, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Spectral Voices, and Crescent Street Films.
Jeffrey: Many of the men of Pilobolus discovered dance later in their lives. Is this true with you?
Damon: Yes. I have done martial arts since I was 11 years old, but it was not until I was in college at CalArts that I began dancing.
Jeffrey: How did you begin dancing?
Damon: I was in the music school studying to be a composer, and on breaks throughout the day I would go to the main gallery to train my kung fu. The dance dean at the time, Cristyne Lawson, kept seeing me working and asking me to join the dance department… so I did and then became a student of both schools.
Jeffrey: How and when did you find out about Pilobolus?
Damon: I had no idea who or what Pilobolus was until 2006, when I got hired to work with the company for appearances on the Academy Awards. I knew one of Pilobolus’ long time dancers, Otis Cook. He and I would train together in the woods of Kent CT, and he introduced me to the organization. It changed my life; before that I taught kung fu and yoga and lifted produce in a health food store. I’ve been dancing with Pilobolus ever since.
Jeffrey: What is it like working on Shadowland? Is it similar to or different from anything you’ve done before?
Damon: Shadowland. It is a rare gift, this work. Different by all means of the experience. Shadowland is a work that pulled on my very being and challenged the foundation of my craft, and thus molded me new. There was much tempering as well as exploration as a group, and that was new for me, to trust the collaboration and trust my fellows in the truth of our art. They are like family now.
Damon conducts the shadow train. All aboard!
Jeffrey: Any favorite tour destinations?
Damon: Japan. That is where I took my pilgrimage to the cave where Myamoto Musashi wrote the Book of Five Rings, where Matt Kent and I trained in the Home Dojo of his art – I got us matching swords to honor that experience – and where Molly and I became a couple. I really thank Pilobolus, for they have given me the means to lifelong dreams and aspirations while working in an extended family that creates, expresses, and travels with the art we make.
Jeffrey: How does your background in martial arts influence or inspire your art as a dancer?
Damon: Martial arts gives me the self-discipline and awareness it takes to dance. Also, martial arts has helped me express things beyond surface beauty. It has given me the tools to control my evolution in art, and as a being, it helps me listen, adapt, and take action in the studio. In some ways the movement of Pilobolus and the piece Shadowland have become a scroll of study for me, thus taking me deeper into the martial arts in ways that I did not expect. On tour I am rarely afraid.
Jeffrey: Do you have any other influences or inspirations that affect your art?
Damon: Life. My parents, my friends, my students, really the people closest to me, they give me the Real. I have no favorites, for that will lead me to illusion. We are all great in what we do. If I give in to resistance, I will not create, and then lose the courage to do art. But your question makes me want to write a very long list. I think those who are self-made inspire me the most, for they are the trailblazers, the ones who walks their own way, knowing the paths that have come before are to be respected, even learned, but not necessary to be followed.
Damon will be teaching this weekend in Atlanta as a part of the Wormhole Project.
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I appreciate the thoughtfulness in the questions, and in Damon’s answers. These blog tastes are potentially quite personal, and I love the dancers who take the challenge to say what they can about where they carry such passion.
Thanks for your comment, Harvey. As you can see, pretty much all of Pilobolus’ dancers come from different backgrounds, which makes for some interesting discussion and discovery. I think it’s so fascinating to hear each person’s approach to dance and from where each person draws their inspiration.
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