Bear Graham is a San Francisco–based educator, choreographer, performer, and drama therapist whose work explores movement as a vehicle for connection, healing, and transformation. He is the creator of DANCE LOVERS…duets by couples, crushes, and comrades, an annual San Francisco event celebrating intimacy, love, and community through dance. During the pandemic, he created Movement Rituals for Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, a series of site-responsive performances throughout San Francisco that invited audiences into embodied rituals with the natural world.
As a drama therapist, Graham supports individuals in expanded states of consciousness, viewing this work as a natural extension of his lifelong commitment to healing through the body and through dance. He holds an M.A. in Psychology / Drama Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), an M.F.A. in Dance from The Ohio State University, and a B.A. in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
Graham’s choreography and performances have been presented nationally and internationally at venues including Marin Shakespeare Company, Shotgun Players, ODC Theater, Micadanses (Paris), Zellerbach Playhouse, the Daegu International Dance Festival (South Korea), Davies Symphony Hall (commissioned by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus), the Nourse Theatre, National Queer Arts Festival, Movement Research at Judson Church (New York), CounterPulse, Kunst-Stoff Arts, the HeART of Market Festival, San Francisco City Hall Rotunda, and the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park. His work has also been presented at universities including the University of Calgary, Bates College, Kenyon College, Dominican University of California, Kennesaw State University, and The Ohio State University.
His artistic achievements include participation as a choreographic mentee in Margaret Jenkins’ CHIME program, an Isadora Duncan Dance Award (IZZIE) for Outstanding Performance as an Ensemble with Sebastian Grubb for Homeroom, and the IZZIE for Outstanding Achievement in Performance for an Individual. He was also nominated for Outstanding Choreography that year for Guilty Survivor.
A Certified Gaga Instructor selected by Ohad Naharin’s international pilot teacher-training program, Graham has taught Gaga throughout the United States as well as in France, Canada, South Korea, Germany, Sweden, Thailand, Greece, Mexico, Taiwan, and Israel. Graham sees Gaga as a revolutionary act of reclaiming our bodies and (re)awakening to our sacredness, our sensual and animal nature, and our courage to be vulnerably witnessed. He believes practices that deepen empathy and embodiment belong to the people who practice them. movement and dance are part of the solution to disconnection, inviting us back into relationship with ourselves, one another, and the living world.
He has taught at institutions including Stanford University, Oberlin College, Reed College, The Ohio State University, the University of San Francisco, California State University, East Bay, Kenyon College, Ohio Wesleyan University, College of Marin, and the San Francisco Clown Conservatory.
Graham is currently a Continuing Lecturer in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He also offers seasonal Men’s Movement Retreats and leads weekly open Gaga classes in San Francisco.