My name is Brandon Freeman ...better known as “Private”, and I originally hail from Colorado. I started dancing at Colorado State University and with Canyon Concert Ballet, in Fort Collins. In 1996, I became an artist with ODC/Dance in San Francisco; and to this day I still champion and call home the company that gave me a career of creativity and physicality. With ODC, I continue to grow as an artist, dancer, and teacher. In the Bay Area, I have also had the privilege of working with Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Berkeley Ballet Theater, Marin Ballet, Western Ballet, Peninsula Ballet, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, Stephen Pelton Dance Theater, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Janice Garrett and Dancers, Katie Faulkner (Little Seismic Dance), TheaterWorks, Liss Fain Dance, Oakland Ballet Company, and Sonya Delwaide; and was a principle dancer in the movie, ‘The Matrix II: Reloaded.’ In the Denver area, I danced for Wonderbound, Colorado Conservatory of Dance, Littleton Dance Academy, Academy of Classical Ballet, and had the honor of being a guest artist with the Colorado Ballet, performing in Glen Tetley’s Le Sacre Du Printemps.
I received Isadora Duncan Awards for Ensemble Performance in 2002 with Brian Fisher, and in 2012 with Katie Faulkner, in her renowned duet Until We Know For Sure. (Click on the video link!) And, also a 2014 award for Ensemble Performance with Katherine Wells, for Amy Seiwert's The Devil Ties My Tongue. Notably, I received a nomination for Individual Performance in 2004 for my role, which I helped to create, in Brenda Way’s masterpiece, Investigating Grace. My choreography includes works for Wonderbound's Industrial Project, Berkeley Ballet Theater, Marin Ballet, Canyon Concert Ballet, the Lines Contemporary Ballet BFA program, as well as collaborations with Deborah Slater, Brenda Way, and KT Nelson. Recently, I also staged Val Caniparoli's Triptych on BalletX, in Philadelphia, and Singapore Dance Theater... in Singapore. I would like to gratefully acknowledge all who have influenced my professional dance career of 25 years and counting; specifically Brenda, KT, Sonya, Amy, and Randy.
Teaching
My dancing embodies the movement style and technical quality ODC/Dance has been presenting for over 50 years. I have taught ODC master classes on tour with the company worldwide, as well as at Jacob's Pillow, Stanford University, and Marin Ballet. I was also on faculty at Berkeley Ballet Theater, teaching the upper two levels of Modern technique. My studies of ballet, modern, and dance-theater, along with my many experiences with other choreographers, attribute to the diversity of my vocabulary, presenting an array of techniques and idiosyncrasies. Specifically, I am interested in the weight of the pelvis and the release/ease of the joints; in the pedestrian feeling of a moment; and I believe in the importance of having a motive for ‘steps’ at the same time maintaining the clarity and integrity of a strong technical base. Above all, as the lines separating the different dance styles continue to become more and more ambiguous, I strongly urge diversity in training. I like to focus on the Art, and encourage, overall, a professional attitude - at the same time as stressing the value of the joy of simply moving. On that note, I have also had the fortune of teaching, since 2008, Dance for Parkinson’s Disease (trained by Mark Morris dancers David Leventhal and John Heginbotham), continuing to share my joy of movement.