Faculty Profile for Brandon Ivan Gonzalez

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Brandon Gonzalez holds a BFA in Sculpture and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Dramatic Arts where he worked between the fields of visual arts, choreography, and performance. His investigations of the body as a resource for artistic practice led him to develop works across a variety of artistic mediums. Currently, he is working both in the U.S. and throughout Europe. Gonzalez has been teaching Contact Improvisation and producing performances and workshops for over 15 years. As a co-organizing member of the Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, he helped establish one of the largest improv-focused festivals in the country. He is also a DJ and Artistic Director at Ekstasis, a vibrant community ritual-dance event in Austin, Texas.

Gonzalez's work pushes an expanded approach to artistic practice that is concerned with how social and political realities are inscribed into our gestures, actions, and perceptions. He has presented at The Dallas Contemporary, Mexic-Arte Museum, Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art, SUNDAY RUN_UP (Stockholm), Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, CQ Magazine, WUK (Vienna), FemArt Festival (Kosovo), and Müszi (Budapest). He has collaborated with pioneering dance artists such as Nita Little, Karen Nelson, Nina Martin, Pat Stone, Lauren Tietz, Philipp Gehmacher, Mary O’Donnell-Fulkerson, Mira Mutka, Michael O’Connor, Jordan Fuchs, Zina Vaessen, Dolores Hulan, Jess Curtis, and Stu Phillips.

Teaching is a crucial part of his artistic practice and the classroom a place to engage the student’s curiosity about the world. He inspires students to participate in an active dialogue with the class material. This way they learn how to become experiential researchers and create their own artistic and practical knowledge. He has taught at the University of California Davis, Arizona State University, University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University, International Contact Festival Freiburg, and many independent workshops nationally and internationally.