In 'The Dan Daw Show', Dan celebrates his newfound sense of self by being dominated on his own terms over the course of a play session. By doing this publicly, he is finally able to own his body in a way he never has before.

A sub/Dom relationship is used to allow Dan and Christopher to talk about the nuances of joy, care, internalised ableism, allyship and interdependence. It is also used as a way of inviting audiences to be with Dan’s “messy body” in a way that nothing else can. At its core, ’The Dan Daw Show' is fundamentally a work about care, about intimacy, about resilience, about letting go and reclaiming yourself.

“Whenever I’m performing and when I’m fucking, I’m unapologetic in the way I navigate space and inhabit my body. However, outside of these worlds, finding this freedom is much harder, because I’m living in a world that isn’t designed with my Queer, crippled body in mind. This is essentially what this piece examines – what if I could feel this free all of the time?” - Dan Daw

Dan Daw Creative Projects
Dan is Associate Director of Sydney-based performance company, Murmuration. Working in partnership with Sarah-Vyne Vassallo to commission, develop and produce new work by disabled artists, Dan plays an integral role in the development and delivery of Murmuration’s artistic programs and community activities.

Dan continues to work at the forefront of dance and disability in Australia and the UK, having commissioned two solo works – ‘Beast’ by Martin Forsberg and ‘On One Condition’ by Graham Adey, which received the Adelaide Fringe Best Theatre Award 2017.

‘Beast’, a Trinity Laban/Greenwich Dance Compass Commission, supported by Arts Council England, previewed at the Swedish Performing Arts Biennale (May 2015), Brighton Dome (November 2015), and premiered at Greenwich Dance (November 2015). Resulting from its inclusion in British Dance Edition (March 2016), ‘Beast’ toured to Sydney Festival (January 2018) and Berlin’s Sophiensaele (June 2018).

‘On One Condition’, a co- commission with Murmuration (AUS), premiered at Skanes Dansteater (September 2015), before being presented at Sadler’s Wells, New York’s SoHo Playhouse, Edinburgh and Adelaide Fringe Festivals 2017, where it received the Adelaide Fringe Best Theatre Award.

Dan began working as a performer with Restless Dance Theatre in 2002, and since then Dan has gone on to work with Australian Dance Theatre (AUS), Force Majeure (AUS), FRONTLINEdance (UK), Scottish Dance Theatre (UK), balletLORENT (UK) and Skånes Dansteater (SWE).

Throughout his performance career, Dan has worked with Kat Worth, Garry Stewart, Kate Champion, Janet Smith, Adam Benjamin, Wendy Houstoun, Sarah Michelson, Rachid Ouramdane, Nigel Charnock, Matthias Sperling, Marc Brew, Claire Cunningham, Matthias Sperling, Carlos Motta, Martin Forsberg, Carl Olof Berg, Dinis Machado and Javier de Frutos.

Dan continues to work at the forefront of collaborative performance making in Australia and the UK. Dan is a recipient of the BBC/South East Dance Performing Arts Fund Fellowship, the Outlet Dance Award and the Russell Page Fellowship in Contemporary Dance amongst others. He has been a part of the National Theatre Step Change programme (2012), Dance UK’s Mentor Bursary (2013), Sadler’s Wells Summer University (2015 – 2018) and Belgrade Theatre’s Agent for Change (2018), furthermore evidencing his ambitions as disabled artist to impact and lead the conversation on dance and disability.

Artistic Director: Dan Daw
Director: Mark Maughan
Assistant Director: Thyrza Abrahams
Movement Director: Sarah Blanc
Designer: Emma Bailey
Lighting Designer: Nao Nagai
Composition & Sound Design: Guy Connelly
Video Designer: Froud
Performers & Collaborators: Dan Daw & Christopher Owen
Dramaturg: Brian Lobel
Artistic Peer Support: Dr Kate Marsh
Producer: Liz Counsell
Access Support: Zed Lightheart

Supported by
Supported using public funding from Arts Council England through project grants, Co-commissioned in 2019/20 by Sadler’s Wells, Arts House Melbourne, DanceHub Birmingham, The Lowry, Déda, Cambridge Junction, DanceXchange and Dance4. Supported by Shoreditch Town Hall, Candoco Dance Company and I’m Here, Where Are You? Festival. Research supported by Jerwood Choreographic Research Project II.