Peter Davison

Poet of Motion

Peter Davison is a mingler of movement arts, weaving influences from circus, dance, and physical theatre to create poetry of motion.

With joyful ingenuity Peter brings everyday objects to life—as partners in a dance, or characters in a story—to create a singular expression of humanity. A frequent audience response is "I'll never look at the things around me the same way again!"

Peter was born in 1961 and raised in Santa Monica, California in a supportive and creative family. His boyhood idols were Alexander Calder and Batman, who no doubt inspired his future career in subtle ways. Through his teenage years, Peter learned to captivate non-captive audiences by juggling and unicycling on the streets of Los Angeles, and in 1979 got a gig as a white-faced juggler in the movie Xanadu with Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly (now available on video cassette!)

In 1982, Peter won first place at the International Jugglers Association Championships, and then toured for ten years with the innovative juggling and movement troupe Airjazz, including an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Yes, Johnny was also a cool guy off screen.

Since the 1990's, Peter and his company of animate objects have performed at festivals and theaters internationally and on the CBS, BBC, and Fox TV networks.

Also an accomplished dancer and choreographer, Peter was Co-Artistic Director of Boulder Ballet for eleven years, and he is a recipient of the national Ballet Builders Award for New Choreography.

After more than forty years in the performing arts, Peter continues to enjoy creating enchantments and sharing them with audiences of all ages through live, interactive events.

Read full bio

Peter Davison is a mingler of movement arts, weaving influences from circus, dance, and physical theatre to create poetry of motion.

With joyful ingenuity Peter brings everyday objects to life—as partners in a dance, or characters in a story—to create a singular expression of humanity. A frequent audience response is "I'll never look at the things around me the same way again!"

Peter was born in 1961 and raised in Santa Monica, California in a supportive and creative family. His boyhood idols were Alexander Calder and Batman, who no doubt inspired his future career in subtle ways. Through his teenage years, Peter learned to captivate non-captive audiences by juggling and unicycling on the streets of Los Angeles, and in 1979 got a gig as a white-faced juggler in the movie Xanadu with Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly (now available on video cassette!)

In 1982, Peter won first place at the International Jugglers Association Championships, and then toured for ten years with the innovative juggling and movement troupe Airjazz, including an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Yes, Johnny was also a cool guy off screen.

Since the 1990's, Peter and his company of animate objects have performed at festivals and theaters internationally and on the CBS, BBC, and Fox TV networks.

Also an accomplished dancer and choreographer, Peter was Co-Artistic Director of Boulder Ballet for eleven years, and he is a recipient of the national Ballet Builders Award for New Choreography.

After more than forty years in the performing arts, Peter continues to enjoy creating enchantments and sharing them with audiences of all ages through live, interactive events.

Read full bio

Through years of performing and teaching in educational settings while raising two children of his own, Peter has seen again and again the power of engagement and personal growth that the arts provide.

Peter enjoys bringing his art to young audiences and performs regularly in art center youth series, schools, and libraries.

Peter is also a frequent teacher of physical theatre, juggling, vaudeville, and circus arts. He has many years of experience teaching kids through Think 360 Arts (Colorado's Young Audiences), and he has taught young-at-heart grown-ups through organizations such as Centre national des arts du cirque (national circus school of France), Maine's Celebration Barn Theater, and the Lecoq Theater program at Boulder's Naropa University.

Learn about Peter's educational programs

Through years of performing and teaching in educational settings while raising two children of his own, Peter has seen again and again the power of engagement and personal growth that the arts provide.

Peter enjoys bringing his art to young audiences and performs regularly in art center youth series, schools, and libraries.

Peter is also a frequent teacher of physical theatre, juggling, vaudeville, and circus arts. He has many years of experience teaching kids through Think 360 Arts (Colorado's Young Audiences), and he has taught young-at-heart grown-ups through organizations such as Centre national des arts du cirque (national circus school of France), Maine's Celebration Barn Theater, and the Lecoq Theater program at Boulder's Naropa University.

Learn about Peter's educational programs

Peter Davison's choreography mixes classical and contemporary dance with physical theatre, often incorporating an innovative use of objects inspired by his experience in vaudevillian and circus arts. Peter is a recipient of the Ballet Builders Award for New Choreography, from New Choreographers on Pointe. NCOP presented excerpts from his ballet-with-objects Cirque D'Amour in New York City in 2009.

View choreography excerpts reel

In 2015, Peter founded Objectivity Dance Theater with dancer Jennifer Aiken. ODT explores dance with objects in abstract and narrative forms, featuring qualities of whimsy, human connection, and engagement of all ages.

"So much the better for the lucky audience that got to experience Peter Davison's charming and heartbreaking work Bella Luna, which premiered in 2014 and was presented at the O'Shaughnessy on Friday, hit all the right marks, weaving an enchanting tale with a sense of wonder."
—The Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Davison brings an imaginative, entertaining approach to [Ragtime], justifying his receipt of the Ballet Builders Award...Although the piece hangs together well, each of the seven sections has a surprisingly distinctive identity, with Davison making ample but not excessive use of props."
—The Denver Post

"A bit of fancy closed the evening. Peter Davison, utilizing his past as a circus and street performer, had his dancers fully and playfully explore various props, most inventively a two legged ladder on which a man and a woman climbed, suspended themselves, and toyed with weight, balance, and space... Like the best of the pieces presented, it fulfilled what it set out to do and then some."
—Theater Scene, New York

Peter Davison's choreography mixes classical and contemporary dance with physical theatre, often incorporating an innovative use of objects inspired by his experience in vaudevillian and circus arts. Peter is a recipient of the Ballet Builders Award for New Choreography, from New Choreographers on Pointe. NCOP presented excerpts from his ballet-with-objects Cirque D'Amour in New York City in 2009.

View choreography excerpts reel

In 2015, Peter founded Objectivity Dance Theater with dancer Jennifer Aiken. ODT explores dance with objects in abstract and narrative forms, featuring qualities of whimsy, human connection, and engagement of all ages.

"So much the better for the lucky audience that got to experience Peter Davison's charming and heartbreaking work Bella Luna, which premiered in 2014 and was presented at the O'Shaughnessy on Friday, hit all the right marks, weaving an enchanting tale with a sense of wonder."
—The Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Davison brings an imaginative, entertaining approach to [Ragtime], justifying his receipt of the Ballet Builders Award...Although the piece hangs together well, each of the seven sections has a surprisingly distinctive identity, with Davison making ample but not excessive use of props."
—The Denver Post

"A bit of fancy closed the evening. Peter Davison, utilizing his past as a circus and street performer, had his dancers fully and playfully explore various props, most inventively a two legged ladder on which a man and a woman climbed, suspended themselves, and toyed with weight, balance, and space... Like the best of the pieces presented, it fulfilled what it set out to do and then some."
—Theater Scene, New York

Peter Davison

P.O. Box 4721
Boulder, CO 80306

E-mail: info(at)poetofmotion.com

Phone: 303-748-9244

Press kit available by request

Peter Davison

P.O. Box 4721
Boulder, CO 80306

E-mail: info(at)poetofmotion.com

Phone: 303-748-9244

Press kit available by request