Get in touch:
IG: @suzannebeahrs
Email: sbeahrs@gmail.com
I’m Suzanne Beahrs– feel free to call me Suzanne, or Zan for short, as you prefer (she/they).
As a student and a teacher, dance is my most enduring practice— I see dance as a way to be in community that is focused on movement, mindfulness, and play. I have practiced modern dance as my primary practice for 33 years and taught for 15 years. My primary modality is Contemporary (which I called Modern until just recently). I also teach improvisation, contact improvisation, and embodiment practices- which is basically just ways to connect the body and mind by building awareness of our bodies, including anatomy and body sensations.
I think a lot about how our mindsets, relationships, and culture influence the well-being of ourselves and our communities. I find that building awareness of these powerful yet often invisibilized features of our daily lives can empower us to be present through life, and to access more choices that we may have previously not considered in order to create beautiful paths forward. I enjoy applying this lens to my personal life as well as to my work as an instructor of modern dance, a facilitator in the DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) space, and most recently when I am writing about my embodied experience.
Other interests include house dance and music, contact improvisation, yoga, and mindfulness meditation. I love nature and the outdoors at many scales, and being present with the beautiful, polyrhythmic movement of our planet, life, and in my own body is a deep joy in my life.
Photos by Stephanie Leathers
Dance Work:
ODC (2018-2023, 2026)
Elon University (adjunct professor, 2015-2017)
Suzanne Beahrs Dance (company director, 2012-2015)
Freelance teaching: Contact Improvisation at Finnish Hall Jam + Ecstatic Dance Oakland, Embodiment Practices, Bodies of Empowerment, Ninth Street Dance, ADF Scripps Studios [NC], Gibney Dance, Mark Morris Dance Center [NYC], Gateway High School, San Francisco Dance Center, City College of San Francisco, Las Positas Community College, Marin Academy, Branson School, Walltown Childrens’ Theatre, Arts Together, Carolina Dance Center, North Carolina State University, Phoenix Center for the Arts.
Consulting:
In the DEI space, my work has included qualitative data analysis, supporting professionals and teams in understanding how aspects of their organization’s culture connect with the concepts of equity work in general, and managing project plans to be responsive to and inclusive of a multitude of stakeholders.
Facilitation of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Trainings
Project Implementation
Team Management
Organizational Culture Report Development
Qualitative Data Analysis
Previous Clients: Justice Outside, Hidden Villa, TOGETHER Bay Area, Bay Area Ridge Trail Council.
Education:
MFA Dance, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 2012
BA Geology, UC Berkeley,2004