Karl’s Personal Chronology
1968 – born
1982 – at age 13, discovers body study via the Hawaiian martial art, Lua, at the school of Olohe Solomon Kaihewalu. Studies Lua several times a week for 2 years
1987 – working as a photographer for the UC Berkeley newspaper, discovers dance via a photo shoot, starts studying modern and improvisational dance and contact improvisation.
1988 – Co-founds Berkeley Improvisational Dance Group, performing and teaching (via student initiated classes) improvisational dance and contact improvisation at UC Berkeley. Starts 3 year study of Hapkido
1991 – begins 5 years of capoeira study with Mestre Acordeon in Berkeley
1992 – receives BA from UC Berkeley in physics (with honors)
1992-1995 moves to San Francisco and explores studying, performing, and event organizing in the bohemian dance-based performance art scene; performs with Ellen Webb, Scott Wells, and Kirstie Simson, as well as directing own work.
1996 – moves to New York, starts dance theater group Furnace, begins first of many teaching tours of Europe (Germany, Holland, Austria), as well as Australia and New Zealand
1997 – decides that New York is too much stress and starts traveling, initiates the Dancing Wilderness Project, directs first evening length work, Ulysses, a solo improvisation; teaching tour of Europe. Performs pieces Memory and Goat Boy in Santa Cruz and duet “Drunks” with Rosy Simas in Santa Cruz and Minneapolis.
1998 – teaching tours of Europe (Austria, Sweden, Hungary), US (California, Minnesota, NY)
1999 – directs first version of Ocean Studies in residency at 848 Community Space in San Francisco; teaching tour of Europe (Austria, France, Sweden, Finland) and US (California, Minnesota, Washington); spends time helping with the Direct Action Network, organizing to protest and resist the WTO, spends a week in jail with a concussion after being beaten by the police during the protests
2000 – directs and is primary instructor for the 1st of 3 full time, 3 month-long Winter Improvisation Intensives – incorporates contact improvisation, interdisciplinary performance work, performance tour of the gulf islands, mini-contact festival, and teacher training in contact improvisation with rural living off the power grid; co-founds Onionoak life art project with Jez Parus,
2001 – directs 2nd Winter Improvisation Intensive, teaching and performing tour with Onionoak of Canada (BC) and US (Washington and California)
2002 — teaching tour to Israel and France, as well as US (Washington, California) and Canada(BC), teaches intensive at West Coast Contact Festival
2003 – directs 3rd Winter Improvisation Intensive; moves to Seattle; directs multiple improvisational performance works; instigates multiple improvisational happenings (guerrilla performance installation in Henry Art Gallery, Winter Solstice Improv Jam); initiates explorations for Axolotl participatory performance work; teaching tours of US (Washington, California), Europe (France, Holland), and Israel (teaches Intensive at first Israeli Contact Festival)
2004 – first performances of Axolotl… underground success; develops second version of Ocean studies in residency at Centrum; performs Ashes (an improvisational study in somatic-psychology approach to physical theater), hits the road, continues to develop the work of Axolotl in artistic projects in Oakland and Helsinki, organizes Pacific Northwest CI Gathering; teaching tour of Europe (France, Finland) and US (Washington, California, Nevada)
2005 – teaching tours of US (Washington, California, Oregon), Canada (BC), Europe (France, Holland, Austria, Italy, UK), and Israel, instigates and organizes Contact Camp at Burning Man, Axolotl tours Israel and the West Coast (Vancouver (BC), Port Townsend, Seattle (WA), Portland, Eugene (OR), Arcata, San Francisco, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara (CA))
2006 – teaching tours of US and Canada, organizes Contact Camp, collaborates with Felix Ruckert on participatory performance work in San Francisco (Axolotl and Rituals of the Inner Circle) and in Berlin (as part of Ruckert’s United Kingdom Project), performs duet, Shaken, with Jen Mcleish Lewis as part of Lucky Trimmer in Berlin
2007 – Facilitates the Yuba Life Art Project and directs Proximity and Axolotl, Toured teaching.
2008 -teaches in Spain and Russia for the first time. Much time on the Yuba River, travels teaching in the US and Canada. First Sierra Contact Festival
2009 -travels for 6 months, teaching in different city every week, Australia, North America, Europe. Directs Streams in Kharkov. Starts Dramatic Arts MFA program at UC Davis and simultaneously begins coursework for PhD in Ecology, 2nd Sierra Contact Festival
2010 – mostly consumed with teaching at UC Davis. Initiates the UC Davis Contact Club. First Very Affordable Davis Weekend Contact Jam. summer travels to Spain and Russia, 3rd Sierra Festival
2011 -directs Body of Knowledge and Axolotl, summer travel in europe teaching. 4th Sierra Festival. completes MFA and moves into PhD program in Ecology at Davis.
2012 – becomes candidate for PhD, attends Max Plank Summer Institute on Bounded Rationality in Berlin, teaches in Spain, Germany, Hawaii, US. creates Accidental Tourists film.
2013 – begins long term project of filming sensory exploration and meditations in nature (see Accidental Tourists)
2014 – starts doing field research in northern British Columbia, at the intersection of grassroots First Nations sovereignty fights and environmental defense against out-of-control extractivist industry.
2016 – Phd in Ecology, with emphasis in Human Ecology and Environmental Policy
2017 – postdoctoral research in the Degrowth lab of Giorgos Kallis, Universitet Autonomoa de Barcelona, Institut de Ciencia i Tecnologia Ambientals
2017 – begins work at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, primarily focusing on visual anthropology, with a secondary focus on cultural evolution modeling.