Davon Suttles, an emerging artist in Chicago, who grew up studying and performing American tap dance in Keane Sense of Rhythm’s Youth Tap Ensemble. Davon is also an actor and an alumnus of both Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists and Columbia College Chicago’s Musical Theatre Performance program.

 

Under Master Teaching Artists Ellen Keane and Cathy Wind at Keane Sense of Rhythm, Davon studied, performed, and later taught tap dance locally and internationally. Professionally, he’s had the privilege of opening for Ben Vereen with Chicago Tap Theatre in A Night with Ben Vereen and has showcased his own new works — green eyez, Grid, and Shine, at the Chicago Human Rhythm Project (CHRP) and Butterfly, El Diablo, and An Ode to Self Love at the 2018 Twin Cities Tap Festival  all during his current Choreographer-in-Residency with Keane Sense of Rhythm in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

 

In 2019 Davon received the Cultural Community Partnership Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board for his first self produced work MELANIZED, a multimedia tap dance show about living as a person of color. This show addressed macro- and microaggressions towards people of color, as well as showcased the beauty of living as a POC.

 

Davon is a past member of the CHRP’s ensemble, Stone Soup Rhythms, under Artist-in-Residence Dani Borak and mentorship of Lane Alexander. He has performed with the Children's Theatre Company in Shrek the Musical and bare: A Pop Opera and in 2018 was a featured dancer in the new hit adaption of 42nd Street, at Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, choreographed by Broadway performer, Jared Grimes. And in the Fall 2019, Davon returned to Drury Lane to join the ensemble of Mary Poppins.

 

Currently, Davon is dancing with M.A.D.D. Rhythms, a non profit tap company based on the South Side of Chicago, whose mission is to preserve, promote and contribute to this art form called tap.