Brian Dahl’s Story:
I am Theguywhodancesoncongress and my name is Brian Dahl. I dance at bars/nightclubs next to the DJ. I’m always dancing with Positive Vibes Only and Power Of Positivity. My intent is to get people to relax and allow themselves to dance freely and have fun!
I Started dancing at Congress with friends when I hit the legal age to go to bars but it wasn’t til about 2 maybe 3 years ago when I started to be a regularly a few nights a week when DJ Humphouse was djing and after a while I would be up on stage talking to him about how work/business was going. I would start dancing up on stage with him djing and when I was out and about town people started recognize ing me as Theguywhodancesoncongress. Humphouse and I thought I should run/dance with it. I changed my social media presents by changing my name and grabbing a lot of the social media handles with Theguywhodancesoncongress. Then whenever Humphouse or DJ BobReilly DJ’d I would be dancing on stage hyping/entertaining the crowd. I took simple steps to brand myself by making stickers with my hash tag and with my name. I passed those out when I danced...
I actually started dancing when I was a kid. The first time I remember dancing in front of people was when I was about 4 years old at the Scottsdale’s Fashion Square mall when a local group was playing back round music and I just started dancing in front of them. Another time was for a radio contest I believe I was around age 5 years old. My dad was driving me to school and we were listening to the radio and there was a contest you have to be caller 7 and be willing to do something in front of people and make blank amount of $. So my dad pull over to a 7/11 and he used their pay phone and they said to dance and have a hat out for tips. So I dance and people gave us money and end up winning a pizza party. Then in middle school I started to take ballet to improve my eye-hand-foot eye coordination for soccer.
The first hash tag I started with is #positivevibesonly (link to #PVO blog post). The reason I use Positive Vibes Only for my main logo and slogan is because there is too much negativity in the world. To me Positive Vibes Only reminds me that negativity won’t drag me down or be negative to others. It’s not saying I can’t have negative feelings but I don’t want to have that emotion that long. The other hash tag I use is #Powerofpositivity (link to #POP blog post). Why I picked Power of Positivity for my second logo and slogan. I believe there is so much power in being positive. I see positivity as a privilege and a super power. Through some of my experiences I have learn that I GET TO do stuff, not HAVE TO. Get to is a positive and have to is a negative. It’s my privilege to be positive or negative. So I pick to be positive. It’s the Power of Positivity.
I don’t usually talk about this that much but I’m now over 8 years sober. I wouldn’t change the past for a minute. I have met so many great people and have had so many great experiences, but it was the right decision for myself to stop drinking because probably if I kept on the same path I would have killed myself. I wasn’t truly happy. So 6 years ago I quit alcohol cold turkey. It wasn’t easy by any means. I had to stop hanging out with friends and going out to bars and parties for about 6 months to a year before I felt comfortable with myself. To be in control of not drinking and falling to peer pressure. I’m now out 3-4 nights a week dancing at bars/clubs. I now feel I have the mental power not to fall to the pressure, but I do take it a day at a time. What really has helped me is finding hobbies outside of drinking like reading, hiking, walking, working out, playing soccer, and Pokémon go. So know if you want to stop or feel like you need to stop drinking then you should stop or get help to stop. There are so many resources and people out there to help you stop if you want to. I BELIEVE IN MYSELF and I BELIEVE IN YOU.
I read a lot of self-help and business books. I don’t normally tell everyone this but I’m dyslexic. When I was little I didn’t like reading and I try everything to get out of it. I had to have tutors and extra help to learn reading. I even got tested for dyslexia, so I could get more help during collage. I made a decision about 8 years ago to read 60 books in one year because that’s what a e average CEO read plus it would put you in the top 3% of readers. I ended up with reading 63 book all self-help and business books. For me it was no easy feat because it takes me a lot longer to read than the normal person. I easily read over 10,000 hours that year. So know that if you really want something go for it. You and your mind can do amazing things. I BELIEVE IN YOU!
From reading I realize I needed to work on myself constantly and consistently. Here are a few habits I have been working on: understanding the other person’s point of view by actually listening and asking questions, being positive almost all of the time but allowing myself to go through the process of being negative/angry but for only a few minutes/seconds. I’m learning to keep moving and pivot when life throws me curveballs. I really hope I’m not the only person taking a look at their mental health and working on it.
I’m always interested to work with like minded people who are looking to grow their business/themselves. I’m currently have partnerships with Donutbar Tucson (@donutbartucson), Eegees (@eegees), Performance Lab (@perforancelab), and Cream Design & Print (@creamforever). I have also collaborated with Qmulative (@qmulative), Rudy Flores (@rudyf222), and Enegie Studio (@enegiestudio). If your looking to book me or collaborate email me at [email protected] or message me on Facebook or Instagram but messages might take longer to get back to you than email.
The Tucson Gallery Asked Each Artist The Same Questions To Get To Know Them Better
Where did you grow up?
Tucson, Arizona
Tell us about your family
Father Kevin Dahl, Mother Barbara Miller
Do you have pets, if yes, tell us about them ?
John Snow (Cat), Bella (Dog)
When did you know that you would be an artist ?
After I started Theguywhodancesoncongress
What is your favorite media to work with?
Instgram
What do you do when you’re not doing your art?
Dancing, working out, pokemon go, hiking, working at a school