Dean is artistic director and co-founder of Green Fools Theatre where he performs, teaches, writes and directs, as well as designs and builds puppets and sets.
Dean began his studies as a sculpture major and performance artist at the Alberta College of Art & Design and then attended the Dell Arte School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, California. For nearly 30 years, Dean has been delighting audiences across the globe with his buffoonery, clowning and stilt characters; his alter ego, Gustavo the Impossibilist is infamous worldwide.
Dean has performed and taught physical theatre and circus workshops in over 48 countries including Canada, Europe, South America, Macedonia, New Zealand, Lesotho, Japan, and the USA. His diverse skills include character acting, puppeteering, stilt walking (high skill and mobility level), clown, mime, mask, juggling, tight wire, stage combat, stage make-up and prosthetics, music, baritone ukulele, singing/songwriting, mask making and puppet making. He has performed with Cirque du Soleil at the Luminato festival in Toronto, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Theatre Orchestra in Ottawa.
Dean was awarded the ATB Financial Healing Through the Arts Award at the Calgary Mayor’s Luncheon for the Arts for his Social Circus programs for at-risk youth. He teaches social circus to thousands of youth around the world with the Green Fools, Cirque du Monde and the Winnipeg Children’s Festival Northern Manitoba Circus Camp.