David began his career in filmmaking at University of North Carolina - Greensboro where he majored in Communications with a concentration on Broadcast Production. While there, he quickly became enamored with the process of filmmaking and form a student group dedicated to the art and science of Super 8mm and 16mm film. Several award-winning student films were produced in this period but sadly most have been destroyed or lost.

After graduation David went on to work on several shorts with other local filmmakers and eventually made the 35mm feature film narrative in 1997, "Chesterfield", garnering awards for cinematography and directing. After that, he discovered a love for editing and documentary work.  In 2003 he edited the powerful award-winning end-of-life documentary "Live and Let Go: An American Death". Shortly afterwards, he co-directed and edited "1000 Brothers & Sisters", a documentary about the history of one of the south's oldest continuously running homes for orphaned children, The Masonic Home for Children in Oxford, NC.

David is an accomplished video producer and editor in the corporate and industrial world as well working with several large companies and start-ups to brand their products.  He lives and works in Raleigh North Carolina. He is excited to be the most recent addition to the Raise Up team and looks forward to the challenges that lie ahead.

New York City
The origins of this story and cultural epicenter of calisthenics. Raise Up came out of meeting and working with the Bartendaz in Harlem and then went on to follow and feature many of the teams in the area from 2010 - 2014.   People travel from all over the world to hit the legendary NYC parks and train with teams that started the Youtube explosion.  Current headquarters of the Urban Fitness League.

LOS Angeles
Early adopters of modern calisthenics were beasts such as Drew Cawlina and Dan Attanasio.  The Bar-holics were then formed around 2011 and soon after came the WCO - one of the leading organization in competitive calisthenics across the world. Los Angeles quickly developed an acrobatic style reminiscent of the hand-balancing beach culture in the early part of the 20th century.  Santa Monica and Venice beaches are some of the top calisthenics destinations.

Miami
Like many beach communities, people South Beach in Miami are very dedicated to health and fitness and the bars on 9th and Ocean will show you just how much.  Home of the annual Barstarzz Pullup Jam, Miami has created some of the recognizable faces in the global calisthenics culture.

Madrid
Although Parque del Retiro in downtown Madrid has a great workout park, the origins of calisthenics, or "street workout" in Spain came from a little park in Leganes, just southwest of the capital city.  Founded by Barbarrio, the scene in Spain has continued to grow immensely since they hosted the first international competition in Madrid in 2013.

Amsterdam
The first team to take off with international appeal was the Bar-Monsterz, recognized and invited to Street Workout World Championship in 2012.  But locally, the foundation of calisthenics culture in Amsterdam began with a small park commissioned by the group Still Building.  Now Amsterdam is a hub of activity, hosting international competitions multiples times a year.

Malabo
Though perhaps the smallest of all calisthenics communities, the cultural impact on youth in Equatorial Guinea is huge and was forged by the EG branch of Madrid's Barbarrio.  They don't have a lot of access to bars, so the team developed a super creative and rhythmic floor game.

Oslo
Host of one of WSWCF's first World Cup stages in 2013 and host of the superfinal in 2014.  The scene in Norway became popular due to the rise of Tufteparken, calisthenics parks that originated in Asker and spread all over the country.  Bar-Bangerz was the first team invited to the SWWC in 2012, and Team Physix gained notoriety later - featured on NRK's Puls TV show.

Berlin
The calisthenic culture started late in Berlin, with only solo practitioners spreading the word.  But when Barliner Workout came onto the scene, Germany quickly became a new hotspot to train calisthenics.

London
Starting early in the modern calisthenics era, teams like Guwu Bartendaz, Block Workout, and the UK Bar-barians set the stage for some of hardest bar hitters across the globe.  Now home to many international competitions, some of the new teams like BarSparta are dominating both strength and freestyle contests across the globe.

St. Maxime
Home of the first French National Championship in 2013, this small town on the south of France actually holds a tiny Kenguru park on private property.  (Also of note: nearby Lyon hosts the trophy-grabbing team Body Art Athletes de Rue)

Paris
Pull and Push might be one of the most underrated international competition in the calisthenics community.  Hosted just outside the city in Grigny, this event matches the dynamic culture of New York City and has been running for year.

Barcelona
Though Barca had humble beginnings with only the team Spartans Barz in nearby Calafell, once the Barmania Pro park came to the beach, the scene grew exponentially.  Now home to the Battle of the Barz at the Arnold Classic, Barcelona has become a destination for calisthenics heads.

Moscow
One of the first parts of the world to explode with the modern calisthenics scene.  Beginning with the group Workout24, they hosted teams from the US and other countries in the early part of the 2010s.  Now home of Kenguru Pro and site of WSWCF's annual Street Workout World Championship, Moscow hosts hundreds of the worlds best calisthenics athletes with several competitions throughout the year.

Riga
Riga is the home of the World Street Workout and Calisthenics Federation, forming in 2009 and hosting it's first championship in 2011. This was the first (of now many) world championship and world cups, but if not for this small city, we may have never seen international competitions like we do now.

Dnepropetrovsk
Street Workout Ukraine was responsible for some of the earliest international events, inviting the Bar-barians from the US to participate in 2011.  Still known to host competitions, the organization focuses mostly on the local growth of health and fitness in Ukraine - being responsible for parks built all over the country.

Kampala
Kampala has a small park placed at an orphanage just outside of town as part of Tufteparken's social project.  The kids took to it immediately and began training every day.

Taipei
Taipei hosted the first WSWCF World Cup in Asia in May 2013.  This might have been the catalyst to what has now become a vibrant Asian "street workout" community in many surrounding countries.

Athens
Athens is the birthplace of the written record of calisthenics, citing the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE with the infamous Spartans.  Now, Greece has several teams in the calisthenics culture and even a 40-yr-old park atop of the first (modern day) olympic stadium, the Panathenaic Stadium.

Zagreb
Zagreb has a small but dedicated calisthenics community, but the tradition is evident with the amount of old parks they have and how many people show up to train daily.  This is indicative of many post-Yugoslavic countries, which all prove to produce beats.

Stockholm
Barmafia was the first team to put Sweden on the map, but now we see calisthenics communities all over Scandinavia.  Though small, the diverse calisthenics group here is a great representation of the community overall.