“You never know what can happen”. We talk to Dany Millan a.k.a Dany Bear.
“Meeting people from other communities is something very interesting, you never know what can happen”
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Hi Dany, welcome at #WeAreFetish? Can you tell us a bit more about yourself??
Hola Amigos! My name is Dany Zichem Arias Millan, but everyone knows my as Dany Bear. I am 38 years old and I was born in Palma de Mallorca in Spain. I moved to The Netherlands 15 years ago for my great love and I’m living still with my Aruban DaddyBear.
Moving to The Netherlands wasn't easy, especially because of the language barrier. After all these years I still don't speak Dutch perfectly, but I am the way I am.
I‘m Ambassador of the Dusty Foundation, a small ngo that fights against violence and discrimination towards the LGBTQI+ community.
My hobbies and passions are: Sports, Dancing, Animals, and occasionally baking cakes and I am very much interested in culture and getting to know different countries.
Others describe me as very sociable and spontaneous boy who is ready for everyone , likes to get to know people and also carries the Bear Community and our 7 Colors from the flag with great pride in my heart.
I enjoy the beautiful life together with my DaddyBear, family and Friends.
That is also the purpose of life: we should enjoy together and be ready to help others and show respect to each other. Despite everything I am proud of who I am and also respect whatever fetish you wear!

Are you a Proud Bear?
Yes! I’m a very proud bear in the Bear community. This community is a subculture within the Gay Community that emerged in the late 1980’s in San Francisco (California). Since then Bears have gradually come out of their proverbial caves to proudly show themselves and be recognized and visible, although there is still much to do… Members of this community are (usually) Gay men, mainly mature, with a stocky build and abundant facial and body hair, exhibiting a masculine attitude. Of course there’s exceptions to any one of these. The beard, the hairy body, maturity, corpulence or the belly also attracts men who happen to be into these things.
Within the bear community we differentiate between different body types, for example:
The Bear community is a very socializing and loving community with a big heart and protective of our members … We accept any person as they are. As far as I’m concerned it’s one of the nicest subcultures in the gay community, members can be very much on their own and at ease. We’re not very visible as a group, but we’re one big family. We have our own parties, and I really feel a sence of belonging. If there is a bear activity that we can join, my husband and I always try to visit it, wherever it may be.
We also have our own flag; designed by Craig Byrne in 1995; also in San Fransisco. He thought this different design with 7 colors would better represent the bear community. The different colors represent the differens skin colours and nationalities, though others say it’s beard colors.

How do you identify within this community?
I feel more like a Chubby Bear and a hairy little Bear…
What I like the most is to HUG… A good hug to me is an act of love towards the person. Touching the warmth and feeling that positive energy is what makes me happy. I’m a person who really likes personal contact, meeting people from any community that makes me feel very good about myself and knowing that we are all fighting for the same reasons….
I’m a Bear willing to meet different fetishes and to experience new things in life.
New experiences in life, that is to say that I really like to try to know what exists and which one I feel more comfortable with. To know the feeling of the Fetisj…
I believe and think that being a Teddy Bear makes it easier for me to try different Fetishes…

How would you describe the fetish scene in general?
Personally, I love it... I like to try all kinds of fetisj to find out what it feels like, that's why I try to go to all the fetish parties and not only the Bear Fetish events… I am very interested to get to know people’s kinks and naturally meet people and exchange ideas, expressions, etc. Let’s say I’m curious to know new people and their fetishes.
As I said, I am a very open minded person and I like to know more things outside the Bear Community... Meeting people from other communities is something very interesting, you never know what can happen, maybe a Bear needs a Trans or a Trans needs a Bear…
The world is so, so small and we have to enjoy it every day!

When you like meeting other people like that, and you want to enjoy life every day, I can imagine the last couple of years have been hard: how has the covid-pandemic impacted you?
The truth is that at the first time it was very difficult… As you may know, I was a candidate for the Mister Bear Netherlands 2020 election. Two days before the big event it had to be canceled due to COVID19; the right choice, understandable and logical. At the same time I was anxious: we had been at the Darklands festival where a lot of people turned out to get infected. After a couple of weeks you started hearing of people who got sick, the worst was Daniel Dumont… That news was a bombshell for me. I knew him, and now regret never having taken a picture of the two of us together. From then on it got worse and before we know it, we were inside for two years. Sitting inside wasn’t the hard part for me, it was the waiting, the uncertainty. Hearing people have died, more and more shops closing.
Then the pandemic came closer and you couldn’t even go to a funeral. Once again I want to wish everyone who has lost someone a lot of strength.
Shortly after getting his second vaccine, my Daddy-Bear got a Cerebral infarction. This was very hard on me and scared me a lot. After he left the hospital and started therapy things started to turn around. Now we could enjoy Pride again, go on holiday,… True, with rules around covid, but still…
I don’t really want to go very deep into the whole pandemic. We all lost people and it hurts a lot. I hope everyone will grab this as a fresh start and make something beautiful out of it.

Do you have a full calendar again, now?
Yes, I’m going to attend a lot, I’ll be at about every pride in the Netherlands and some international ones, like Brussels, antwerp, bear weekend sitges, etc. I’m trying to be everywhere because the Bear Community needs to be seen and I’m ready to help with this!

Thank you very much for this interview! How can people get in touch with you?
People can contact me at:
Facebook : DanyBear@hotmail.com or DanyZichem@hotmail.com
Instagram: DanyBear_84
Twitter : @Zichem2
Telegram : @DanyBear21
Skyper : Daniel.Arias.Millan
After that I have a few app
W/Bear:DanyBear
Bearwww:DanyBear84
u4Bear:DanyBear
Romeo:DanyBear84
Scruff :DanyBear
Growlr:DanyBear