Camille A. Brown

Camille A. Brown
Education LaGuardia High School, The Ailey School, University of North Carolina
Occupation Dancer, Choreographer, Director
Awards Bessie Award for Outstanding Production;
International Association of Blacks in Dance Founders Award;
Princess Grace Award (2006, 2013, 2016, 2016);
TED fellowship[1]

Camille A. Brown is a dancer, choreographer, director and dance educator. She is the Founder & Artistic Director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers, and has congruently choreographed commissioned pieces for many notable dance companies, Broadway shows, and universities. Brown started her career as a dancer in Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, A Dance Company, and was a guest artist with Rennie Harris Puremovement, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (2008 and 2011). Brown also teaches dance and gives lectures to audiences at various universities such as Long Island University, Barnard College and ACDFA (University of Akron), among others.[2]

Brown has received notable awards and accolades including being a four-time Princess Grace Award recipient, TED Fellow, Guggenheim Fellowship, Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, USA Jay Franke & David Herro Fellow, and a Bessie Award. She has been featured on the cover of Dance Teacher Magazine (August 2015) and Co-Directed the Social Dances: Jazz to Hip-Hop program with Moncell Durden at Jacob’s Pillow Dance School.

Brown has performed at the 2015 TED Conference in Vancouver, Canada and given talks at both TEDxBeaconStreet and TEDx Estée Lauder Companies. Her TED-Ed talk on the influence of African and African-American social dance in the United States can be found on TED.com, TED-Ed, and across various social media platforms.

Dance training

As a child, Brown trained at The Bernice Johnson Dance Center and The Carolyn DeVore Dance Center. She continued her training in high school at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts while simultaneously attending The Ailey School on scholarship. Brown earned a B.F.A. from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and went on to dance as a member of Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, A Dance Company, and was a guest artist with Rennie Harris Puremovement and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.[2]

Camille A. Brown & Dancers

Founded in 2005, Camille A. Brown & Dancers is a dance company known for high theatricality, gutsy moves and virtuosic musicality. Along with, exploring typical, real life situations ranging from literal relationships to more complex themes with an eye on the past and present, the company also incorporates dialogue with audiences and students about social issues and the meaning behind the performance through talkbacks, residencies and educational outreach.

Camille A. Brown & Dancers has performed works such as BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, Mr. TOL E. RAncE, City of Rain, Good & Grown, and The Groove to Nobody’s Business, among others. The company has performed these works in many venues both nationally and internationally, including The Joyce Theater, New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival,The Yard, White Bird, REDCAT, and Belfast Festival at Queen's, among others. [3]

Choreography

Informed by her music background as a clarinetist, Brown creates choreography that utilizes musical composition as storytelling. Brown has choreographed for various commercial and theater projects including Jordan Brand, BELLA: An American Tall Tale (Director: Kirsten Childs), Cabin in the Sky (musical) (Director: Ruben Santiago-Hudson), and Broadways's A Streetcar Named Desire. Dance companies that have commissioned her work include: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco, Urban Bush Women, Complexions, Ailey II, and Ballet Memphis. Her works have been performed at The Kennedy Center, Apollo Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Madison Square Garden, and New York City Center. She also was the choreographer for Saverio Palatella's line, Wholegarment 3D, for New York Fashion Week in 2008.[4]

Community engagement

In 2014, Ms. Brown founded two initiatives: The Gathering, an annual open forum for intergenerational Black female artists to advocate for greater cultural equity and acknowledgement in the dance world; and BLACK GIRL SPECTRUM (BGS), a multi-faceted community engagement initiative that seeks to amplify the cultural and creative empowerment of Black girls and women through dance, dialogue, and popular education tools.

On June 4, 2016, BGS had its inaugural symposium with the theme “Social Dance for Social Change” at Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre in Harlem, NY. [5]

Choreographed works

Honors


References

  1. ↑ TED Staff. "Meet the 2015 class of TED Fellows and Senior Fellows". TED (conference)s, LLC. Retrieved 4 Feb 2015.
  2. 1 2 Brown, Camille (2016). "Camille A. Brown". Princess Grace Foundation - USA. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  3. ↑ Brown, Camille (2013). "The Company". Camille A. Brown & Dancers. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  4. ↑ Brown, Camille (2013). "Artistic Director & Choreographer". Camille A. Brown & Dancers. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  5. ↑ Brown, Camille (2013). "Engagement". Camille A. Brown & Dancers. Retrieved 2016-11-01.

External links

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