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.
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.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
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.
Camille Brown Dance Video
Camille A. Brown & Dancers
Founded in 2006, 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.
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.
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.
Choreographed works
- 2016 Jordan Brand Web Commercial
- 2016 BELLA: An American Tall Tale (Director: Kirsten Childs)
- 2015 BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play (Camille A. Brown & Dancers)
- 2015 Cabin in the Sky (musical) (Director: Ruben Santiago-Hudson)
- 2015 Stagger Lee (Director: Patricia McGregor)
- 2015 Blood Quilt (Director: Kamilah Forbes)
- 2014 The Fortress of Solitude (The Public Theater)
- 2014 GALOIS (Director: Victor Maog)
- 2014 tick, tick...BOOM! (Director: Oliver Butler)
- 2014 The Box: A Black Comedy (Director: Seth Bockley)
- 2013 MR. TOL. E RAncE (Camille A. Brown & Dancers)
- 2013 William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (Director Rebecca Taichman)
- 2012 A Streetcar Named Desire (Director Emily Mann)
- 2012 Fortress of Solitude (Director Daniel Aukin)
- 2012 HOUSE (Director Saheem Ali)
- 2012 Pins & Needles: FUREE (Director Ken Rus Schmoll)
- 2012 Bind (The Juilliard School)
- 2012 Memories (Complexions Contemporary Ballet)
- 2012 One Second Past the Future (Camille A. Brown & Dancers)
- 2012 Strum (Toni Pierce Sands and Uri Sands Dance (TU Dance))
- 2010 The Evolution of a Secured Feminine (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater)
- 2010 By Way of East (Kyle Abraham & Camille A. Brown)
- 2010 City of Rain (Camille A. Brown & Dancers)
- 2010 Been There, Done That (Camille A. Brown & Dancers)
- 2010 Our Honeymoon Is Over (Dallas Black Dance Theater)
- 2009 Those Who See Light (Philadelphia Dance Company - Philadanco!)
- 2009 Good Times, Ha! (The Youth American Grand Prix)
- 2009 The Blues On Beale (Ballet Memphis)
- 2009 The Groove To Nobody's Business (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater)
- 2008 Matchstick (Camille A. Brown & Dancers)
- 2008 Un Festin Divin (Ballet Memphis)
- 2008 Saverio Palatella's line - Wholegarment 3D (New York Fashion Week)
- 2007 The Groove To Nobody's Business (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater)
- 2007 Here We Go...Again?! (Urban Bush Women)
- 2007 The Evolution of a Secured Feminine (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater)
- 2006 More Time Than Anybody (Camille A. Brown & Dancers)
- 2006 New Second Line (Reflections Dance Company)
- 2006 Afro Blue (Reflections Dance Company)
- 2005 Nahum (Ailey II)
- 2005 Shelter of Presence (Camille A. Brown)
- 2005 More Time Than Anybody (Camille A. Brown & Dancers)
- 2004 Demetia's Serenity (Camille A. Brown)
- 2002 Awakened in Slumber (Hubbard Street 2)
Honors
- 2016 Princess Grace Statue Award
- 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 2016 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award
- 2016 Princess Grace Choreographic Mentorship Co-Commission Award
- 2016 Bessie Awards Nomination - Outstanding Performance - BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play
- 2015 TED Fellow
- 2015 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award
- 2015 USA Jay Franke & David Herro Fellow
- 2015 Lucille Lortel Awards Nomination - Outstanding Choreographer (Fortress of Solitude)
- 2014 Bessie Awards - Outstanding Performance - MR. TOL. E RAncE
- 2013 Princess Grace Works in Progress Residency
- 2013 The Founder's Award - International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD)
- 2012 Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award (Wesleyan University); The New York City College Women and Culture Award; USA Artist Award Nomination
- 2012 The New York City College Women and Culture Award
- 2011 Bessie Awards Nomination - Outstanding Performance (The Evolution of A Secured Feminine)
- 2006 Best Choreography Nomination - Black Theater Arts Alliance - The Groove To Nobody's Business - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, USA Artist Award Nomination
- 2006 Princess Grace Award - Choreography; Project Next Generation Award - Urban Bush Women
- 2006 Project Next Generation Award - Urban Bush Women
- 1997 Presidential Scholar of the Arts Award - Dance Performance; Young Artist's Award - Performance; The Helen Tamiris Award - Performance
- 1997 Young Artist's Award - Performance
- 1997 The Helen Tamiris Award - Performance
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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