Camille A. Brown

Camille A. Brown is a prolific Black female choreographer, who is reclaiming the cultural narratives of African American identity. Her bold work taps into both ancestral stories and contemporary culture to capture a range of deeply personal experiences. Ms. Brown has received numerous honors including an Obie Award, a Guggenheim Award, Bessie Award, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award, a Doris Duke Artist Award, a United States Artists Award, 2 Audelco Awards, 5 Princess Grace Awards, and a New York City Center Award. She has received a Tony nomination, 3 Drama Desk, and 3 Lortel nominations for her work in Theater. She is a TED fellow and the recipient of a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, among others.  Camille has been commissioned by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women, Complexions, Ballet Memphis, Hubbard Street II, Broadway theaters, the Metropolitan Opera and other prominent institutions.

Camille A. Brown
Born(1979-12-11)December 11, 1979
EducationFiorello H. LaGuardia High School
The Ailey School
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina School of the Arts
OccupationDancer, Choreographer, Director
AwardsBessie Award for Outstanding Production;
Tony Award Nominee;
Drama Desk Award Nominee;
Princess Grace Award (2006, 2013, 2016, 2016);
TED fellowship[1]

As Artistic Director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers (CABD), Ms. Brown strives to instill curiosity and reflection in diverse audiences through her emotionally raw and thought-provoking work. Her driving passion is to empower Black bodies to tell their story using their own language through movement and dialogue. Through the company, Ms. Brown provides outreach activities to students, young adults, and men and women across the country.

Her trilogy on race culture and identity has won accolades across the country:  Mr. TOL E. RAncE  (2012) was honored with a Bessie Award and BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play was Bessie-nominated. ink (2017), the final installation of the trilogy, premiered at The Kennedy Center to critical acclaim; “What unfolds is a parade of the beautiful diverse spectrum that is blackness...at once performing yet simply being.”-Theresa Ruth Howard. Following ink’s  NYC premiere in 2019,  Ms. Brown and the Company were invited to partner with Google Arts & Culture to film a site-specific performance of ink at the Brooklyn Historical Society for Black History Month. ink’ s finale  was also performed at the 2019 Bessie Awards and Broadcast on WLIW. Ms. Brown’s City of Rain, originally created on CABD in 2010, entered the repertory of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in December 2019.

Broadway and Off-Broadway theater & television credits include: Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Tony Award-Winning Broadway revival, Once On This Island (Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and Chita Rivera Nominations), Toni Stone (Drama Desk, Lortel nominee), Emmy Award- Winning Jesus Christ Superstar Live on NBC, Broadway’s A Streetcar Named Desire, The Fortress of Solitude (Lortel Nomination), BELLA: An American Tall Tale (Lortel, Audelco nominee), for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (Drama Desk, Lortel nominations, Antonyo award) Much Ado About Nothing (Audelco winner, SDCF finalist) for Shakespeare in the Park, among others.

Ms. Brown is the choreographer of The Metropolitan Opera’s Porgy & Bess. She will make her feature film debut in the soon-to-be-released Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: directed by George C. Wolfe (Netflix). Brown will make her directorial debut with Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Westport Country Playhouse in July 2021.

Ms. Brown has been featured on the cover of Dance Teacher Magazine (2016) and Dance Magazine (2018). She has performed at the 2015 and 2018 TED Conferences in Vancouver, Canada and given talks at both TEDxBeaconStreet and TEDx Estée Lauder Companies. Ms. Brown’s TED-Ed talk, “A Visual History of Social Dance in 25 Moves” was chosen as one of the most notable talks of 2016 by TED Curator, Chris Anderson, and has over 15 million views on Facebook and counting.  Most recently,  Ms. Brown was featured on PBS' Articulate, a nationally syndicated PBS documentary series on the arts.

Ms. Brown is a graduate of the LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts and received a B.F.A. from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

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

Camille A. Brown & Dancers has performed works such as ink, Bessie Award winning Mr. TOL E. RAncE, Bessie Award nominated BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, 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 Kennedy Center, NYU Abu Dhabi, 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 Choir Boy, Once On This Island, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!, NIKE/Air Jordan, BELLA: An American Tall Tale (Director: Kirsten Childs), Cabin in the Sky (musical) (Director: Ruben Santiago-Hudson), and Broadway'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]

In 2019 she was nominated for a TONY for Best Choreography.[5]

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 community engagement initiative.

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.[6]

In 2018, Ms. Brown created a community engagement platform, Every Body Move (EBM), to serve as the umbrella for all initiatives that bring the artistic rigor of Camille A. Brown & Dancers’ beyond the stage and into communities. Every Body Move works to cultivate the creative capacity of its participants through workshops, summer intensives, artistic encounters, educational experiences, public actions, and celebrations for people of diverse abilities, identities, and ages. The initiative includes: Black Girl Spectrum (BGS); Black Men Moving (BMM); The Gathering; Creative Action Lab; Every Body Move Celebration. [7]

Choreographed Works
  • 2019 for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf ( The Public Theater, Director: Leah C. Gardiner)
  • 2019 Porgy & Bess (The Metropolitan Opera, Director: James Robinson)
  • 2019 Once (Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Director: J. Michael Zygo)
  • 2019 Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park, Director: Kenny Leon)
  • 2019 Toni Stone (Roundabout Theatre, Director: Pam MacKinnon)
  • 2019 Choir Boy, Broadway
  • 2018 Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert! on NBC
  • 2017 Once On This Island Revival
  • 2017 ink (Camille A. Brown & Dancers)
  • 2016 NIKE/Air Jordan Web Commercial with Russell Westbrook
  • 2016 BELLA: An American Tall Tale (Director: Robert O'Hara)
  • 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
  • 2020 Obie Award Winner for Sustained Excellence in Choreography (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, Toni Stone, Much Ado About Nothing)
  • 2020 Antonyo Award Winner for Best Choreography (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
  • 2020 Antonyo Award Nominee for Best Quarantine Content (Social Dance for Social Distance)
  • 2020 Drama Desk Award Nominee for Outstanding Choreography (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
  • 2020 Lucille Lortel Award Nominee for Outstanding Choreographer (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
  • 2020 Lucille Lortel Award Nominee for Outstanding Choreographer (Toni Stone)
  • 2019 SDCF Callaway Award Finalist (Much Ado About Nothing)
  • 2019 Audelco Award Winner for Choreography (Much Ado About Nothing)
  • 2019 Audelco Award Nominee for Choreography (Toni Stone)
  • 2019 Audelco Award Nominee for Choreography (Much Ado About Nothing)
  • 2019 Choreography Mentorship Co-Commission (CMCC) Award (Princess Grace Award)
  • 2019 Tony Award Nominee for Best Choreography for Choir Boy
  • 2019 Drama Desk Award Nominee for Outstanding Choreography for Choir Boy
  • 2019 Alumni Artpreneur of the Year Award -University of North Carolina School of the Arts
  • 2019 Arison Alumni Award (National YoungArts Foundation)
  • 2018 Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography Nomination - Outstanding Choreographer (Once On This Island)
  • 2018 Drama Desk LaDuca Award Nomination - Outstanding Choreographer (Once On This Island)
  • 2018 Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination - Outstanding Choreographer (BELLA: An American Tall Tale)
  • 2018 Lucille Lortel Awards Nomination - Outstanding Choreographer (BELLA: An American Tall Tale)
  • 2018 Cover Girl of Dance Magazine (April)
  • 2017 Black Woman Scholar Warrior Award (Montclair State University)
  • 2017 Audelco Award - Best Choreography (BELLA: An American Tall Tale)
  • 2017 Irma P. Hall Black Theater Nomination (BELLA: An American Tall Tale)
  • 2017 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow
  • 2016 Princess Grace Foundation-USA 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

References
  1. TED Staff. "Meet the 2015 class of TED Fellows and Senior Fellows". TED (conference)s, LLC. Retrieved 4 Feb 2015.
  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. Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  4. Brown, Camille (2013). "Artistic Director & Choreographer". Camille A. Brown & Dancers. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  5. Forbes - First Black Woman Choreographer Nominated for a Tony in over two decades: Camille Brown, Brittany Chambers June 03, 2019
  6. Brown, Camille (2013). "Engagement". Camille A. Brown & Dancers. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  7. Brown, Camille (2018). "Every Body Move". Camille A. Brown & Dancers. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
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