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 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 has choreographed major Broadway shows such as Choir Boy, Once on This Island and Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert![2] that aired on NBC. 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.[3]
Camille A. Brown | |
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Born | December 11, 1979 |
Education | University of North Carolina School of the Arts (BFA) |
Occupation(s) | Dancer, Choreographer, Director |
Awards | Bessie Award for Outstanding Production; Tony Award Nominee; Drama Desk Award Nominee; Princess Grace Award (2006, 2013, 2016, 2016); TED fellowship[1] |
Camille A. Brown & Dancers partnered with Google Arts & Culture on a project for Black History Month exploring the story of Black history and culture through dance where "ink" was highlighted and filmed at Brooklyn Historical Society.[4]
Brown has received awards and accolades including being a five-time Princess Grace Award recipient,[5] Tony Award Nominee for best Choreography for Choir Boy,[6] TED Fellow,[7] Guggenheim Fellowship,[8] Doris Duke Performing Artist Award,[9] Obie Award,[10] Dance Magazine Award Honoree,[11] USA Jay Franke & David Herro Fellow,[12][13] and a Bessie Award. She has been featured on the cover of Dance Magazine (April 2018) and Dance Teacher Magazine (August 2015).
Brown has performed at the 2018 and 2015 TED Conference in Vancouver, Canada and given talks at both TEDxBeaconStreet and TEDx Estée Lauder Companies.
Camille A. Brown is the Choreographer for Roundabout Theater’s Toni Stone,[14] Much Ado About Nothing- directed by Kenny Leon,[15] Once The Musical, and will make her Metropolitan Opera debut as Choreographer for Porgy & Bess.[16] Brown made her directorial debut with the Broadway revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, and Fire Shut Up In My Bones for The Metropolitan Opera (co-directed with James Robinson).
Ms. Brown made her Broadway Directorial Debut for the Broadway revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf making her the first Black woman to Direct and Choreograph a Broadway show in 67 years. The production received 7 Tony Award nominations including Best Direction of a Play and Best Choreography, 3 Outer Critics Circle Award nominations including Outstanding Director of a Play and Outstanding Choreography, 3 Drama League Award nominations including Outstanding Direction of a Play, 3 Chita Rivera Award nominations including Outstanding Choreography in a Broadway Show, and 2 Drama Desk Award nominations and The New York Times proclaimed the production "Triumphant" and "a Broadway homecoming celebration that you will not want to miss."
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.[3]
Brown's company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, debuted in 2006. Reviewing their debut, The New York Times said Brown's "personal physical style, with its focused bursts of energy and frozen positions that explode into motion, colors her group works very differently."[17]
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 national and international venues, 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.[18]
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.[19]
In 2019, she was nominated for a TONY for Best Choreography.[20]
In 2014, 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.[21]
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.[22]
In 2018, 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.[23]
Award | Year | Work | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Antonyo Awards | 2020 | Best Choreography | for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf | Won | [25] |
Best Quarantine Content | Nominated | ||||
2022 | Best Direction (Broadway) | Nominated | [26] | ||
Won | |||||
Audelco Award | 2017 | Best Choreography | Bella: An American Tall Tale | Won | [27] |
2019 | Much Ado About Nothing | Won | [28] | ||
Toni Stone | Nominated | ||||
Bessie Awards | 2011 | The Evolution of A Secured Feminine | Outstanding Performance | Nominated | [29] |
2014 | Mr. Tolerance | Won | [30] | ||
2016 | BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play | Nominated | [31] | ||
2022 | Fire Shut Up in My Bones | Nominated | [32] | ||
Black Theatre Alliance Awards | 2006 | The Groove To Nobody’s Business | Best Choreography | Nominated | |
Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography | 2018 | Outstanding Choreographer | Once On This Island | Nominated | [33] |
2022 | Outstanding Choreography in a Broadway Show | for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf | Nominated | [34] | |
Callaway Award | 2020 | SDCF Award | Much Ado About Nothing | Finalist | [35] |
Doris Duke Performing Artist Award | 2015 | Herself | Honor | Won | |
Drama Desk Award | 2018 | Outstanding Choreography | Once On This Island | Nominated | [36] |
2019 | Choir Boy | Nominated | [37] | ||
2020 | for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf | Nominated | [38] | ||
Drama League Award | 2022 | Outstanding Direction of a Play | for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf | Nominated | [39] |
2024 | Outstanding Production of a Musical | Hell's Kitchen | Pending | [40][41] | |
International Association of Blacks in Dance | 2013 | Herself | The Founder’s Award | Won | |
Lucille Lortel Awards | 2015 | Outstanding Choreographer | Fortress of Solitude | Nominated | |
2018 | Bella: An American Tall Tale | Nominated | [42] | ||
2020 | Toni Stone | Nominated | [43] | ||
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf | Nominated | ||||
2024 | Hell's Kitchen | Pending | [44] | ||
Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Awards | 2012 | Herself | College Women and Culture Award | Won | |
Obie Award | 2020 | Sustained Excellence in Choreography | Herself | Won | [45] |
Outer Critics Circle Award | 2018 | Outstanding Choreographer | Once On This Island | Nominated | [46] |
2022 | for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf | Nominated | [47] | ||
Outstanding Director of a Play | Nominated | ||||
Princess Grace Awards | 2006 | Urban Bush Women | Next Generation Award - Choreography | Won | |
2016 | Choreographic Mentorship Co-Commission Award | Herself | Won | ||
Statue Award | Won | ||||
Tony Award | 2019 | Best Choreography | Choir Boy | Nominated | [48] |
2022 | Best Direction of a Play | for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf | Nominated | [49] | |
Best Choreography | Nominated |
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