Camille A. Brown is a prolific Black female choreographer reclaiming the cultural narrative 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 is a four-time Princess Grace Award winner, a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award winner, Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, and TED Fellow, among others. Her work has been commissioned by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Broadway theaters, and other prominent institutions.
As Artistic Director of Camille A. Brown and Dancers, 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(s) through movement and dialogue. Through the company, Ms. Brown provides outreach activities to students, young adults, and incarcerated women and men across the country.
Currently, Ms. Brown is performing her new work “ink,” the final installation of the company’s trilogy about culture, race and identity. “ink” follows the Bessie Award-winning “Mr. TOL E. RAncE” (2012) and Bessie-nominated “BLACK GIRL:Linguistic Play” (2015). Drawing on historic and contemporary rhythms, rituals, and gestural vocabulary of the African Diaspora, "ink" reclaims African-American narratives by showcasing their authenticity. The work examines the culture of Black life that is often appropriated, rewritten, or silenced. Recently, CABD was honored to partner with Google Arts & Culture on an exciting 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.
Ms. Brown is nominated for a Tony Award for Best Choreography for her work on Choir Boy. She is the Choreographer for the Emmy Award Winning special, "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert" and is the Choreographer for The Tony Award Winning Revival of "Once On This Island" on Broadway, which is set to begin it’s national tour in Fall 2019. For her work on this show, she also received Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Chita Rivera award nominations. For her choreography on "BELLA: An American Tall Tale", Ms. Brown received an AUDELCO award and Lucille Lortel nomination. Up next, Camille is the Choreographer for Roundabout Theater’s Toni Stone, Much Ado About Nothing- directed by Kenny Leon, Once The Musical, and will make her Metropolitan Opera debut as Choreographer for Porgy & Bess.
For Ms. Brown’s theater projects, her associate choreographers are Rickey Tripp (Choir Boy, Once on This Island, Jesus Christ Superstar Live, BELLA: An American Tall Tale, The Wiz, Cabin in the Sky) and Mayte Natalio (Fat Boy Rules The World, The BOX, This Ain’t No Disco), and her assistant choreographers are Catherine Foster (Once On This Island, The Wiz, Cabin in the Sky, This Ain’t No Disco), Juel D. Lane (Stagger Lee), and Mayte Natalio (Jesus Christ Superstar Live,).
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.
