CAMILLE A. BROWN
Photo by Josefina Santos
Camille A. Brown is a prolific Black choreographer whose work taps into both ancestral and contemporary stories to capture a range of deeply personal experiences and cultural narratives of African American identity. Through the medium of dance, she is successfully balancing careers in Stage, TV, and Film.
As artistic director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers, she strives to instill curiosity and reflection in diverse audiences through her emotionally raw and thought-provoking work. Her trilogy on race culture and identity has won accolades: “Mr. TOL E. RAncE” (2012) was honored with a Bessie Award; “BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play” (2015) was Bessie-nominated; and “ink” (2017) premiered at The Kennedy Center to critical acclaim.
Most recently, 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 since Katherine Dunham in 1955. The production received seven Tony Award nominations including Best Direction of a Play and Best Choreography. The New York Times proclaimed the production "triumphant."
Other Broadway credits include: Choir Boy (Tony and Drama Desk nominations for Best Choreography); Tony award winning Once on This Island (Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and Lortel nominations); A Streetcar Named Desire. Off-Broadway: Toni Stone (Lortel and Audelco nominations), Much Ado About Nothing (Audelco), This Ain’t No Disco, Bella: An American Tale (Audelco), and Fortress of Solitude (Lortel nomination). At NY City Center Encores!: Cabin in The Sky and Tick Tick…Boom!
At The Metropolitan Opera, she became the first Black artist to direct a mainstage production, sharing directorial duties with James Robinson on Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up In My Bones” (2021), which she also choreographed (Bessie Nomination for Outstanding Choreographer). She had choreographed “Porgy & Bess” two years earlier. Most recently, she choreographed Terence Blanchard’s “Champion,” a new opera that premiered April, 2023.
Brown’s film and TV work includes Harlem (2022) (Amazon Prime), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Netflix); Emmy award winning Jesus Christ Superstar Live (NBC); New Year’s Eve in Rockefeller Center (NBC), Google Arts & Culture (ink).
Brown has been featured on the cover of Dance Magazine (2018) and Dance Teacher magazine (2016), on PBS' “Articulate,” a nationally syndicated documentary series on the art, and in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
Brown has received numerous awards including ISPA’s 2021 Distinguished Artist, 2020 Dance Magazine Award, Guggenheim, Doris Duke Artist, Dance Magazine, United States Artists, Audelco, Princess Grace Statue Award, Jacob’s Pillow Award, and New York City Center, USA Jay Franke & David Herro Fellow, TED fellow, Kennedy Center’s Next 50. Other awards include a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship 2017 and the Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Choreography in 2020.
A 2020 Emerson Collective Fellow, Brown is building a “Social Dance for Social Change” virtual school to provide opportunities for dance education, cultural engagement, and mentorship during the pandemic and beyond.
Camille began her training at Bernice Johnson Culture Schools for the Arts and Carolyn Devore Dance Studios. A graduate of the LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, Brown received a B.F.A. in 2001 from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she studied contemporary dance. She began her professional career as a dancer with Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, a dance company, from 2001-2007. Brown is the choreographer for Terence Blanchard’s first opera, Champion, this season at The Metropolitan Opera (2023), and Soul Train the Musical, directed by Kamilah Forbes and written by Dominique Morrisseau (American Conservatory Theater- Summer, 2023). She served as the Commencement Speaker for both The University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Drew University's College of Liberal Arts and was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from UNCSA and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Drew.
HONORS
2024 Lucille Lortel Award Nominee for Outstanding Choreographer (Hell’s Kitchen)
2024 Dance Lab New York Honoree
2023 Bessie Award Nominee for Outstanding Revival (Mr. TOL E. RAncE)
2023 Commencement Speaker and Honorary Doctorate Recipient from Drew University
2023 Commencement Speaker and Honorary Doctorate Recipient from University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
2023 Broadway Black Award for Best Direction of a Play on Broadway (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
2022 Bessie Award Nominee for Outstanding Choreographer/Creator (Fire Shut Up in My Bones)
2022 Broadway Black Award Nominee for Best Direction (Broadway) (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
2022 Tony Award Nominee for Best Direction of a Play (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
2022 Tony Award Nominee for Best Choreography (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
2022 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominee for Outstanding Director of a Play (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
2022 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominee for Outstanding Choreography (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
2022 Drama League Award Nominee for Outstanding Direction of a Play (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
2022 Chita Rivera Award Nominee for Outstanding Choreography in a Broadway Show (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
2022 Kennedy Center Next 50
2021 ISPA Distinguished Artist Award
2020 Emerson Collective Fellow
2020 Dance Magazine Award Honoree
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 Broadway Black Award Winner for Best Choreography (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf)
2020 Broadway Black 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 (formerly the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards) "Outstanding Choreographer" Award Nominee (Once On This Island)
2018 Drama Desk LaDuca "Outstanding Choreographer" Award Nominee (Once On This Island)
2018 Outer Critics Circle "Outstanding Choreographer" Award Nominee (BELLA: An American Tall Tale)
2018 Lucille Lortel "Outstanding Choreographer" Award Nominee (BELLA: An American Tall Tale)
2018 Cover Girl of Dance Magazine (April)
2017 Black Woman Scholar Warrior Award (Montclair State University)
2017 Audelco Award for 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 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 the year by TED Curator Chris Anderson; the video has over 15 million views on Facebook
2016 Statue Award (Princess Grace Award)
2016 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award
2016 Guggenheim Fellow
2016 Bessie nomination for “Outstanding Production” (BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play)
2016 Choreographic Mentorship Co-Commission Award (Princess Grace Award)
2015 Cover Girl of Dance Teacher Magazine (August)
2015 USA Jay Franke & David Herro Fellow
2015 TED Fellow
2015 Doris Duke Artist Award recipient
2015 Lucille Lortel “Outstanding Choreographer” Award Nominee (Fortress of Solitude)
2015 NEFA’s National Dance Project: Production Grant
2015 MAP Fund Grantee
2015 Engaging Dance Audiences Grant
2014 Joyce Award with DANCECleveland
2014 Jerome Foundation 50th Anniversary Grant
2014 New York City Center Choreography Fellow
2014 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production for the work Mr. TOL E. RAncE (Camille A. Brown & Dancers)
2013 International Association of Blacks in Dance Founders Award
2013 Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award (Wesleyan University)
2013 Works in Progress Residency Award (Princess Grace Award)
2012 City College of New York Women & Culture Award
2006 Choreography Award (Princess Grace Award)
COMMISSIONED CHOREOGRAPHY
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Philadanco!
Complexions
Urban Bush Women
Ailey II
Ballet Memphis
Hubbard Street II
THEATER & FILM CREDITS
Click here to see descriptions of Camille’s theater projects.
Hell’s Kitchen (The Public Theater)
Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical (American Conservatory Theater)
Hamlet (The Public Theater)
Champion (The Metropolitan Opera)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (Broadway, The Booth Theatre
Harlem (Amazon Prime Video)
Toni Stone (Arena Stage)
Fire Shut Up in My Bones (The Metropolitan Opera)
Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous (Spotlight On Plays)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (The Public Theater)
Porgy and Bess (The Metropolitan Opera)
Once (Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera)
Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park)
Toni Stone (Roundabout Theatre)
Choir Boy (Broadway)
Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (NBC)
Once on The Island (Broadway)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Broadway)
Fortress of Solitude (The Public Theater)
Stagger Lee (DTC)
BELLA: An American Tall Tale (DTC, Playwrights Horizons)
Katori Hall’s BLOOD QUILT (Arena Stage)
Cabin in the Sky (NY City Center Encores!)
Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick…BOOM! starring Lin-Manuel Miranda (NY City Center Encores! Off-Center)
Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (Regional)
Marcus Gardley’s The BOX: A Black Comedy
OTHER EXPERIENCE
Photo by Ryan Lash
In 2016, 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 the year by TED Curator Chris Anderson; the video has over 15 million views on Facebook
Co-Directed The Social Dances: Jazz to Hip-Hop Program with Moncell Durden at The Jacob’s Pillow School
Given talks at both TEDxBeaconStreet and TEDx Estée Lauder
In 2016, Ms. Brown performed as a guest artist in the world premiere of "And Still You Must Swing" with tap artists Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Derick K. Grant, and Jason Samuels Smith at Jacob’s Pillow
In 2015, Ms. Brown performed at the TED Conference in Vancouver
In 2011, Ms. Brown was a guest artist with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
In 2008, Ms. Brown was a guest artist with Rennie Harris’ Puremovement
From 2001-2007, Ms. Brown was a member of Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, A Dance Company
ABOUT
Camille A. Brown >
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Photo by Whitney Browne
INTERESTED IN BOOKING CAMILLE?
Speaking Inquiries
Booking And Fee Information
Margaret Selby, Selby/Artists MGMT
info@selbyartistsmgmt.com
(212) 382-3260 (Office)
(212) 221-3050 (Fax)
www.selbyartistsmgmt.com
Commercial Choreography Inquires
Michael Moore, Michael Moore Agency
michael@michaelmooreagency.com
(212) 221-0400 (Office)
www.michaelmooreagency.com
“…choreography by the prodigious Camille A. Brown…”
-VOGUE Magazine
“Brown spent years honing her idiosyncratic style, which includes elements of African, ballet, modern and theater. The way she weaves in her wealth of knowledge of countless social dance forms and traditions makes her dances vividly distinct. Her 2016 Ted Talk, which now has 1.5 million views, encapsulates her deep understanding of the lineage of Black social dance and her brilliance of packing a number of influences in a matter of a few moves.”
-All Arts
“this petite dancer mixed athleticism and sensuousness into an amazing personal brew. She was WOMAN, the un-Kardashian, the un-Helen Gurley Brown.”
— The Berkshire Eagle
“Ms. Brown is an assured performer…magisterial.”
— The New York Times
“Watching Camille A. Brown dance in person for the first time is like observing a hummingbird in nature for the first time… Brown is a storyteller, with many tales to tell”
— The Boston Globe
“Camille A. Brown is a student of history and a raconteur. Her dances tell stories of historical moments and of ordinary lives in a particular place in time…the effect is both dynamic and eloquent”
— The Winsted Journal
“a pixie-ish powerhouse with the determined air of a high priestess”
- The San Fransisco Chronicle
“Brown herself is a vibrant performer—believable… She’s a mistress of the melting gesture that’s betrayed by a storm of little staccato ones.”
— The Village Voice
“Gutsy. Wild. Smart. Original…Camille [A.] Brown has expert comic timing that’s Broadway-worthy.”
— Wendy Perron
“impressive is the message of empowerment that streams from the stage with every work the petite Camille A. Brown puts out. Brown takes the high ground and claims it for pride, spirit, and the sheer git to survive.”
— The Berkshire Eagle
“Brown creates intriguing, dense patterns with very physical movement that seems to define the comfortable limits of what today’s performers should be capable of doing. And which they clearly relish doing.”
— Sunday Arts/THIRTEEN
“Brown’s combination of dance styles, precision and fluidity, and remarkable musicality were enthralling.”
— Pittsbrugh Tribune
“…her personal physical style, with all its focused bursts of energy and frozen positions that explode into motion, colors her group works…she uses this stop-and-go dynamic to continuously change the configurations of synchronized group movement to sophisticated effect.”
— The New York Times
“Camille A. Brown…grabbed the audience from the moment she stepped onto the stage…One could only describe her as simply breathtaking.”
— Pittsburgh Dance Examiner
“When you spend the evening with Camille A. Brown, you leave feeling that you are one of her closest friends… She hides no idiosyncrasies, but rather delves into her uniqueness to find its source.”
— Dance Pulp
“Camille opens the eyes and ears of the audience as she vividly reads us a story about her grandmother through dance. Bravo Camille for a beautiful performance and for waking up the spirit of your grandmother on stage.”
— iDANZ