CAMILLE A. BROWN & DANCERS (CABD)
Photos by Bill Hebert
"at once rigorous in research and execution, accessible, socially aware and deliciously appealing"
- Eva Yaa Asantewaa
“[Camille A. Brown] cultivates in her dancers truer versions of themselves so that even as they do her movement, they are set apart. Placed in an environment of socially conscious choreography that often allows performers freedom of theatricality, Brown’s combination of concept and execution is striking.” — DancePulp
CABD is a Bessie Award-winning, NYC-based dance company advancing the artistic vision of Camille A. Brown. Founded in 2006, the company performs locally and across the world, inviting audiences into stories and dialogues about race, culture, and identity.
CABD is known for an introspective approach to cultural themes through visceral movement and socio-political dialogues. Camille A. Brown leads her dancers through excavations of ancestral stories, encouraging each dancer to embrace their unique embodiment of the artistic vision and gestural vocabulary.
The work uses theatricality and the aesthetics of Modern, Hip hop, African, Ballet, and Tap to tell stories that connect history with contemporary culture. Strongly character-based, it expresses each topic by building from little moments, modeling a filmic sensibility. Theater, poetry, visual art, and music of all genres merge to inject each performance with energy and urgency.
The company has performed at national and international venues, including The Joyce Theater, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, The Yard, American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival, Celebrate Brooklyn, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, The Kitchen, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, World Music/CRASHarts, The Kumble Theater, Atlas Performing Arts Center, The Egg, The Kravis Center, White Bird and Belfast Festival at Queen’s (Belfast, Ireland). In 2014, CABD received the Bessie Award for Outstanding Production for “Mr. TOL E. RAncE.”
Dance Company
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“It was a treat to see Camille A. Brown & Dancers inhabit (and elaborate on) a number of different African American dance traditions with such winning ease and grace.”
— the arts fuse
“Camille A. Brown & Dancers brought the house down at the Moore Theatre. Their mixed rep show communicated powerful themes of the Black American experience - both broadly cultural and intimately autobiographical. Subtle and effective use of multimedia imagery combined with live music that was seamlessly integrated into the work. The dancers posses the highest level of technique, athleticism, and expression, and exhibited an incredibly broad movement vocabulary - working through varied movement and gestural styles and referencing countless dance forms. All of this was expressed with exhaustive generosity, big personality, and genuine empathy for the audience. This is exactly the kind of work that Seattle Theatre Group is proud to bring to our communities”
— Seattle Theatre Group
“Incredibly inventive and energetic dancers”
— Belfast Telgraph
“Sent the audience out of the theater whooping with justifiable delight.”
— Danceview Times
“Fierce and feisty cast, the dance became alive with individual personalities…just like NYC!"
— Deborah Wingert, Eye on the Arts, NY
“A tour de force ”
— Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times
“Heart, mind, soul, passion, full-out dancing and introspective solos... Add high production values and a gifted cast, who gave it their all, and you have one heck of a show.”
— The Herald Sun
“Camille A. Brown and Dancers were AMAZING in every way. Every work on the mixed repertoire program was artistically superb... I've already received a few notes from audience members who were really moved by the performance. I've also had community members rave about the social dance class the company members lead for the community. It was fun, educational and the dancers inspired us all. Thank you Camille A. Brown and Dancers!!"“The dancing is fierce, the performers’ stamina impressive, and their performance risky”
— World Dance Views