I AM

World Premiere: Jacob’s Pillow, July 31-August 4, 2024
New York Times Critic’s Pick

Alain '“Hurrikane” Lauture in ‘I AM” by Whitney Browne

Continuing her explorations of Black Joy, director and choreographer Camille A. Brown creates a new work for her Company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers that launches new queries into the possibilities of imagination—and boldly investigates the future.

While Brown has often disrupted our understanding of the past, in this new work, she imagines a creative space for cultural liberation—conjuring new ways of being in this world. Inspired by the “I AM” episode of the HBO series, Lovecraft Country this new work picks up where ink left off by blasting us into the universe where anything is possible and features various dance genres of the African Diaspora.

Original music is by Deah Love Harriott, Jaylen Petinuad, Juliette Jones, Martine Mauro-Wade, Frédérique Gnaman, Monique Brooks Roberts, and Zane Mark, projection design by Aaron Rhyne, set and lights by David Arsenault, sound design by Justin Ellington, and costumes by Ashley Soliman.

PRESS

“These days, many people know Camille A. Brown from the worlds of theater and opera, where she has become a frequent collaborator on high-profile projects. (She choreographed two hit shows now on Broadway, “Gypsy” and “Hell’s Kitchen.”) But it’s her work with her company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, that brings us closest to her essence as an artist, showing us who she is, what moves her.

That has never been more clearly or piercingly expressed than in her latest dance, “I AM,” which had its New York City premiere at the Joyce Theater on Wednesday… The joy of “I AM” is the joy of being entirely yourself, entirely present in the moment. We are here, Brown and the performers seem to say — and we’ll keep being here, together, dancing into the future.”
—The New York Times

“Set to live music, Brown’s choreography seamlessly unites various styles of the African diaspora, fusing and contrasting the intricate footwork and curving shapes of Afro-Caribbean dance, the irresistible rhythms of step dancing and body percussion, and the fluidity and daring of hip hop and street dance. All of it is infused with passion and persistence.”
— Times Union

“The dancers, strong, flexible, and clean in their moves, seem to exult in their physical prowess, and in the presence of each other, as if each one is challenging each other to go further, dance faster, jump higher, be their best selves. They have community in each other, and they radiate joy….”
— Splash Magazines

"Camille A. Brown has enjoyed so many successes in such big arenas that, in a highlight such as this, one can only tick them off: for the Alicia Keys jukebox-cum-memoir musical Hell’s Kitchen, a Tony nomination for best choreographer… for the glorious revival of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, Tony nominations for best choreography and best direction; for Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the breaking of the Met’s persistent color barrier, as its first Black director. I could go on. It’s surprising and heartening, then, that Brown hasn’t abandoned the concert stage or her ensemble. Expect her usual ebullient gestural language, which speaks for the community in the individual and reveals that individual to the community and to us. That is Brown’s superpower"
—Apollinaire Scherr, Air Mail News

"Brown observed, 'If you are trying to create a world of community on stage, that has to happen before you get on stage,' adding of 'I AM,' 'you see, a community of individuals functioning together.'”
—The Boston Globe

“redefines the boundaries of contemporary dance while emphasizing Black joy and cultural liberation.”
—The Daily Princetonian

“From the moment the three musicians walked to their downstage positions and the dancers took to the stage, jubilant hollers, whoops and whistles echoed throughout the Ahmanson hall as the dynamic performance dazzled us all.”
-Arts Beat LA

"Combining energetic and breathtaking movement with live music, Brown’s powerful physical storytelling produced a celebration of cultural identity, joy and resilience."
-Arts Beat LA

“Weaving together so many dance idioms, such as the rhythms and textures of Afro‑Caribbean, step, street dance, hip hop, and body percussion – even voguing – brought a richness to this celebration of black cultures.”
-Arts Beat LA

"Historically, Black art and Black joy have been excluded from these venues of so-called high art, and it felt like Brown was seeking to normalize this type of audience participation as a way of reclaiming the space in the image of Black styles rather than by assimilating."
- LA Dance Chronicle

"The overall work was a fusion of vast styles, but in some sections, dancers would lean more into a style that they specialized in, like breaking, vogue, or step."
-LA Dance Chronicle

“The music was performed live by Kareem Matcham, Juliette Jones, and Martine Mauro-Wade, utilizing keyboard, violin, and percussion. The choice for more classical instrumentation offered interesting contrast with the musical influences and recognizable riffs. Their incredible performance could have been a standalone concert.”
- LA Dance, Chronicle