“Camille A. Brown and Debbie Allen are kindred spirits, to say the least. The two award-winning dance legends have afforded countless young, Black women with invaluable opportunities, and the tools needed for success in the arts. Allen’s career in entertainment spans over five decades, establishing herself as a true pioneer in her field. In 2022, Brown became the first first Black female to be nominated for a Tony Award as both director and choreographer for a Broadway play in almost 70 years. On January 12 & 13, the iconic duo collaborated to showcase the acclaimed production, ink, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.”

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“…Brown, has herself famously refused the silos of the profession, directing the 2022 Broadway revival of Shange’s for colored girls, which was nominated for seven Tonys. Brown’s staging highlighted the cultural significance of movement in drama in a way that Shange, who also trained as a dancer, would no doubt have cherished.”

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"Like [Debbie] Allen and [Katherine] Dunham, her trajectory is defined by a wide-ranging artistic vocabulary and a sweeping ambition to tell stories across the divide of different art forms and disciplines."

“Camille has this ability to situate a culture, a history, a vibe of Blackness into her work,” Dean Outlaw said. “There's something that's always very authentic about it. Her life would probably be easier if she went with the formulaic, repeating what has been successful in her work. But what I'm always impressed by is that her work never looks the same.” Endalyn T. Outlaw, Dean, School of Dance.

"When she looks at a work, she is looking at the time period and the social class, every notion of what it should look like. And that's why she is an amazing choreographer, because that anthropological mindset of hers can switch into gear through research.” Maleek Washington, CABD Company Dancer and frequent collaborator.

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“..choreography by the prodigious Camille A. Brown...”

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“In her trilogy, Brown addresses issues of race and identity while exploring facets of the Black experience that have been appropriated, neglected or lost. “Mr. TOL E. RAncE” (2012), which looks at minstrelsy, and “Black Girl” (2015), a joyful celebration of games, dances and chants, will be presented at the Joyce Theater Oct. 25-30. And “ink” (2017), about resilience in the Black community, will be performed at the Apollo Theater on Nov. 4 and 5.”

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“Artist Jim McKeon grew up in the New York and New Jersey area but now calls Durham home. His portrait of Camille A. Brown hung in Durham’s 5 Points Gallery before making it to the Met Opera.”

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"The Apollo Theater and The Joyce Theater join forces to present Brown's extraordinary trilogy of works--created as stand-alone dances over the past decade-- that examine perceptions of Black identity. "Mr. TOL E. RAncE," an ode to African American humor, and "BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play," a homage to the rhythmic games of Black girlhood, will run first at The Joyce (Oct. 25-30). "ink," a time-traveling celebration of movements and rituals from the African diaspora, concludes the series at the Apollo (Nov. 4-5)."

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“The Apollo has long been a place of dynamic energy and forward motion; this season, the theater honors that longstanding tradition through a series of performances and programs that look to the future. From ink, performed by Camille A. Brown & Dancers…to a conversation with legendary British Vogue Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful discussing his forthcoming memoir The Visible Man, this season's programming continues to center and amplify Black artists and voices from the African diaspora.”

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“This season, a revival debuted on Broadway, helmed by the diminutive dreadlocked dynamo that is Camille A. Brown. Relying on only projections and screens for set pieces, she focused on the cast of seven Black women. The first Black woman to both choreograph and direct a Broadway show in more than 65 years, Brown made subtle changes, switching out Martha and the Vandellas for ‘I’m So Into You’ by SWV. She added Shange’s poem ‘Ego’ from nappy edges. Like Oh God, for colored girls transmits rejuvenation.”

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“When choreographer Camille A. Brown is asked to describe her kind of movement, she uses an analogy from the kitchen.

‘It’s everything. It’s modern, it’s hip-hop, it’s tap, it’s jazz, it’s ballet, it’s social dance. I call it a jambalaya. You stir it up in a pot and you put your own own seasoning on it. And then when it comes out into the bowl, it’s who you are.”’

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“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.”

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"Reflecting on her own show, she said 'Having seven Black women on a Broadway stage has a lot of meaning, and speaks to the importance of sisterhood and love and Black women holding space for one another"

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“As Brown, with her already strong background in dance and choreography (she has founded her own dance company and previously choreographed three Broadway shows), begins to move more into the world of theatre directing, the choreopoem becomes the first perfect blending of those two worlds. And the heft of this moment—the stories of Black women being guided by and told through the lens of a Black woman—is not lost on her.”

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‘“I was still trying to develop what my vision was,” says Brown, nominated for her direction and choreography of “for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf,” of where she was in 2020. “It gave me the opportunity to really have a process and create and vibe and build what the show [would be].”’

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“Its revival makes history thanks to director/choreographer Camille A. Brown. The Tony Award-nominee is the first Black woman to direct a Broadway show in 65 years and she did not take this task lightly. Brown’s version of for colored girls is minimalistic — a stage, a projected backdrop, and the performers. It allows the focus to be on the movement and the monologues, which is the production’s biggest asset. for colored girls shines due to this simplicity.”

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“Triumphant.. Brown’s staging is so attuned to the words and cadences of Shange’s choreopoem, yet so confident in its own interpretive vision, that the characters blossom into their full vibrancy…in Brown’s sublime and supple channeling, we hear Shange with exquisite clarity.”

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“Every bit as stunning are the cast members and director Brown, who has turned Shange’s work into a dance piece as well as a theater piece. Doing so in her best stage outing in a relatively short local career, she has enhanced the for colored girls value.”

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“Brown, who has become the first Black woman to serve as a director-choreographer on Broadway in 65 years, was an ideal choice for helming the revival, infusing it with modern dance and coordinating its visual and lyrical elements into a striking pattern”

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“This revival, by director and choreographer Camille A. Brown, is the most essential production of Shange’s masterwork to date.

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“Brown’s version of the production injects Shange’s already electrifying work with a distinctive and vivid energy. She has kept much of the original choreopoem (a term coined by Shange to describe this piece’s combination of poetry, narrative, dance and music) intact, but with the help of her dynamic cast, Brown, who both directs and choreographs this revival, remixes for colored girls, manipulating sound and movement to reveal even deeper layers.”

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