E59. Camille A. Brown: For Colored Girls‪.‬ The Institute of Black Imagination.

Today’s episode is with award-winning choreographer + director Camille A. Brown. 
Do you know Camille?  You know Camille. You may recognize her work, on Broadway in Once On This Island or on television choreographing Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert! Camille’s work is an ode to reclamation and staying connected to ancestral ties with her deep passion to empower Black bodies by allowing them to tell their own stories. Camille is literally history in the making. In 2021 she became the first Black artist to direct a mainstage production at the Metropolitan Opera, doing double-duty as co-director and choreographer. She repeated this dual act in the latest adaptation of Ntozke Shange’s “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 in 67 years.
In today’s episode, Camille reminds us just how vital resilience and listening to your own voice can be. She shares lessons from rejection and struggle and encourages us to be ourselves regardless of the stakes.
Things mentioned
Darius Barnes - Dancer + Choreographer
Fire Shut Up in My Bones - Camille A. Brown performed at the Met Opera
DeVore Dance Center, founded by Choreographer + Dancer Carolyn DeVore 
Ronald K. Brown/ EVIDENCE, A Dance Company
Roger Jeffrey - School of Dance - George Mason University
What to Read
Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora by Joanna Dee Das
Modern Dance, Negro Dance: Race in Motion by Susan Manning
Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance by Jennifer Dunning
What to listen to
Mo’ Better Blues - Branford Marsalis Quartet (feat. Terence Blanchard)
Rhythm Nation - Janet Jackson
Remember The Time - Michael Jackson 
Dancing In The Street - Martha and The Vandellas
So into You - SWV

Who to follow
Follow Camille A. Brown on IG @camilleabrown
Learn more about her upcoming events at Camille A. Brown

This conversation was recorded on...