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 August 20th, 2022.

Host Dario Calmese

Producer: Coniqua Johnson

Visual Art Direction and Designs:

River Wildmen, Adam Selah, Will Domingue

Director of Digital Content: Vicky Garcia

Bookings: K.T. Thompson

Original Music composed by Adam Radice

Audio Edited by Adam Radice

Visit us at blackimagination.com

Watch other episodes on YouTube at The Institute of Black Imagination.