After a profitable world premiere at Jacob’s Pillow final summer season, Camille A. Brown & Dancers introduced their newest work, I AM, to L.A.’s Music Heart for 3 nights this previous weekend. It’s a part of their mini-tour with stops at McCarter Theatre Heart in Princeton, New Jersey (Sept. 26), adopted by dates in Boston (Nov. 14-15) after which Seattle (March 7, 2026).
The brand new present makes use of her earlier present, ink, as a jumping-off level. “In that one, I used to be speaking concerning the concept of Black individuals being superheroes, as a result of we maintain rising,” Brown tells Observer. “The concept of perseverance and the celebration of onward motion, no matter obstacles; I needed to debate what it’s like to maneuver by the long run with pleasure. I needed this to be an expertise the place we’re beginning at pleasure from the highest, then the place will we go? I’ve fifty minutes’ price of the place we go. What does it imply to begin with pleasure, and what does that appear to be with their particular person our bodies, and as a group, introduced collectively?”
The piece attracts its title and inspiration from episode 7 of the HBO collection Lovecraft Nation, wherein the character Hippolyta Freeman (performed by Aunjanue Ellis) strikes by time and area, visiting totally different eras and drawing private perception, pleasure and power by her expertise.
“I believed that was so highly effective and spoke to me, personally, as a Black girl, and what I’ve to navigate on the planet,” says Brown. “I needed us to really feel we now have pushed out of those 4 partitions, the black, the area, the universe. The solo, which I created for myself, depicts the story, and my interpretation of Hippolyta’s journey and my journey as an artist. Every part is one other type of spirit and pleasure and love and group. And it’s proven by other ways, by brotherhood, by sisterhood, by funk and R&B, the ballroom, the church, hip-hop, African dance, all over the place we are able to probably go.”
Brown gained’t be dancing the solo on this iteration of the present. That honor falls to Courtney Ross, an unbiased contractor with the corporate since 2019. “Whereas the piece is created on her and debuted by her, the story is human sufficient to be transferred into what I can convey to the desk,” says Ross about taking up the position from Brown. “Inside the solo, there’s a sense of reclamation, which is one thing Hippolyta goes by in her journey. So, there are moments the place I’m reaching for a better place. It’s leaning an increasing number of into my pleasure, and there’s the factor that turns into the power. Camille went to Ailey, the place you’re closely educated in ballet, trendy method and jazz. We now have to convey all of these technical parts into the area.”
Initially from Jamaica, Queens, Brown studied at The Ailey Faculty on a scholarship, whereas additionally learning at Fiorello H. LaGuardia Excessive Faculty of Music & Artwork and the Performing Arts. Her early profession was spent at Ronald Ok. Brown’s Proof, A Dance Firm, and she or he was a visitor artist on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater earlier than founding Camille A. Brown & Dancers in 2006.
Her work on playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy led to her first Tony nomination for Finest Choreography. Her directorial debut, for coloured ladies who’ve thought of suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, garnered two extra, for Finest Choreography and Finest Path. Her fourth Tony nomination got here for Alicia Keys’ jukebox musical Hell’s Kitchen, adopted by one other final yr for Gypsy, starring Audra McDonald. On the Met, she labored on Porgy and Bess in addition to Terence Blanchard’s Fireplace Shut Up in My Bones.
“Within the reveals that I’ve labored with, everybody has to do all the things,” says Brown. “If it’s not a dance focus position, possibly they don’t have as a lot to hold as a educated dancer within the present. In Hell’s Kitchen, the dancers needed to be dancers within the area. With Gypsy, dancers needed to sing, dance and act. So, it is dependent upon the necessities of the present.”
Ross confirms that working with Brown requires multi-disciplined coaching. “We’re very nicely rehearsed. When you get into the choreography, Camille may be very detailed. With the solo, I’ve a bit extra freedom as a result of the solo is about freedom. So, I’ve company. I like this work, I AM, my household loves the work and the group loves this work. I’m excited to proceed sharing and listening to the response.”
In current months, Black voices have been focused by government-backed anti-DEI measures in arts and academic establishments. “If I have been to isolate and have a look at the information, it may be quite a bit,” Ross says. “It’s an intentional option to be a Black girl from the African diaspora and say, ‘I’m going to step on stage and inform these very loud and proud tales.’”
By persevering with to do what she does, Brown is dedicated to talking reality to energy. “It’s scary; I don’t need to negate the concern side of it, in any respect. Hopefully, it conjures up us all to have conviction,” she says of the disaster. “If we begin censoring ourselves and begin doing these items to get a grant or a efficiency, then is it actually our artwork that we’re making, or does it flip into one thing else? To ensure that me to proceed on this world, I have to concentrate on my work.”
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