I AM - Camille A. Brown & Dancers

A love letter to Black joy expressed through the body and written in the diasporic languages of West African, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Social, Street, and Hip-Hop dance.

Choreographer and director Camille A. Brown returns to The Arts Center with a work that celebrates and recontextualizes African American culture—its profundity, complexity, and brilliance—while paying homage to its diasporic DNA in her newest piece: I AM. In I AM, Brown choreographs the spectrum of humanity, transporting audiences to the playground, the street, “da club,” and the church, where dancers physicalize the experience of “speaking in tongues.”

I AM is a music concert that nixes the headliner and places its powerhouse dancers in the spotlight. The score blends original compositions with reinterpreted R&B hits from the ‘90s by artists like Lil’ Kim, Busta Rhymes, Method Man, and Mary J. Blige. These tracks are transformed for classical violin and juxtaposed with the percussion of drums and piano, creating a soundscape that is both evocative and hauntingly reverent. The audience is invited into a nostalgic game of “name that tune,” while the interpretations subvert musical hierarchies and challenge the prescribed rules of “high art.” This cognitive dissonance engages listeners on multiple levels. Brown’s nods to cultural traditions like: HBCU drumlines and majorettes, the smooth moves of R&B singing groups like Gladys Knight and the Pips or TLC, and iconic music videos like Busta’s “Keep Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See” is a sweet homage Black creative expression.

Audience members will want to stomp, snap, and sing along—and they should! In the Africanist tradition of “call and response,” I AM fosters an active, dynamic conversation between the dancers, musicians, and the audience. I AM demands that each performer bring forth their fullest, most authentic expression of self—their power, strength, vulnerability, or identity. It celebrates unison without uniformity, standing together in individuality and becoming stronger in the process. I AM holds a mirror to the culture, urging it to recognize its beauty. Most importantly, it exercises the power of self-definition, determination, and self-possession.

This new work acts as the next installment after ink (2017), which was presented at The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi in 2019.

Camille A. Brown & Dancers (CABD)

Camille A. Brown & Dancers (CABD) is a Bessie Award-winning, NYC-based dance company that soars through history and contemporary stories like a whirlwind. Recognized for blending modern, hip-hop, African, tap, and social dance to forge riveting works that ripple with energy, urgency, and powerful theatricality, CABD reclaims Black narratives through historically informed,  thought-provoking repertory on race, culture, and identity.

Founded in 2006, the Company is a collective of dancers, musicians, and collaborators who perform highly theatrical works - bridging Camille A. Brown’s work in theater, concert dance, and opera. It is here where everything meets. CABD has toured its repertory with live music to cities in the US, including The Kennedy Center, Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, The Apollo Theater, The Joyce Theater, ASU/Gammage, The Ahmanson Center, Juniata College, The Yard, The Egg, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, among others. Internationally, The Company has performed for the Belfast Dance Festival and The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi. CABD performs for 20,000+ people, and serves 5,000+ engagement participants annually through free community programs that elevate African diaspora aesthetics. In May 2020, CABD launched its Social Dance for Social Change virtual school, which offered free online artist/scholar lectures by notable speakers and social dance classes, led by Company dancers, throughout the pandemic. The virtual school received a nomination from Broadway Black for Best Quarantine Content, serving 98,000 participants worldwide. The Company’s trilogy, which includes the Bessie-winning Mr. TOL E. RAncE (2012), Bessie-nominated BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play (2015), and the highly acclaimed ink (2017), was performed at The Apollo and The Joyce Theater in New York City, in a historic two-week celebration, and at Duke University.

Most recently, the Company’s latest work, I AM, received its world premiere at Jacob’s Pillow in 2024 and New York premiere at The Joyce Theater in 2025. The show was a NY Times Critic’s pick and received Bessie nominations for Best Choreography and Best Sound Design.

Camille A. Brown (Artistic Director & Choreographer)

Camille A. Brown is a prolific Black female director and choreographer whose work taps into both ancestral and contemporary stories to capture a range of deeply personal experiences and cultural narratives of African American identity. Through the medium of dance, she is successfully balancing careers in Stage, TV, and Film. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of her company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers (CABD). Her trilogy on race, culture, and identity has won accolades: Mr. TOL E. RAncE (2012) was honored with a Bessie Award in 2014, and a 2003 Bessie Award nomination for Outstanding Revival; BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play (2015) was Bessie-nominated; and ink (2017) premiered at The Kennedy Center, was performed at The Apollo Theater in 2022, and has received critical acclaim. She received a Bessie Award nomination for her latest work, I AM (2024), in 2025. In 2026, CABD will celebrate its 20th anniversary!

Founded in 2014 with its flagship initiative Black Girl Spectrum, CABD’s community engagement platform, EVERY BODY MOVE (EBM), uses social dance to inspire collective action and drive social change. Extending Camille A. Brown & Dancers’ artistic vision beyond the stage, EBM fosters creativity through workshops, intensives, educational experiences, public events, and celebrations for people of all abilities. Originally launched in NYC public schools, EBM now offers intergenerational programs nationwide.

In 2022, she made her Broadway directorial debut for the Broadway revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, making her the first Black woman to direct and choreograph a Broadway play since Katherine Dunham in 1955. The production received seven Tony Award nominations including Best Direction of a Play and Best Choreography for Brown. The show also received a nomination for Best Revival. The New York Times proclaimed the production “triumphant.” Brown received a 2022 Drama League Award Nomination for Best Direction and the show received a nomination for Outstanding Revival of a Play. Brown also received the 2022 Broadway Black Award for Best Direction. Within the same season, Brown became the first Black artist at The Metropolitan Opera to direct a mainstage production, co-directing alongside James Robinson on Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2021), which she also choreographed. The production was included in The New York Times “Best Dance of 2021” list. Fire was triumphantly brought back to the MET again the 2024 spring season. Also at The Metropolitan Opera, she choreographed Porgy & Bess and Terence Blanchard’s Champion. Brown’s first musical for theater was The Fortress of Solitude directed by Daniel Aukin, written for stage by Itamar Moses, and with music & lyrics by Michael J. Friedman. For Fortress, she received a Lortel nomination for Outstanding Choreographer. She received the Audelco Award for Choreography for Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare in the Park. Her Broadway choreography debut was with A Streetcar Named Desire, followed by the Tony Award-winning musical, Once on This Island. Brown has been nominated for five Tony awards including for Choir Boy, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (Direction and Choreography), Hell’s Kitchen with music and lyrics written by Alicia Keys, and Gypsy. For Hell’s Kitchen, she also received her fourth Drama Desk nomination and won The Chita Rivera Award for Outstanding Choreography and the Audelco Award for Best Choreographer. She is the recipient of the Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in Choreography. Her work has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, and the Tony Awards.

Brown’s film and TV work includes Harlem (seasons 1 & 3, Amazon Prime), The Oscar-winning, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix); Emmy award-winning Jesus Christ Superstar Live (NBC); New Year’s Eve in Rockefeller Center (NBC), and Google Arts & Culture (ink). Camille A. Brown: Giant Steps co-directed by Michelle Parkerson and Shellée Haynesworth, and produced by American Masters and Firelight Media, is now streaming on PBS. The documentary was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Short Form Documentary (Film).

Brown has received numerous awards including ISPA’s Distinguished Artist, The Dance Magazine Award, Emerson Collective Fellow, Guggenheim, Doris Duke Artist, Audelco, Princess Grace Statue Award, Jacob’s Pillow Award, and New York City Center fellow, USA Jay Franke & David Herro Fellow, TED fellow, Ford Foundation Art of Change, and Kennedy Center’s Next 50. She was honored at the New York Dance Lab Honors and received the Transformative Award from Harlemstage. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2025. Brown’s election underscores the Academy’s recognition of the significant impact she has made on the arts and her dedication to using dance as a tool for social change. She also was awarded a Certificate of Contribution by World Burlesque Day.

Brown’s early training began at Bernice Johnson’s Cultural Arts Center, Devore Dance Center, and Fiorello LaGuardia High School. She received her BFA from The University of North Carolina School of the Arts. After graduation, she joined Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, A Dance Company, where she danced from 2001-2006. During her time with the EVIDENCE, critics proclaimed Brown was, “a stunner when she danced with Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE” - Fjord Review “a powerhouse dancer with expansive reach and bravura.” - Maura Keefe “the most startling discovery was Camille A. Brown, a pixie-ish powerhouse with the determined air of a high priestess.” She was a guest artist with Dianne McIntyre in 2008 and Rennie Harris in 2009.

Brown’s first commission as a choreographer was from Hubbard Street II in 2002, followed by commissions from Ailey II, Urban Bush Women, Philadanco, and Ballet Memphis, the DanceNow Festival and the Harlemstage’s E-moves series, among other opportunities. In 2006, Judith Jamison invited her to choreograph on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She went on to dance in her own work (The Groove to Nobody’s Business) as a guest artist with AAADT in 2008 and set two more works on the Ailey company- her solo, The Evolution of a Secure Feminine in 2010 (originally choreographed in 2007) and City of Rain in 2019 (originally commissioned by The Joyce Theater in 2010). She holds two honorary doctorates from The University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Drew University respectively.

In 2025, her company returned to The Joyce Theater with her latest work, I AM, following a successful premiere last year at Jacob’s Pillow, and engagements at Holy Cross University and Arizona State University. The New York Times stamped it as a “critic’s pick” and declared “Brown takes her signature interweaving of African diasporic dance forms to new heights.“

She returned to Broadway this past November for the revival of Gypsy, directed by George C. Wolfe and starring Audra McDonald. This is the first time new choreography has been done for a main stem production. Her work was hailed as “a brilliant stroke of choreography” (USA Today) and “a consistent, inventive charm.” (Daily Beast). Brown received her fifth Tony Nomination as well as her fifth Drama Desk Award Nomination for her original choreography in this production. Most recently, she directed a staged reading of Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj’s Sweet Lorraine. The play imagines the last conversation between icons and friends, James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry. She is set to develop and direct a new commission by a.k. Payne, Mouth of Mississippi, produced by National Black Theatre. Brown is the director and choreographer for the Broadway Revival of Dreamgirls set to open Fall 2026.

Directed and Choreographed by Camille A. Brown in collaboration with the dancers and musicians of CABD

Dancers: To be announced

Musicians: Juliette Jones, Martine G. Mauro-Wade, Meech

Original music by Deah Love Harriott, Juliette Jones, Jaylen Petinaud, Martine G. Mauro-Wade, Frédérique Gnaman, Monique Brooks Roberts

Music Credits: “Beauty” by Dru Hill, “Optimistic” by Sounds of Blackness, “Crush On You” by Lil Kim ft Lil Cease, “Gypsy (La Da Dee) [Homeless] Women” by Crystal Waters, “I’ll Be There For You / You’re All I Need To Get By” by Method Man ft Mary J. Blige, “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” by The Temptations, “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See” by Busta Rhymes.

Lighting and Scenic Designer: David L. Arsenault

Sound Designer: Justin Ellington

Costume Designer: Ashley Soliman

Projection Designer Playback: Aaron Rhyne

Engineering & Synchronization Specialist: Enrico de Trizio

Music Director: Juliette Jones

Music Supervisor: Zane Mark

Lighting Supervisor: Alex Fetchko

Sound Supervisor: DJ Potts

Sound Engineer: Kaileykielle Hoga

Rehearsal Director: Mora-Amina Parker

Assistant to Choreographer: Jay Staten

Production Stage Manager: Robert McIntyre

General Manager: Leticia D. Baratta

Lead commissioning support for I AM has been provided by The Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow’s Joan B. Hunter New Work Commission, the Meany Center for the Performing Arts, The Apollo, and The Prior Performing Arts Center at the College of the Holy Cross. The creation and presentation of I AM was made possible with major support from the Mellon Foundation and additional support from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; the Princess Grace Foundation- USA; Masterwork Music and Art Foundation; the Harkness Foundation for Dance; Ford Foundation; the Howard Gilman Foundation, and the Shubert Foundation. Public support was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

I AM received creative development time and funding support for residencies through Jacob’s Pillow’s Pillow Lab (Becket, MA) and the Catskill Mountain Foundation’s Orpheum Performing Arts Center (Tannersville, NY). The work also developed at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park (Tivoli, NY), PS21 Center for Contemporary Performance (Chatham, NY), Lake Placid Center for the Arts (Lake Placid, NY), The Ailey Studios, The Joan Weill Center for Dance (New York, NY), and Baryshnikov Arts Center (New York, NY).