According to TED.com: “Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom. They remain an affirmation of identity and independence. In this electric demonstration, packed with live performances, choreographer, educator and TED Fellow Camille A. Brown explores what happens when communities let loose and express themselves by dancing together.”
“The artistic director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers, Brown is a four-time Princess Grace Award winner, 2016 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award recipient, 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, 2015 USA Jay Franke & David Herro Fellow, 2015 TED Fellow and 2015 Doris Duke Artist Award recipient. Her company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, received a 2014 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production for the work Mr. TOL E. RAncE (2012) and recently received a 2016 Bessie Nomination for Outstanding Production of her work, BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play (2015).”
“Brown’s work has been commissioned by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco!, Complexions and Urban Bush Women, among others. Her theater credits as Choreographer include Broadway’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Fortress of Solitude (Lucille Lortel Nomination), Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Cabin in the Sky for New York City Center Encores!, Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick…BOOM! starring Lin Manuel Miranda, and BELLA: An American Tall Tale, among others.”
“Brown is the founder of two initiatives, The Gathering and BLACK GIRL SPECTRUM (BGS). As a teacher, she seeks to amplify cultural and creative empowerment through dance, dialogue, and popular education tools.”
Camille A. Brown: A visual history of social dance in 25 moves
For those of you not familiar with TED Talks here is a brief summery from www.ted.com: “TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize”
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I look forward to your thoughts and comments!