THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Arts & Entertainment Theater pg 17 | Food pg 22 | Jazz pg 23
May 19, 2022 - May 25, 2022 • 17
Pg. 20 Your Stars
Camille A. Brown makes dances, history with Ntozake Shange’s choreopoem By ZITA ALLEN Special to the AmNews Camille A. Brown is a phenomenal woman. This year she continues to solidify her reputation as one of the most extraordinarily talented choreographers of her generation with a list that includes impressive achievements involving the Broadway production of Ntozake Shange’s “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.” There are two Tony Award nominations, one for best direction of a play, and another for best choreography, not to mention Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for direction and choreography and the Drama League Award nomination for outstanding direction. Her work embodies the essence of storytelling, making her a dance griot of the African American/African Diasporic experience. And, nowhere is that more evident than in Shange’s choreopoem. This recent feat is only the latest of her works that include an impressive array of projects she’s taken on while maintaining her company Camille A. Brown’s & Dancers (CABD) which seeks to “instill curiosity and reflection in diverse audiences through her emotionally raw and thought-provoking work.” As anyone who has seen her company perform knows, she has an uncanny ability to enable Black bodies to “tell their story using their own language through movement and dialogue.” While this is a key mission for her company, it also is reflected in such other Broadway and off-Broadway projects
as “Once On This Island,” “Toni Stone,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “for colored girls…”; film/television: Academy Awardwinning “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Emmy Awardwinning “Jesus Christ Superstar Live.” Ms. Brown has also choreographed the critically acclaimed “Porgy and Bess” for The Metropolitan Opera and this September became the first Black woman director for the main stage at the MET with “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.” Recently, she took a little time out of a busy schedule to speak to the Amsterdam News about her current historic role as director and choreographer of the current Broadway production of “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf.” AmNews: Congratulations on the amazing Tony Award nominations for your historic dual role with “for colored girls.” Talk to us about what this production of Ntozake’s groundbreaking play means to you. CB: It’s been a part of my world from the beginning. My mom always told me don’t ever let anyone take your stuff away. She told me a couple of years ago that that saying was from the poem “somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff” by Ntozake, from the first Broadway production in the 1970s, so it just made me feel more connected to the show cause it’s been a part of my existence through my mom. So it’s special to be able to really dive into the poem under my own vision…and the stories I want to tell. Of course, Ntozake is obvious-
ly telling the story through her poetry but…I’m grateful her work has given me the courage to tell myself, “Ok Camille, this is a further extension of who you are and Ntozake is providing you with the perfect vehicle of a choreopoem.’”
the Vandellas when she wrote it in the 1970s and I thought well, I grew up in the 1990s so what if we swap Martha and the Vandellas for a SWV’s tune “I’m So Into You.” The point was making it “now”…showing these poems as timeless, as about more than looking AmNews: Tell folks what a back at what was but lookchoreopoem is exactly be- ing forward to what is still. cause it was formulated by Ntozake and now there are AmNews: You’ve always a lot of folks using the form incorporated vernacular or without knowing or giving social dance movements credit where credit is due. into your productions. I saw traces of the hamboCB: It means that move- ne, salsa, marenge and kids ment and poetry co-exist. games in “for colored girls.” So often we get into situa- They all make it so relattions where people feel like able. movement is too distracting, or movement is just CB: Yeah. It’s like the about steps, but here Nto- whole African diaspora of zake clearly defines move- the Black experience. We go ment as storytelling and from hand clap games like that’s all that I am and so Little Sally Walker to Gigilo, to be able to have that op- which is in there ‘cause portunity on this platform that’s what I grew up with, and today and have seven and we have the idea of refBlack women represent the erencing Juba. I incorporate full spectrum of who we are, Juba dance inside of my not just the pain but also work in general so you’re the joy and the Black Girl going to see some type Magic is so important. And of hand-clapping, thighto be able to hold that space slapping in almost anyfor them and for them, in thing that I do, depending turn, to be able to hold the on what is called for in the space for me is just really a piece. You’ll see a little esmoment. It’s a moment. sence of games that we play with each other as we tranAmNews: You’ve made a sition from one poem to the few changes in this 2022 next, to the next…showing production of “for colored how we exchange energy. girls” that brings it up to date, can you discuss those? AmNews: I noticed that each of the women has CB: Yes, we have this a movement flow that is American Sign Language unique to them. (ASL) inclusion and we have the element of projecCB: I told the women that tion and sound and rhythm. to me the colors represent You know I’m a rhythmi- vessels. So that the Lady in cal person so I have a very Red at the beginning is not specific idea about what necessarily, the Lady in Red rhythms I saw specifically at the end. So, we’re looking for each poem. Also, I knew at, how do these women use Ntozake used Martha and these colors to evoke the es-
Choreographer Camille A. Brown
sence of the women whose stories they step into. So usually, the poem “One” is done by the Lady in Red but I chose for it to be done by the Lady in Yellow because I wanted…the beginning as talking about the first time she lost her virginity, versus further on down in the show when we get to “One” where she uses her sexuality as a weapon. AmNews: Trezana Beverley was the Lady in Red in the original production and she did “A Night With Beau Willy Brown.” That’s such a powerful piece. How do you incorporate that and movement together because that’s one of those stories where the world stops when you hear it. In fact, in
the theater you could hear a pin drop as Kenita R. Miller in this year’s production tells the story. CB: I told the women that this play is about empowerment and I told them I want us to end on a high note. And, in the beginning I told them I don’t want us to be seen as victims. When we look at the poem “dark phrases” and she talks about “Are we crazy? Are we ghouls?” You know, my response is ‘Yes I feel that,” also, “We were not born that way. We were not born confused. We were born magical and it’s the world that made us question who we were.” So, I wanted to start us in the place of empowerSee BROWN on page 21
