September 28, 2007

Interview with Choreographer and Performer Camille A. Brown

Last week, I met with Camille A. Brown, who recently made a huge impression as the choreographer and performer of her solo, The Evolution of A Secured Feminine, and we talked about the steady evolution of her remarkable career. She has won rave reviews for her appearances with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, and now she's setting an ensemble piece on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the world's most celebrated dance troupes, for its upcoming season at City Center. Camille is a young artistic star on the rise.

Listen to interview with Camille A. Brown (MP3 - 27 minutes)

Multimedia Guide

Camille A. Brown
Photo by Basil Childers
Click for larger image

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Camille A. Brown's
The Groove To Nobody's Business.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Matthew Rushing in
Camille A. Brown's The Groove To Nobody's Business.

Camille A. Brown Bio

(From New York City Center website)

Camille A. Brown received her early dance training at both the Bernice Johnson and Carolyn Devore Dance Studios. She attended the High School of Performing Arts and later, received a scholarship to the Ailey School. She completed her B.F.A. in Dance at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Ms. Brown was a member of Evidence Dance Company, under the direction of Ronald K. Brown. She has also performed with Roger C. Jeffrey, Matthew Rushing, Earl Mosely, Debbie Allen and Dancers, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Nathan Trice, Hope L. Boykin, and Bridget L. Moore. Continue reading...

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September 25, 2007

Interview with Chris Elam of Misnomer Dance Theater

Chris Elam, who recently became the first recipient of the Summer Stages Dance/Baryshnikov Arts Center residency, is truly a dance artist for the 21st Century--a brilliant, probing maker of dance that expresses the protean nature of the human body, mind, and spirit; an explorer of the myriad ways in which people communicate; and an innovator of Internet community-building and artistic marketing. I had a wide-ranging talk with Elam, founder and artistic director of Misnomer Dance Theater, about the origins and intent of his unusually powerful choreography and about his latest and upcoming projects.

Listen to audio interview with Chris Elam (MP3 - 38 minutes)

Misnomer Multimedia

View this annotated photograph on Flickr of Misnomer rehearsal at The Yard this July:

A rehearsal video of The Yard performance work (Misnomer blog post):

Video documentary of rehearsals at The Yard showing how Misnomer captures video of rehearsals in real-time (Misnomer blog post):

View following video excerpts of Misnomer performances on their website:

Tin Man

Throw People

Land Flat

Chris Elam Bio

Chris Elam graduated magna cum laude from Brown University and received his MFA in Dance from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Since founding Misnomer Dance Theater his work has been performed in over 100 theaters across the USA, Cuba, Brazil, Indonesia, and Turkey. Elam's work has met critical acclaim including a featured article in Dance Magazine, interviews in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and reviews in numerous publications. Elam had been a guest faculty and choreographer at numerous schools and universities, and is presently teaching at Brown University, and is guest choreographer at both Manhattanville college and Hoftra University. (Read complete bio...)

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September 4, 2007

Interview with Choreographer Miguel Gutierrez

Somewhere in the middle of my interview with Bessie Award-winning choreographer Miguel Gutierrez, I realized that I could listen to him talk forever. (I've had that feeling about watching his dances, too!) Even after we wrapped up our recording, we kept talking, and he never ran out of interesting and vital things to say about art, community and the often sorry state of discourse on dance. I definitely want to talk with Miguel again, and I'm delighted to share with you today some insight into his life and work.

Listen to interview with Miguel Gutierrez (MP3 - 47 minutes)

Miguel Gutierrez Bio

Miguel Gutierrez is a dance and music artist from Brooklyn, NY who has created several evenings of work: enter the seen (2002), I succumb (2003), dAMNATION rOAD (2004), Retrospective Exhibitionist and Difficult Bodies (2005) myendlesslove (2006) and Everyone (2007). His emotionally-driven work concerns itself with the phenomenon of existence and the body's ability to move between the mundane and the transcendent. He is interested in how the presence of the audience creates a space of attention and extraordinary perception. His work has been presented in venues such as Dance Theater Workshop (New York), ImPulsTanz (Vienna) and the Springdance Festival (Utrecht). He recently created a new work entitled I HATE OUTSIDE for BalletLab, a Melbourne, Australia based company. Miguel worked as a curator for The Kitchen's Dance and Process program, and the infamous but now defunct SHTUDIO SHOW. He has worked with a wide variety of contemporary dance artists, such as John Jasperse, Jennifer Lacey, Jennifer Monson, Ann Liv Young and Deborah Hay. He is currently working with Alain Buffard. He teaches workshops in technique, composition and creative process around the world.

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