Camille Brown & Dancers Explore Black Womanhood in Chicago Debut, 11/5-7

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago presents the Chicago debut of Camille A. Brown & Dancers performing their newest work, BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, November 5-7 at 7:30 p.m. (note new performance time) at The Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

In only its second performance series following its September world premiere at the Joyce Theater in New York, BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play reveals the complexity of carving out a self-defined identity as a black female in urban American culture. In a society that often portrays black women only in terms of their strength, resiliency or trauma, this work seeks to interrogate these narratives by representing a nuanced spectrum of black womanhood in a racially and politically charged world. With original music compositions, performed live by pianist Scott Patterson and bass guitarist Tracy Wormworth, Brown uses the rhythmic play of African-American dance vernacular, including social dancing, double dutch, steppin', tap, Juba, ring shout and gesture, as the black woman's domain to evoke childhood memories of self-discovery. From play to protest, the performers come into their identities, from childhood innocence to girlhood awareness to maturity -- all the while shaped by their environments, the bonds of sisterhood and society at large. Each performance culminates in a seamless final act with a dialogue in which audiences engage with the artists on stage.

Camille A. Brown & Dancers - Camille A. Brown & Dancers present authentic performances that foster dialogue among audiences and local communities to instill a sense of curiosity and appreciation for the live arts experience in a social and aesthetic context. Embodying a strong sense of storytelling, the company uses theatricality and the aesthetics of modern, hip hop, African, ballet and tap to tell stories that connect history with contemporary culture on a journey for meaning, understanding and relevancy.

Camille A. Brown is a prolific choreographer who is a Bessie Award winner, a 2015 Doris Duke Artist Award recipient, 2015 TED Fellow, two-time Princess Grace Award recipient and many other accolades. Informed by her music background as a clarinetist, she creates choreography that uses musical composition as storytelling investigating the silent space within the measure and filling it with mesmerizing movement.

Some of Brown's initiatives include The Gathering, an open forum for intergenerational black female artists to support one another and to advocate for greater cultural equity and acknowledgement in the contemporary dance world, and BLACK GIRL SPECTRUM, a multifaceted community engagement initiative that addresses the civic, educational and economic struggles of black girls and women and seeks to amplify the cultural and creative empowerment of black girls and women through dance, dialogue and popular education tools.

A pre-performance discussion takes place Friday, November 6 at 6:30 p.m. at The Dance Center, free to ticket holders.

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago is the city's leading presenter of contemporary dance, showcasing artists of regional, national and international significance. The Dance Center has been named "Chicago's Best Dance Theatre" by Chicago magazine, "Best Dance Venue" by the Chicago Reader and Chicago's top dance venue in 2014 by Newcity, and Time Out Chicago cited it as "...consistently offering one of Chicago's strongest lineups of contemporary and experimental touring dance companies." Programs of The Dance Center are supported, in part, by Alphawood Foundation; Engaging Dance Audiences, a program administered by Dance/USA and made possible with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince; The Chicago Community Trust; The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; The Irving Harris Foundation; and the Arts Midwest Touring Fund. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council Agency and The City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Special thanks to Friends of The Dance Center. For information, call 312-369-8330 or visit colum.edu/dancecenterpresents.

The Dance Center's 2015-16 season continues with Giordano Dance Chicago (February 4-6), Urban Bush Women (February 18-20), Joe Goode Performance Group (March 10-12) and Michael Sakamoto and Rennie Harris (March 31-April 2).

The Dance Center presents Camille A. Brown & Dancers Nov. 5-7, 2015, Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (note new performance times) at The Dance Center, 1306 S. Michigan Ave. Single tickets are $30; subscriptions to three or more performances during the season offer a 20 percent savings. All programming is subject to change. The theatre is accessible to people with disabilities. For information, call 312-369-8330 or visit colum.edu/dancecenterpresents.

Pictured: Linguistic Play with Camille A. Brown and Scott Patterson by John Werner.

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