Camille A Brown Dancers present I AM at the Orpheum Performing Arts Center

Hunter –  Camille A. Brown & Dancers present I AM, a partnership project between Catskill Mountain Foundation and The Joyce Theater Foundation, on Saturday, May 11 at 7:00PM at the Orpheum Performing Arts Center. Continuing her explorations of Black Joy, director and choreographer Camille A. Brown creates a new work for her Company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers that launches new queries into the possibilities of imagination—and boldly investigates the future.

From intricate footwork to emotive gestures, Camille A. Brown's choreography is a masterclass in storytelling through movement. Her dancers bring her vision to life with precision and passion, creating performances that are both visually stunning and emotionally resonant. Ms. Brown’s choreography is a melting pot of cultural influences from the rhythms of jazz to the traditions of West African dance. Each movement tells a story, weaving together threads of history, identity, and community. With culture at the heart of Brown's work, she creates a space for cultural expression and dialogue, and uses dance as a powerful tool for exploring and celebrating the diverse narratives that make up our world. Dance is not just a form of entertainment, but a means of connecting with audiences, sharing experiences, and shining a light on important social issues.

While Brown has often disrupted our understanding of the past, in this new work, she imagines a creative space for cultural liberation—conjuring new ways of being in this world. Inspired by the “I AM” episode of the HBO series, Lovecraft Country this new work picks up where ink left off by blasting us into the universe where anything is possible and features various dance genres of the African Diaspora.

Original music is by Deah Love Harriott, Jaylen Petinuad, Juliette Jones, and Martine Wade with projection design by Aaron Rhyne, set and lights by David Arsenault, sound design by Justin Ellington, and costumes by Asthley Solman.

Camille A. Brown is a three time Tony Award nominated 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. Her trilogy on race, culture and identity has won many accolades including a Bessie Award. She was the first black director in the history of the Metropolitan Opera MainStage and has directed and choreographed numerous productions at the MET. TV & Film work includes the Academy Award nominated Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and NBC’s Emmy award winning Jesus Christ Superstar. Brown has been featured numerous times in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, The NY Times, and the cover of Dance Magazine, among many others, and has received a myriad of awards including from the Guggenheim, Doris Duke Foundation, ISPA’s 2021 Distinguished Artist, 2020 Dance Magazine Award, Audelco, Princess Grace Statue Award, Jacob’s Pillow Award, New York City Center, TED fellow & The Kennedy Center’s Next 50. Other awards include a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship and the Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Choreography.

Camille A. Brown & Dancers will perform on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00 PM at the Orpheum Performing Arts Center, 6050 Main Street, Tannersville, NY. Tickets are available online at www.catskillmtn.org, by email at boxoffice@catskillmtn.org or by phone at 518 263 2063. For more information, please visit www.catskillmtn.org.