As someone with no dance experience, I was apprehensive about attending a forum whose topic was “Dance as a vehicle to examine identity.” However, what I learnt at the event inspired me personally as a woman and as a person of colour.
According her own website, Camille A Brown “is a prolific Black female choreographer reclaiming the cultural narrative of African American identity. Her bold work taps into both ancestral stories and contemporary culture to capture a range of deeply personal experiences.” A pioneer in social dance, which she described as “a dance form that tells you what time period you are in,” Camille talked about her piece on black stereotypes portrayed on television, and her own personal angst at how history is whitewashed in the American education system. These instances of casual racism made it important for her to talk about African American history. Here are some excerpts from the conversation with her.
She identified as someone who was soft-spoken.
The moderator of the conversation, Deborah Goffe, Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Dance at Hampshire College, pointed out that when she first met Camille, she found her to be soft-spoken. At this comment, Camille smiled and nodded knowingly. I personally thought that being a woman of little words in person while being robust and expressive through dance was an interesting dynamic to see.
College was a tumultuous experience for her.
Camille reflected on how she wanted to transfer to a different college just after the first month of being there. She did not seem to like any of her classes, and did not even consider dance as a career path. She remembered how she thought she would end up at an office job, “working for someone else,” as she put it. As a college student, I found it comforting when I heard a successful and highly reputed woman talk about the difficulties she faced in college.
She faced rejection. A lot.
Camille talked about how, initially, she did not find her name even in the list of people who were allowed to audition as choreographers. She noticed that most people who got the jobs were men, and considered getting a male alias for a while. I found her journey to the top in a male-dominated industry inspiring.
She told us what it was like to be looked up to.
After getting rejected from an assignment she really wanted to work on, Camille was too dejected to go teach her class. However, she did not want to disappoint her students, and decided to go to class despite the disappointing news. On her way, she was stopped by a little girl who asked for her autograph. While signing the sheet, the little girl pushed in front of her, and she noticed an inexplicable look on the young girl’s face. Camille described the girl’s expression as similar to her own when she looked up to black women who inspired her. In that moment, she realised that her worth was not determined by any number of successful auditions, but the young women whose lives she had touched.
I would like to leave you with one final thought — a quote by Ms. Camille A Brown. At the opening of a show she had choreographed called “Black Girl Linguistic Play,” Camille discussed how her daughter refused to attend. Camille soon realised why: because of the words “black girl.” Her own daughter seemed to struggle with that piece of her identity. Commenting on this, Camille said, “I wish it wasn’t so exhausting. I wish it wasn’t so exhausting to show my own humanity.”
Images: X
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