Lineage Podcast

Lineage Podcast


Camille A. Brown

October 19, 2021


Camille A. Brown is a prolific Black female choreographer, who is reclaiming the cultural narratives of African American identity. Her bold work taps into both ancestral stories and contemporary culture to capture a range of deeply personal experiences. Ms. Brown is the first Black woman to serve as a director at the Metropolitan Opera, with their current production Fire Shut Up In My Bones. Shortly thereafter she’s taking the reins of the Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls.


She has received numerous honors including a Guggenheim Award, Bessie Award, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award, a Doris Duke Artist Award, a Dance Magazine award, a United States Artists Award, 2 Audelco Awards, 5 Princess Grace Awards, and a New York City Center Award. She has received a Tony nomination, 3 Drama Desk, 3 Lortel nominations for her work in Theater. She is an Emerson Collective fellow, a TED fellow and the recipient of a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, among others. She is the 2021 Distinguished Artist, presented by The International Society for the Performing Arts. Other honors include the 2020 Dance Magazine Award recipient and 2020 Obie Award Winner for Sustained Excellence in Choreography.


As Artistic Director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers (CABD), Ms. Brown strives to instill curiosity and reflection in diverse audiences through her emotionally raw and thought-provoking work. Her driving passion is to empower Black bodies to tell their story using their own language through movement and dialogue. Through the company, Ms. Brown provides outreach activities to students, young adults, and men and women across the country.