Camille A. Brown & Dancers

“I lift up our real-life superheroes of the past who paved the way for us to fly and “be fly.” In flight, we see the superpower of Black people in America.”  —Camille A. Brown

Berkeley dance audiences will recall the Cal Performances debut five years ago of Camille A. Brown & Dancers in BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, the second installment of her trilogy about African-American identity: “50 minutes of pure heaven,” hailed the San Francisco Chronicle. Brown made history this past year as the first Black director in the history of the Metropolitan Opera (Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones) and as the first Black female to be nominated for a Tony Award as both director and choreographer for a play (for colored girls…) on Broadway.

Now, the New York-based choreographer, dancer, and director returns to Cal Performances with ink, the final installment of her trilogy. Featuring Brown herself, the  company of six dancers performs a series of duets and solos, weaving together elements of African-American social dance, African, tap, jazz, modern, and hip-hop movement, accompanied by percussion-driven original music performed live by a quartet. Through ancestral stories and pop culture references, ink examines self-empowerment, Black love, brotherhood, and resilience—aspects of Black life that are too often appropriated, rewritten, or silenced.

Run time for this performance is approximately 1 hour, with no intermission.

Parking Alert

Parking will be a problem on campus for this performance on December 16 due to a Cal Women’s Basketball game versus UC San Diego.

Most, if not all, University parking lots will be reserved for game patrons and city-owned lots may have a limited number of spots available. Traffic will be heavy. We advise you to arrive early and to seriously consider alternative transportation.

Please see our Parking Alert section for more information.