• Camille Brown and Dancers hero image
  • Camille Brown and Dancers hero image
Program Books/Camille A. Brown & Dancers; ink (2017)

Camille A. Brown & Dancers
ink (2017)

Wednesday and Thursday, December 14–15, 2022, 7:30pm
Friday, December 16, 2022, 8pm
Zellerbach Playhouse

This performance will last approximately 50 minutes and be performed without an intermission.

From the Executive and Artistic Director

Jeremy Geffen

Happy Holidays from Cal Performances! Like you, we enjoy celebrating these special times with those nearest and dearest to us. So, it’s particularly pleasing to welcome you to a December performance this year. As 2022 comes to a close, we’ll enjoy visits from one of our oldest and dearest friends, the renowned Takács Quartet in the first of two performances this season; the brilliant young pianist Seong-Jin Cho making his highly anticipated Cal Performances debut; and the red-hot dance company Camille A. Brown & Dancers, with its brilliant production of Brown’s ink. Whatever event(s) you’ve chosen to attend, thank you for spending part of your holiday season with us at UC Berkeley!

We’ll be back and up to speed in the new year with a host of brilliant programs! From January until May 2023—when we close our season with the Bay Area premiere of Octavia E. Butler’s powerful and prescient opera Parable of the Sower and a long-awaited recital with international dramatic soprano sensation Nina Stemme—we have a calendar packed with the very best in the live performing arts.

And what a schedule! Dozens of remarkable events, with highlights including the return of the legendary Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Christian Thielemann (in his Bay Area debut); the beloved Mark Morris Dance Group in Morris’ new The Look of Love: An Evening of Dance to the Music of Burt Bacharach; the US premiere of revered South African artist William Kentridge’s astonishing new SIBYL (part of an exciting campus-wide residency with this singular artist); and a special concert with chamber music superstars pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. And these are only a few of the amazing performances that await you!

Upcoming Illuminations programming will continue to take advantage of Cal Performances’ unique positioning as a vital part of the world’s top-ranked public university. Over the coming months, we’ll be engaging communities on and off campus to examine the evolution of tools such as musical instruments and electronics, the complex relationships between the creators and users of technology, the possibilities enabled by technology’s impact on the creative process, and questions raised by the growing role of artificial intelligence in our society.

This concept of “Human and Machine” has never been so pertinent to so many. Particularly over the course of the pandemic, the rapid expansion of technology’s role in improving communication and in helping us emotionally process unforeseen and, at times, extraordinarily difficult events has made a permanent mark on our human history. Throughout time, our reliance on technology to communicate has—for better and worse—influenced how we understand others as well as ourselves. During this Illuminations season, we will investigate how technology has contributed to our capacity for self-expression, as well as the potential dangers it may pose.

Some programs this season will bring joy and delight, and others will inspire reflection and stir debate. We are committed to presenting this wide range of artistic expression on our stages because of our faith in the performing arts’ power to promote empathy. And it is because of our audiences’ openness and curiosity that we have the privilege of bringing such thought-provoking, adventurous performances to our campus. The Cal Performances community wants the arts to engage in important conversations, and to bring us all together as we see and feel the world through the experiences of others.

Please make sure to check out our brochures and our website for complete information about upcoming events. We can’t wait to share all the details with you, in print and online.

Again, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Jeremy Geffen
Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances

Jeremy GeffenHappy Holidays from Cal Performances! Like you, we enjoy celebrating these special times with those nearest and dearest to us. So, it’s particularly pleasing to welcome you to a December performance this year. As 2022 comes to a close, we’ll enjoy visits from one of our oldest and dearest friends, the renowned Takács Quartet in the first of two performances this season; the brilliant young pianist Seong-Jin Cho making his highly anticipated Cal Performances debut; and the red-hot dance company Camille A. Brown & Dancers, with its brilliant production of Brown’s ink. Whatever event(s) you’ve chosen to attend, thank you for spending part of your holiday season with us at UC Berkeley!

We’ll be back and up to speed in the new year with a host of brilliant programs! From January until May 2023—when we close our season with the Bay Area premiere of Octavia E. Butler’s powerful and prescient opera Parable of the Sower and a long-awaited recital with international dramatic soprano sensation Nina Stemme—we have a calendar packed with the very best in the live performing arts.

And what a schedule! Dozens of remarkable events, with highlights including the return of the legendary Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Christian Thielemann (in his Bay Area debut); the beloved Mark Morris Dance Group in Morris’ new The Look of Love: An Evening of Dance to the Music of Burt Bacharach; the US premiere of revered South African artist William Kentridge’s astonishing new SIBYL (part of an exciting campus-wide residency with this singular artist); and a special concert with chamber music superstars pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. And these are only a few of the amazing performances that await you!

Upcoming Illuminations programming will continue to take advantage of Cal Performances’ unique positioning as a vital part of the world’s top-ranked public university. Over the coming months, we’ll be engaging communities on and off campus to examine the evolution of tools such as musical instruments and electronics, the complex relationships between the creators and users of technology, the possibilities enabled by technology’s impact on the creative process, and questions raised by the growing role of artificial intelligence in our society.

This concept of “Human and Machine” has never been so pertinent to so many. Particularly over the course of the pandemic, the rapid expansion of technology’s role in improving communication and in helping us emotionally process unforeseen and, at times, extraordinarily difficult events has made a permanent mark on our human history. Throughout time, our reliance on technology to communicate has—for better and worse—influenced how we understand others as well as ourselves. During this Illuminations season, we will investigate how technology has contributed to our capacity for self-expression, as well as the potential dangers it may pose.

Some programs this season will bring joy and delight, and others will inspire reflection and stir debate. We are committed to presenting this wide range of artistic expression on our stages because of our faith in the performing arts’ power to promote empathy. And it is because of our audiences’ openness and curiosity that we have the privilege of bringing such thought-provoking, adventurous performances to our campus. The Cal Performances community wants the arts to engage in important conversations, and to bring us all together as we see and feel the world through the experiences of others.

Please make sure to check out our brochures and our website for complete information about upcoming events. We can’t wait to share all the details with you, in print and online.

Again, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Jeremy Geffen
Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances

“I see black people as superheroes because we keep rising.”
—Question Bridge:
Black Males in America

Propelled by the live rhythms and sounds of traditional African and handmade instru­ments, Camille A. Brown’s ink celebrates the rituals, gestures, and traditions of the African diaspora. Through self-empowerment, Black love, brotherhood, exhaustion and resilience, community and fellowship, ink depicts the pedestrian interactions of individuals and relationships as grounds for accessing one’s innate superpowers and finding libera­tion. The work seeks to reclaim African-American narratives and is the final installment of Brown’s dance-theater trilogy about identity.

CHOREOGRAPHER’S NOTE
“I write to create myself.”
Octavia E. Butler

Culture codes
Balance
Milkshake
Turf
Shedding
Migration

After the creative process for BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play, I held a desire to dig even deeper and tell more stories of ritual, gestural vocabulary, and traditions of the African Diaspora. Our ancestors live inside of our bodies; because of this I began to investigate what accessing that power looks, sounds, and feels like. For inspiration, I was immediately drawn to two albums that had a significant impact on me when I was growing up: Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Common’s Like Water for Chocolate. I tasked myself with creating a movement language that embodied the same raw authenticity, and vulnerability that fuels that music and those lyrics.

As I began to develop the concept for ink, I knew I wanted the dancers to represent superheroes. I couldn’t figure out why I had the urge to play with this idea until I read Question Bridge: Black Males in America*. One of the men interviewed said, “I see Black people as comic book heroes because they always keep rising.” That was it! It is about showing that in our basic survival and natural attributes, we have superhuman powers—powers to shift, overcome, trans­form, and persevere even within an often hostile environment. The sections of ink represent superpowers of spirituality, history, and heritage, the celebration of the Black female body, Black love, brotherhood, exhaustion, and community.

ink is the culmination of my trilogy on Black identity and follows Mr. TOL E. RAncE (2012) and BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play (2015). The opening solo, “Culture codes,” begins with a call to Elegba—a Yoruba deity that opens and clears the space as guardian, protector, and communicator. Through the various revolutions of a structured phrase, the griot pulls out all the manifestations of Blackness. This solo makes possible “Balance,” a duet inspired by the Hustle and Lindy hop that displays the beauty of Black love and intimacy. Black love moves to Black beauty, inspired by Saartje Baartman’s ample curves; “Milkshake,” transposes the objectification of the Black female body into a rhythmic celebration and glorification of her form. It’s where “pattin Juba” meets “Go Go.” If BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play was a call, “Turf” is the response, illustrating the Black male rite of passage propelled by “the dap.” Two inno­cents are hit with the reality of navi­gating being Black men in America while pro­tecting one another through it all. For those who bear the burdens of others, “Shedding” evokes the story of those who keep us lifted even in the midst of their own enervation. We are then led to “Migration,” a community of love, support, and enduring vitality moving with the sound of the violin—a reference to the kora, a West African instrument. With musical references ranging from ancestral rhythms, Go Go, Dancehall, The Notorious B.I.G. (“Sky’s the Limit”), Mary J. Blige (“Real Love”), Com­mon (“Time Travelin’”), and Jill Scott (“Jill­tro”), ink uses the power of the past and present to propel us into the future.

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. We keep rising.

Camille A. Brown

* Question Bridge: Black Males in America is by Dr. Deborah Willis (author, editor), Chris Johnson (author), Hank Willis Thomas (author), Bayeté Ross Smith (author), Kamal Sinclair (author), Delroy Lindo (author), Rashid Shabazz (author), Natasha L. Logan (editor), Jesse Williams (Preface), and Andrew Young (Introduction).

Directed and Choreographed by
Camille A. Brown
in collaboration with the musicians and members of CABD

Dancers
Beatrice Capote, Timothy Edwards, Catherine Foster, Juel D. Lane, Rhaamell Burke-Missouri,
Yusha-Marie Sorzano, Maleek Washington, Camille A. Brown

Original Music by
Allison Miller, Music Director, Juliette Jones, Scott Patterson, Wilson R. Torres

Musicians
Kwinton Gray, Juliette Jones, Wilson Torres, Allison Miller

Additional Music
Selection from “Jilltro” by Darren Henson and Andre Harris Henson, vocals by Jill Scott;
Selection from “Time Travelin’” by Common, D’Angelo, ?uestlove, James Poyser, J Dilla

Dramaturgs: Daniel Banks, Kamilah Forbes, and Talvin Wilks

Lighting and Scenic Design: David L. Arsenault

Lighting Supervisor: Jane Chan

Sound Design: Justin Ellington

Costume Designer/Stylist: Mayte Natalio

Costume Supervisor: Amy Page

The lead commissioners for ink were Peak Performances @ Montclair State University, NJ and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, DC), with support from LUMBERYARD Contemporary Performing Arts. ink also received co-commissioning support from ASU Gammage. The creation and presentation of ink was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mellon Foundation; the MAP Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mellon Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; and the Howard Gilman Foundation. ink was given its original creative development residency by the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance in partnership with the Evelyn Sharp/CalArtsSummer Choreographic Residency. The development of ink was made possible, in part, by the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University, with support from the Princess Grace Foundation. The work was also created, in part, during a production residency at ASU Gammage, University of Iowa’s Hancher Auditorium, 2017 Off-Shore Creation Residency at The Yard, and creative residencies at Peak Performances @ Montclair State University, NJ; Jacob’s Pillow; Hobart & William Smith Colleges; and CUNY Dance Initiative at Kingsborough Community College.

The revival of ink was made possible, in part, with public support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Lead funding for the revival of ink was provided by the Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the Harkness Foundation of Dance and Jody and John Arnhold. ink was revived, in part, during a residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park.

Music credits: “Jilltro” by Darren Henson and Andre Harris Henson, Universal Music Publishing Group, vocals by Jill Scott, Hidden Beach Recordings; “Time Travelin’” by Common, D’Angelo, ?uestlove, James Poyser, J Dilla, Universal Music Publishing Group, lead vocals Common, and featuring D’Angelo, Roy Hargrove, Jeff Lee Johnson, Femi Kuti, Melena, Vinia Mojica, MCA Records.

SPECIAL THANKS: CABD would like to express its deep gratitude to Jeremy Geffen and the Cal Perf­or­mances admin­is­trative and technical staff for all of their hard work, dedication, and support!

About the Artists

Camille A. Brown & Dancers (CABD) 
Camille A. Brown, artistic director and choreo­grapher

Dancers
Beatrice Capote
Timothy Edwards
Catherine Foster
Juel D. Lane
Rhaamell (Mellanie) Burke-Missouri
Yusha-Marie Sorzano
Maleek Washington
Mora-Amina Parker, lead rehearsal & artistic associate

Musicians
Kwinton Gray
Juliette Jones
Allison Miller, music director
Wilson R. Torres

Creative Team
David L. Arsenault, lighting and scenic designer
Daniel Banks, dramaturg
Kamilah Forbes, dramaturg
Mayte Natalio, costume designer/stylist
Amy Page, costume supervisor
Talvin Wilks, dramaturg

Production Team
Robert McIntyre, production stage manager
Shannon Clarke, lighting supervisor
Michelle Fletcher, company manager

Camille A. Brown & Dancers is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization.

Donations are greatly appreciated and may be made payable to CABD, INC and mailed to: CABD, INC/Camille A. Brown & Dancers, PO Box 340600, Jamaica, NY 11434;  or online at: www.camilleabrown.org.

Camille A. Brown & Dancers Staff
Camille A. Brown, founder and artistic director
Diane Rosenblatt, executive director
Leticia D. Baratta, finance and operations manager
Michelle Rivera, community engagement and education director
Catherine Williams, development officer
Gwendolyn Baum, social media manager
Malaika Holder, Every Body Move program associate
Kadeem Alston-Roman, Black Men Moving coordinator
Michelle Fletcher, company manager
Robert McIntyre, production stage manager
Jane Chan, lighting supervisor 

Camille A. Brown & Dancers Board of Directors
Kim Rosenfield, chair
MarkThomas, secretary
Webster McBride, treasurer
Courtney A. Bennett
Camille A. Brown
Alicia Graf Mack
Nadia Nascimento
Elaine Wolbrom

For more information on Camille A. Brown & Dancers, please visit www.camilleabrown.org.

CONTACT

For Concert Dance Booking:
Margaret Selby
Selby/Artists Management
262 West 38th Street, Suite 1701
New York, NY 10018
mselby@selbyartistsmgmt.com
212/382-3260

Michael Moore, Michael Moore Agency
Commercial Manager
Michael@michaelmooreagency.com
212/221-0400

Joe Machota, Creative Artists Agency
Commercial Agent
212/277-9000

Diane Rosenblatt, executive director
CABD, INC.
aka Camille A. Brown & Dancers
Diane@camilleabrown.org

Michelle Fletcher, company manager
CABD, INC.
aka Camille A. Brown & Dancers
company_manager@camilleabrown.org

FOLLOW US & SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!
FB: Camille A. Brown (Artist Page)
@CamilleABrown
#CABDTheater
#inkitup

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