FIVE COLLEGE DANCE DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER 2018–2019 Inspired by the events of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Camille A. Brown choreographed New Second Line, a celebration of the culture of New Orleans and the perseverance of Black people in the midst of devas- tation. The performance borrows its name from the energetic, spirited people who follow the traditional brass band parades for weddings social events and, most notably, funerals in New Orleans. Brown asserts that the dance “honors our ability to rise and keep rising.” PHOTOS BY DEREK FOWLES CAMILLE A. BROWN: NEW SECOND LINE AND MOVING CULTURE, DANCING JUSTICE: A CONVERSATION Co-Editors: Rodger Blum and Joanna Faraby Walker Camille A. Brown is a dancer and choreographer histories of black social dance to millions of viewers for our times. Her commitment to “reclaiming the in a fantastic TED-sponsored video to running a cultural narrative of African American identity” is a community engagement platform called Every kind of connective tissue running through all her Body Move, dance for Brown is always connected artistic endeavors—from her early work as a performer to broader understandings of [social] movement, with Ronald K. Brown / EVIDENCE to her acclaimed community advocacy, and everyday people. dance-making with her company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers (CABD), her viral TED-Ed video on the history of In tracing the movement legacies that fuel black African American social dance and her choreography creative survival, and at the same time insisting on the College ways these movement legacies continuously morph PAID for the recent Broadway revival of Once on This Island Hampshire U.S. Postage U.S. Nonprofit Org Nonprofit and the NBC production of Jesus Christ Superstar Live and reinvent, Brown’s work insists on the vitality of in Concert. In each instance, Brown’s “bold work taps collective movement. Her work offers us a lens on both into both ancestral stories and contemporary culture the power of black social dance as source and affirma- to capture a range of deeply personal experiences.” tion, as well as on the movement stories that have too often been silenced, degraded and marginalized. During the 2018–19 academic year, Five College dance students and faculty members were privileged In light of this particular moment in this country to engage deeply with this remarkable artist. In early right now . a moment in which women are taking September, Mayte Natalio, a dancer with CABD, was a stand, speaking their truth more prominently than in residence in the Valley to teach 23 students a ever, using voice and presence to expose the violence section from Brown’s New Second Line. That work was inscribed in their embodied histories, histories too performed on four Five College campuses under often carried in silence, Camille Brown’s work the rehearsal direction of Shakia Brown. In late resonates strongly and encourages us to recognize September, Brown spent a Friday afternoon in a public that black women and girls have long had to—and conversation moderated by Deborah Goffe, assis- continue to —bear misogynist violence, and black tant professor of modern and contemporary dance women have long been at the forefront of the struggle at Hampshire College. They discussed Brown’s against such violence and for bodily autonomy and intersecting career pathways through concert dance, recognition. choreography for theater and in commercial contexts and her community engagement initiatives as social The Five College Dance Department is pleased to justice interventions. present this work by Camille A. Brown and grateful for funding from its member institutions, Five Colleges The FCD Camille A. Brown project was made possible and the National Endowment for the Arts. We hope by our member campuses, a generous grant from the this work will create space to consider choreography National Endowment for the Arts, and the Five College and engaged movement as powerful sites of world- Consortium. Attendance for Professor Goffe’s conver- making centered on what the body carries, knows, sation with Brown exceeded our expectations, and so, testifies to and can potentially transform. with great support from many offices at Hampshire College, we were able to move that event to a larger venue to accommodate upwards of 475 people. “As a choreographer, I am interested in that Program Notes from Dasha Chapman, FCD Assistant Professor of Critical Dance Studies (2018): Camille space between dance A. Brown’s multifaceted work traverses predefined and theater where realms and kites both viewers and participants to interdisciplinary work other possibilities. Brown crosses boundaries between defies category and @fivecollegedance movement genres and challenges conventional takes flight.” demarcations on what dances belong where. From Black Girl: Linguistic Play, which centered its inves- —Camille A. Brown (413) 559-6622 893 West 893 West Street tigations on the tenderness and ingenuity of black Amherst, MA 01002 MA Amherst, girls’ movements, to choreographing dance the- www.fivecolleges.edu/dance Five College Dance Department Dance College Five ater on Broadway to bringing the contexts and Dance Building, Hampshire College Hampshire Building, Dance @fivecollegedance @fivecollegedance Amherst College | Hampshire College | Mount Holyoke College | Smith College | University of Massachusetts Amherst1 FCDD ALUMNI DANCE GOES BIG AT UMASS AMHERST NEWS Lisa Biggs (AC ’93) joined REFLECT/RESPOND: A LIMÓN DANCE LEGACY the faculty at Brown University as an assistant Few dance students have access to study the techniques that form the bedrock of today’s contemporary dance universe, and fewer yet, the professor in the Depart- ment of Africana Studies / possibility to perform these works alongside the professionals who regularly create and perform them. In January 2019, for the first time on Rites and Reason Theatre, the UMass Fine Arts Center Main Stage in almost 40 years, and with a focus on the canon of modern dance masterpieces, 12 UMass / Five College where she offers courses in devising new work and dancers performed José Limón’s seminal Choreographic Offering, and were joined by Limón Company dancers Savannah Spratt and David Glista. African American theater This work was restaged by a former and performance studies. Limón Dance Company member Lauren Erin Brown (SC and UMass dance professor, Paul ’98) was promoted to associate professor of Dennis. Spratt and Glista also opened History at Marymount the evening with a performance of Manhattan College. Her recent article, “‘As Long Limón’s Exiles. as They Have Talent’: Organizational Barriers As the program’s title suggests, to Black Ballet,” published in Dance Chronicle in Reflect/Respond: A Limón Dance 2018, documents the Legacy provided students a deep demand for ballet in the black community of the pedagogy that informed their dance mid-20th century and the studies with both historical context role organizations such as the Ford Foundation, New and contemporary relevance. The York City Ballet, and the UMass / Five College dancers show- Dance Theatre of Harlem played in both aiding cased the important canon that has and slowing the field’s pioneered the contemporary dance integration. world alongside a newly commis- Kiera Cecchini (UM ’17) sioned work for 14 FCD dancers by works as a substitute the contemporary choreographer teacher and freelance videographer and dance and Guggenheim Fellow David instructor. In fall 2018, Dorfman. Created as his choreograph- Kiera cofounded a local dance/artist collective, ic Reflection/Response to Limón’s Visions, in Manchester, Choreographic Offering, Dorfman’s Connecticut. In August 2019, the Visions team Picture This is a glimpse into our debuted an evening- society, our relationships and how length event featuring dance, music and film, as we might imagine a future be- well as the work of other yond the now. Earlier during the fall Manchester-based artists of all creative media. In semester, four members of the addition, Kiera starts her Limón Dance Company were in next big adventure in fall 2019: the Film and Televi- residence at UMass, participat- sion Production MFA ing in educational and community program at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, engagement capacities, teaching Connecticut. master classes at UMass and area Charnice Charmant (SC schools under the direction of ’16) cofounded Afrobeats Dance Education Professor Molly Dance Boston, a dance company and community Christie Gonzáles. organization. As its artistic director, she produces —Paul Dennis, Associate Professor performances and teach- of Dance, UMass Amherst es a free Afrobeats com- munity class for children FOWLES DEREK and adults. Moreover, as clinical research coordina- David Dorfman’s Picture This tor of the Joslin Diabetes Center, she works on studies that investigate the role of epigenetics and metabolic health on reproductive health and common diabetes complications. Emily Clark (MHC ’18) spent the summer after graduation working as an RA for the Milwaukee Ballet Summer Intensive with Jenny Spicola (MHC ’15). It was an excellent opportunity to stay in class, experience a new city and work with young dancers. Then, after a road trip back to the East Coast, she moved to NYC to live with Kimberly Neil (MHC ’17) and Helena Valvur (MHC ’18). Emily keeps busy in NYC with work/study for Mark Morris Dance Center and Peridance Capezio Dance Center—often with Maggie Golder (MHC ’18) and Lilly Katz (MHC ’15). She also works as a physical therapy aide and as a nanny for a Smith alum, and is grateful to live in NYC and be sur- rounded by so many MHC and Five College alums. Lauren Curry (MHC ’06) is the community engagement director at Indianapolis Movement Arts Collective, where she heads up a new summer program with a neighbor- hood partner, the MLK Center, in which the DEREK FOWLES DEREK Jóse Limón’s Choreographic Offering Continued on page 2 2 • FIVE COLLEGE DANCE DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER youth participants learn the production elements of making a music video HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE DANCE NAVIGATES CHALLENGES from a group of teaching artists.