Camille A. Brown & Dancers Make Lied Center Debut

Heading one of the top dance ensembles in the United States, celebrated choreographer and two-time Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown leads her dancers through excavations of ancestral stories, encouraging each dancer to embrace their unique embodiment of the artistic vision and gestural movement. The company takes audiences on journeys through race, culture, and identity, blending the styles of modern, hip-hop, African, ballet, and tap to tell stories connecting history with contemporary culture.

This event is part of the Lied Center's MOSAIC Series, which advances education and awareness on issues of social justice and responsibility through exceptional artistic programs.

Camille A. Brown & Dancers

November 10, 2022 I 7:30pm

Tickets available at liedcenter.org, (402) 472-4747, and at the Lied Center box office.

CABD is a Bessie Award-winning, NYC-based dance company advancing the artistic vision of Camille A. Brown. Founded in 2006, the company performs locally and across the world, inviting audiences into stories and dialogues about race, culture, and identity. The work uses theatricality and the aesthetics of Modern, Hip hop, African, Ballet, and Tap to tell stories that connect history with contemporary culture. Theater, poetry, visual art, and music of all genres merge to inject each performance with energy and urgency.

The company has performed at national and international venues, including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, American Dance Festival, The Kravis Center, Belfast Festival at Queen's (Belfast, Ireland). In 2014, CABD received the Bessie Award for Outstanding Production for "Mr. TOL E. RAncE."

The Lied Center performance will include:

Inspired by Mel Watkins' book, "On The Real Side: From Slavery to Chris Rock", Spike Lee's controversial movie, "Bamboozled", and Dave Chappelle's "dancing vs. shuffling" analogy, this evening-length dance theater work celebrates African-American humor, examines "the mask" of survival and the "double consciousness" (W.E.B. DuBois) of the black performer throughout history and the stereotypical roles dominating current popular Black culture.

Through comedy, animation, theater, soul-stirring live music by Scott Patterson (with original compositions from Jonathan Melville Pratt, Brandon McCune, Kurt "KC" Clayton and Scott Patterson) and poignantly retrospective dance vocabulary, Mr. TOL E. RAncE speaks to the issue of tolerance- how much Black performers had to tolerate, and addresses-forms of modern day minstrelsy we tolerate today. It is not a history lesson. Blending and contrasting the contemporary with the historic, the goal of this personal work is to engage, provoke, and move the conversation of race forward in a timely dialogue about where we have been, where we are and where we might want to be.

"I see Black people as superheroes because we keep rising." ~ Question Bridge: Black Males in America

"ink" celebrates the rituals, gestural vocabulary, and traditions that remain ingrained within the lineage of the African diaspora and reclaims African American narratives by showcasing their authenticity. The work examines the culture of Black life that is often appropriated, rewritten, or silenced.

The Lied Center is Nebraska's Home for the Arts. Located at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Lied presents the world's most iconic artists and major regional, national and international performances that entertain and inspire audiences. We offer something for everyone, including the best of Broadway, symphony orchestras, dance, music, theater and family programs. Artists at the Lied have ranged from Itzhak Perlman and Wynton Marsalis to the American Ballet Theatre and St. Louis Symphony. The Lied also is committed to educational outreach: Nearly 100% of visiting artists work with students in the days leading up to their performance. Visit us at liedcenter.org

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