Recently, many people know Kamille A. Brown from the world of theatre and opera. (She choreographed two hit shows on Broadway with “Gypsy” and “Hell's Kitchen.”) But that's her job with her company, Kamille A. Brown & Dancer. That's what moves her.
It was never more clearly or sharper than her latest dance, “I Am,” which premiered in New York City at the Joyce Theatre on Wednesday. Cleaning the audience for 65 minutes for fun, “I Am” is like an exclamation point for the trilogy Brown, created between 2012 and 2017 (Mr. Tol E. Rance), “Black Girl: Linguistic Play, “Ink”).
The program note explains that he imagines “I am a creative space for cultural liberation and reminds me of new ways to this world.” And it's liberated and pulsating with the sense of freedom and possibilities emanating from a great team of 12 dancers and three musicians (Deah Love Harriott on piano, Juliette Jones on Violin, Jaylen Petinaud on Drums).
Brown is extremely in-depth to contextualize the work of the trilogy, which explores various aspects of African American identity, such as the painful legacy of minstrelsy and the playful rituals of black girls' generation. It's been a long time. The first two chapters come with educational resource guides, with Brown regularly leading post-show dialogue as an extension of the work.
In “I Am,” she continues to weave signatures in the African diasporic dance style, but what seems like a bigger, bolder openness to having him dance in deep conversations with music. I'll talk about it itself. After Wednesday's performance, she shared a brief explanation: “I wanted to do something centered around joy.”
The joy of passing through “I Am” is not simply happiness or celebration. It's more complicated and multidimensional. Start simmering with the first sound of the drums. This is a Marching bandroyle that evolves into lush, original arrangements of classic R&B, clubs and hip hop. As the lights rise, a pair of dancers – the insatiable Onyxx Noel and Destini Hendricks, spikes forward through a fog blanket, sparkling shoulders, chest-pushing and stuffing hips, hips Pack it in. It's as if the Majoreto Dance had come across the “top room” of the Tuilla Tarp, and it's electricity.
The 12 sections of “I Am” maintain this energy in some way, falling into some mild or hot mood. In “Throwback #1,” the charismatic Miki Michelle, with two men stuck together, could become the star of 90s music video. In a version of “My Dad was Rosin Stone,” Curtis Thomas is wrapped in spiritual enthusiasm encouraged by his fellow dancers. In her soft, eccentric duet, Brianna Dawkins and Courtney Ross are equally overtaken by music.
The gesture of praise frequently appears throughout the piece – a heart lifted, or a finger pointing to the sky – along with lindy hops, voging, steps, breaking, and other flashes of styles and tradition. Geometric lighting projections create a retro, futuristic atmosphere at once. Especially in the larger group section, Brown organizes the space with guarantees she has always owned, but here she has a sharper focus.
This applies to her own transportation. As she makes her entrance towards the end, instrumental music gives the voice of Echo a moment with the robot, a reference to the HBO series “Lovecraft Country.” (“I Am” takes inspiration and its title from episodes of the show.) “Name yourself,” the voice says. “You're not in prison.”
At first, Brown appears to have vulnerability and self-protection, one hand reaches forward, the palm open and the other appears to have been pulled back with his fist. But as the solo progresses, she gives the music a total self-containedness, whether she lifts the stage up on the big stomping stairs or lyrically reflects the violinist.
The joy of “I” is the joy of being completely self, and is completely present in that moment. We're here, Brown and the performers seem to say – and we're here, together, we'll continue to dance to the future.
Kamille A. Brown's “I.”
Until Sunday at the Joyce Theater. joyce.org
