Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Camille A. Brown’s triumphant I AM celebrates Black joy and dance’s capacity for transcendence

• By drediman
• February 7, 2025
• No Comments

Last night at The Joyce Theater in Chelsea, Camille A. Brown unveiled her latest full length work I AM to New York audiences. Altogether, it was a triumphant premiere from this increasingly in-demand choreographer that electrified the opening night audience. Inspired by an episode of the HBO series Lovecraft Country (in the episode, a woman finds herself in an alternate universe, where she has the ability to morph into whomever she wants), the new piece is in short an unabashed celebration of Black joy — I AM imagines a blank slate in which Blackness can proliferate in all its glory and distinct flavors.

Few choreographers have been able to capture the sheer elation of the act of dancing as Brown can. Using an irresistible dance vocabulary that fuses step dancing, voguing, street dance, and hip hop, the choreographer’s works have interrogated the past in order to redefine the present. I AM feels like a culmination of her efforts, looking instead to a radically imagined future in which all social connotations have been erased, thereby leading the way to communal transcendence (in this sense, the work feels like a sort of companion piece to Kyle Abraham’s recent full length ballet Dear Lord, Make Me Beautiful, which recently graced the Park Avenue Armory). In this brave and inclusive new world, dancers are able to ecstatically manifest their authentic selves — vulnerabilities included — in a seductive and energetic fantasia of solos, duets, and ensemble segments (Brown herself, defiant and regal, appears in one of the solos). Set to sensational original music of Deah Love Harriott, Juliette Jones, Jaylen Petinuad, and Martine Wade — gloriously played live by a trio of musicians — the piece can’t but explode off of The Joyce stage.

Brown’s company of dancers are a complete delight from top to bottom, delivering ample flair and individuality throughout. Suffuce to say, the dancing seethed with declarative empowerment, living up to backdrop projections of proclamations like “Rise” and “Elevation”. Their dynamic interaction with the music-making was a particular highlight of their performance, as was their infectious call-and-response engagement with the audience, which brought a unique immersive element to the experience. But above all, they made dancing look just plain fun, as if they were kids simply having fun at a playground. Indeed, an indelible sense of vitality courses through I AM.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I AM
Dance
The Joyce Theater
1 hour (without an intermission)
Through February 9