Review: Getting to the Essence of Camille A. Brown’s Artistry

These days, many people know Camille A. Brown from the worlds of theater and opera, where she has become a frequent collaborator on high-profile projects. (She choreographed two hit shows now on Broadway, “Gypsy” and “Hell’s Kitchen.”) But it’s her work with her company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, that brings us closest to her essence as an artist, showing us who she is, what moves her.

That has never been more clearly or piercingly expressed than in her latest dance, “I AM,” which had its New York City premiere at the Joyce Theater on Wednesday. Sweeping the audience into its flow for a joyous 65 minutes, “I AM” is like the exclamation point on the trilogy Brown created from 2012 to 2017 (“Mr. TOL E. RAncE,” “BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play” and “ink”).

A program note describes “I AM” as imagining “a creative space for cultural liberation — conjuring new ways of being in this world.” And liberated it is, pulsing with a sense of freedom and possibility that emanates from its outstanding team of 12 dancers and three musicians (Deah Love Harriott on piano, Juliette Jones on violin and Jaylen Petinaud on drums).

Brown went to great lengths to contextualize the works in the trilogy, which delved into different facets of African-American identity, like the painful legacies of minstrelsy and the playful rituals of Black girlhood. The first two chapters came with educational resource guides, and Brown regularly led post-show dialogues as extensions of the work.

In “I AM,” she continues her signature interweaving of African diasporic dance forms, but with what seems like a greater, bolder openness to letting dance — in deep conversation with music — speak for itself. After Wednesday’s performance, she shared just a brief word of explanation: “I wanted to do something centered around joy.”