Ronald K. Brown was nineteen when he created a solo called Evidence (1985), a work which turned out to hold the philosophical basis of his choreography and company. Brown believes that dance can give evidence to the way we are brought up, the ways in which we interact with one another. Born in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brown has traveled to West Africa and Cuba exploring movement in the African diaspora. His movement vocabulary fuses West African dance forms, both modern and postmodern dance, and elements of hip hop. His many Pillow appearances include a memorable solo that he created in tribute to Katherine Dunham in 2002 as well as the world premiere of New Conversations in 2018. For the opening of the Pillow’s 65th Anniversary Season in 1997, Brown recreated an iconic solo that had been performed by Asadata Dafora himself during the inaugural season of the Ted Shawn Theatre, 55 years earlier. The original program note for this dance reads, “A warrior imitates the graceful but powerful movements of the ostrich, King of the Birds.”
EXPLORE JOHN PERPENER’S MULTIMEDIA ON ASADATA DAFORA
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