Christal Brown
Office
Mahaney Arts Center 116
Tel
(802) 443-5677
Email
christal@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
Mondays: 10:30 -12:00; Tuesdays: 3:00 - 4:30

Christal Brown (choreographer, educator, performer, writer and activist) is a native of Kinston, North Carolina, and received her BFA in dance and minor in business from the University of NC at Greensboro. Upon graduation, Brown went on to tour nationally with Chuck Davis’ African-American Dance Ensemble and internationally with Andrea E. Woods/Souloworks. Immediately following those experiences, Brown performed with and managed Gesel Mason Performance Projects while apprenticing with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in Takoma Park, Maryland. Upon relocating to New York Brown, apprenticed with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company before finding a home with Urban Bush Women, where she spent three seasons as a principal performer, community specialist and apprentice program coordinator.

Aside from performing, Brown is the Founding Artistic Director of INSPIRIT, a performance ensemble and educational conglomerate dedicated to bringing female choreographers together to collaborate and show new work, expanding the views of women of all ages, and being a constant source of inspiration to its audience as well as members. Founded in 2000, INSPIRIT has been honored to show work at Aaron Davis Hall, St. Mark’s Church, Joyce Soho, The Lincoln Theater of Washington, D.C., and various other venues across the country.

Combining her athleticism, creativity, love for people, and knack for teaching, Brown continues to teach and create works that redefine the art of dance and the structure of the field.

DVD available in the college bookstore:



Christal Brown’s “Liquid Strength”

A technique laboratory focused on moving, intention, and analyzation

Combining the focus and intention of a meditative practice with a series of exercises designed to train the body in articulate expression as well as athletic execution, Brown’s class focuses on developing the total artist. Exercises focus on alignment, torso and spinal flexibility, clarity of focus, upper body strength, lower body strength, and abdominal control. Working to transform philosophical notions of being into movement explorations, students discover intersections between technique and performance, yielding transference.

Courses Taught

Course Description

Culture as Creative Process
This course is designed for students from a broad range of backgrounds and academic disciplines who are interested in developing their unique creative process, researching their cultural history, and creating and revising performance projects that reflect the intersection of the two. Improvisatory tools and guided imagery provide methods for developing creative work. Weekly workshops in movement from the African diaspora, regular journaling, work-in-progress showings, and feedback sessions add further depth. Students will also generate a bibliography relating to their cultural history and present the results of their research in written form. (This course can count for dance and theatre majors as ARDV 0116).

Terms Taught

Spring 2023

Requirements

ART

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Course Description

Community Dialogue Through the Arts
In this course students will learn both the theory and the practice of community dialogue through the arts. We will study the roles of community organizers, activists, artists, community members, performers, and scholars in the field of community engagement, such as The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Urban Bush Women, Crossroads Theatre, and Jan Cohen-Cruz of Imagining America. Students will collaborate to design, plan, implement, and document a community engagement project aimed at making tangible change that continues after the course is completed. Readings will be drawn from Radical Street Performance, Visions of Culture, and Imagining America Publications. This course counts as an elective towards the Dance major. 3 hrs. lect.

Terms Taught

Fall 2019

Requirements

ART, SOC

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Course Description

Introduction to Dance
This entry-level dance course introduces movement techniques, improvisation/composition, performance, experiential anatomy, and history of 20th century American modern dance. Students develop flexibility, strength, coordination, rhythm, and vocabulary in the modern idiom. Concepts of time, space, energy, and choreographic form are presented through improvisation and become the basis for a final choreographic project. Readings, research, and reflective and critical writing about dance performance round out the experience. 2 hrs. lect./3 hrs. lab

Terms Taught

Fall 2019, Fall 2023

Requirements

ART, PE

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Course Description

From Africa to the Americas: Moving from Our Core
This course is an introduction to dance emphasizing the influence of traditions from the African Diaspora on contemporary modern dance. Technique sessions incorporate styles from West Africa and Central and South America with performance work. Discussion of readings on the history and current practice of movement forms originating in Africa, as well as on the work of artists developing fusion styles, supports written and creative work. Compositional studies explore the intersection between technique, history/theory, and performance. (No previous dance experience required.) 2 hrs. lect./3 hrs. lab

Terms Taught

Fall 2021

Requirements

ART, PE

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Course Description

Choreography & Performance
This course involves concentrated intermediate-advanced level work in contemporary dance technique and choreography culminating in production. Theoretical issues of importance to the dancer/choreographer are addressed through readings, writings and practice. (DANC 0260) 3 hrs. lect./3 hrs. lab

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2024

Requirements

ART, PE

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Course Description

Dance Company of Middlebury
Dancers work with the artistic director and guest choreographer as a member of a dance company, learning, interpreting, rehearsing, and performing dances created for performance and tour. Those receiving credit can expect four to six rehearsals weekly. Appropriate written work, concert and film viewing, and attendance in departmental technique classes are required. One credit will be given for two terms of participation. Performances and tour(s) are scheduled in January. (Limited to sophomores through seniors, by audition.) (DANC 0260; Approval required)

Terms Taught

Fall 2021

Requirements

ART, PE

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Course Description

Dance Company of Middlebury
Dancers work with the artistic director and guest choreographers as part of a dance company, learning, interpreting, rehearsing, and performing repertory dances. Those receiving credit can expect daily rehearsals plus technique classes, campus performance, and tour. Appropriate written work is required. Auditions are held in the fall semester for the full year; one credit will be given for two semesters of participation. (Approval Required; limited to sophomores through seniors by audition)

Terms Taught

Winter 2022

Requirements

PE, WTR

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Course Description

Technique Workshop
This advanced physical and theoretical study of a variety of movement techniques will further prepare dance majors and minors for the rigors of performance, technical craft, and physical research. Exercises and discussions will revolve around increased subtlety, strength, flexibility, musicality, and dynamics with the goal of heightening the communicative range of the moving body. Rotating movement aesthetics taught by dance faculty. (Major/Minor Only) (Approval required)

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024

Requirements

ART, PE

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Course Description

Independent Project
(Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Fall 2019, Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024

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Course Description

Independent Project
(Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Fall 2019, Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024

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Course Description

The “good” Body
In this seminar we will examine the roles bodies play in defining our public and private identities. What indications of beliefs, access, and cultural values do our bodies provide? What counts as a “good” body? Who has one (or doesn’t), and why? The many different answers to these and related questions impact every body in our Middlebury community and beyond. Topics will include aesthetic and ideological issues relating to the body; course work includes physically based workshops, oral presentations, written analyses and creative responses. 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2019

Requirements

ART, CW, PE

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Course Description

MiddCORE
MiddCORE’s mentor-driven leadership and innovation immersion program builds skills and confidence through collaborative, experiential, and impact-focused learning. Through daily, weekly, and month-long challenges, students gain experience in leadership, strategic thinking, idea creation, collaboration, persuasive communication, ethical decision-making, cross-cultural understanding, conflict resolution, empathy, and crisis management. Acceptance into MiddCORE is by approval only. To learn more about this January's MiddCORE curriculum and to apply to the program, please visit go/MiddCOREwinter. (Pass/Fail; Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Winter 2020

Requirements

WTR

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