Christal Brown
Associate Professor of Dance
- Office
- Mahaney Arts Center 116
- Tel
- (802) 443-5677
- 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
ARDV 0117
Culture As Creative Process
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
Requirements
DANC 0160
Introduction to Dance
Course Description
Introduction to Dance
This entry-level dance course introduces movement techniques, improvisation/composition, performance, experiential anatomy, and the history of 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
Requirements
DANC 0163
From Africa to the Americas
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
Requirements
DANC 0360
Choreography & Performance
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
Requirements
DANC 0380
Dance Company
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 each term of participation. Performances and tour(s) are scheduled in January. (Limited to sophomores through seniors, by audition.) (DANC 0260; Approval required)
Terms Taught
Requirements
DANC 0381
Dance Company of Middlebury
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 each semester of participation. (Approval Required; limited to sophomores through seniors by audition)
Terms Taught
Requirements
DANC 0460
Upcoming
Performance & Production
Course Description
Performance & Production
In this course we will investigate three aspects of place in relation to dance: where we source movement, the relevance of dance in culture, and the effects of place on the moving dancing body. Material covered will include body systems dance technique at the intermediate/advanced level, improvisation and composition toward choreography and site specific work, readings and reflective writing, and performance viewing. The course culminates in formal and informal showings of performance work. The emergence of a personal philosophy and dance aesthetic will be engaged and formally articulated in writing. (DANC 0260, DANC 0360) 4.5 hrs. lect./2 hrs. lab.
Terms Taught
Requirements
DANC 0470
Technique Workshop
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. (DANC 0260) (Major/Minor Only) (Approval required)
Terms Taught
Requirements
DANC 0500
Upcoming
Independent Project
Course Description
Independent Project
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
DANC 0700
Upcoming
Independent Project
Course Description
Independent Project
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught