by Meredith Ganzman . . . .
Three-time Tony Award-nominated choreographer and director Camille A. Brown’s newest work is the award-nominated new musical, Hell’s Kitchen. She spoke to Theater Pizzazz about choreographing the production as well as moving into a new phase of her dance career. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
TP: How have you approached transferring Hell’s Kitchen from off-Broadway to its Broadway production?
CP: I love to continue exploring things. I feel like there’s been time, you know since the show at The Public closed in January… And so how can we incorporate all of those experiences, the experiences that we had during that time, and that rehearsal process and the discoveries that we learned and everything? And then how do we continue to bring that to the next level… So I’m always thinking of how something can be better, a smoother transition, a stronger storytelling world’s like one of the ways we can always do that…. What are the ways that we can continue challenging each other in the space?… I’m thinking about the music and the orchestrations. And how can I continue to align with those orchestrations be live in alignment be in contrast? What are the ways that we can… that I can show the dimensions of the amazing music? How can I continue to do that and show that through through movement? And storytelling. And this is this is a great opportunity to do that.
TP: How have your life experiences informed your Hell’s Kitchen choreography?
CB: … I’m originally from New York City. So how can I put it? How can I contribute to this space that celebrates what I know I grew up with? You know, I started taking the subway at 13 when I went to LaGuardia High School. So how do I incorporate all of those things?… And so at 13, I was surrounded by the many different worlds when Ali talks about stepping outside of her building and seeing the many people that I had that same experience walking out of my house every day and walking into LaGuardia High School and seeing the many different kinds of people… and their fashion and their vibe and their mannerisms and how people move through space and their art… [Ali] going up the elevator flights. Well, it’s the same thing with LaGuardia. The drama department was in the basement, and the dance department was on the eighth floor, and each floor had its specific department along with our academics. But it’s just like how she’s naming the floors and who was on what I feel like the connection is very much with LaGuardia High School too. And those floors.
TP: What was it like creating the choreography for the number, “Kaleidoscope?”
CB: It’s one of the newer songs… Alicia [Keys] wrote for the show. So I am especially happy that I can provide the movement. What is the first idea of movement for this song? I get to do that. It’s just a beautiful song. And the way it starts to the way it ends, and the tremendous like hill… I call them hills and valleys, the dimensions of it, just take you know, it’s like, what is that? That gospel jam? And how can we give that gospel jam in the movement, but not be literal. There’s nothing wrong with literal, but I love playing with literal and abstract in the world. So what are the ways that we can combine those to give people, it’s like, how can we give people that that vibe and that heartbeat and that rhythm and still also show another element to it I was excited to bring the other other elements of my movement vocabulary, I feel live in kaleidoscope. It’s more tapping into my mind and dance contemporary concert dance side that in that world. So people in musical theater, I feel this is a good time for them to show that other way that I like moving bodies in space.
TP: How have the Hell’s Kitchen dancers influenced the choreography?
CB: For me, that’s part of my work. It’s, it’s the structure of the choreography. But it’s your individual choices, too. It’s like acting when we’re asking people to take a line off the page and create a story. It’s the same thing with dance, we’re asking people to use this as as material to create a world of storytelling. And when you have people who are hungry to do it and want to do it and support your vision for movement and storytelling, that’s what New York City is. New York City isn’t just one way of living. It’s all the ways. And so you have to embrace all the ways that people move in the space because, in that way, you’re honoring what the atmosphere and the life is of living and being a New Yorker. Absolutely.
TP: What was it like recently bringing Ink recently to the stage at the Wallis theater in California?
CB: … I actually had to perform unexpectedly. At the Wallis, I was expecting to be in the audience and watching the show. But, you know, we’re in these times where you just got to something happens. And you just got to shift and get in there. And it’s a part that I choreographed on myself back in 2017 when we first premiered it. So it wasn’t so far away from me because it was already in my body. It’s just that I hadn’t performed on the stage since fall 2022… I am 44. So it was about how you step into this space. And I was talking to friends and family. And they were just sharing with me, like, don’t try to step in and be what you were 20 years ago. Live in your 44-year-old body right now and celebrate it. It was great to be with the dancers. Most of the dancers that were on stage that was their first time doing that role. So that was really thrilling to see them. And then just being in the space, literally being on stage with them was great.
TP: How did you juggle working on multiple productions at the same time?
CB: I love the juggle. I love being in different mediums and being challenged in that way. The juggle is definitely challenging. There’s a lot of pressure with the juggler, because people want to see, even though I’m doing things all at the same time, people are experiencing each thing as its own entity. Right? So the expectation, the demand, the stakes are all there in each one. So there’s a pressure there that I put on myself, too… But it is hard. It is hard.
TP: What was the experience like to get back on the stage and dance with the Ink company?
CB: It was interesting because, at the start of COVID and 2020, I had just recently turned 40. And I felt like I was going through this turn in my life where I, in a sense, felt like I was possibly starting to mourn my dance career. Because I knew that my career behind the scenes as a director and choreographer was going to another place. And so I love dance. That’s how I got into this was dance. I was teased when I was younger. Dance was a way for me to express myself. So the mere fact that it’s something that I would possibly be doing less and less and less of, made me very sad. And of course with COVID we shut down so no one was doing anything for a long time. And then when we opened back up, and we were performing, we performed at the Apollo Theater and the Joyce Theater in fall 2022. And we did three of my works between the two organizations. And I was in all three of them. And I did the show I did. I choreograph the pieces at different times, 2015, 2017 and 2012. But we were doing all of them at once… I was at different ages when I was choreographing… So that was so that was thrilling to to have all of those pieces done at the same time. But then also I was still going through that mourning process because I had just finished directing and choreographing For Colored Girls, and all of my energy was in that show. I poured my entire heart into it. And so that meant that I wasn’t dancing that entire time. And then to have to suddenly be on stage… You’re on stage, under your own name. This is now my movement. And I have to be the number one representative of what Camille Brown’s movement is. And I’m, and I’m carrying this energy of like mourning. It was hard. It was really hard.
TP: How did you overcome those feelings?
CB: I had to dig within myself. You know, if this is the last time, and we don’t know, then just make it great. Live. Live. No, you don’t move the same way you did when you were in your early 20’s. And you’re not supposed to. Live in this time now. Feel what the Apollo audience in the Joyce audience feels. You know, you’ve lived life. I’ve had a career. I graduated college in 2001. So I’ve been out here for over 20 years. So put all of that experience on the stage. And that’s what I just thought to myself. And then there was the time between 2022. You know, I’m doing HK [Hell’s Kitchen]. I’m doing Soul Train. I’m going back behind the scenes, and then the Wallace unexpectedly, I have to go back on stage. And so all of those feelings of mourning and like, oh, no, now I’m even older than I was in 2020. And I was already feeling that. And now I’m 44 I had to just reaffirm the importance of living in your body and celebrating who you are now and today… With age comes wisdom… I’m still working through it. It’s almost like you holding these different feelings in your body all at once. You know, it’s almost like if you’re happy and sad… You’re happy sometimes. You’re sad sometimes. You’re happy, and you’re sad. And you have to fit and you have to feel your way through it…And my rehearsal director was saying like, there’s nothing for you to do, but for you to do your movement. This is your movement.
