Charmaine Warren
  • Home
    • About Me
  • Up Next
  • Dance
    • Dance/Education
    • Dance/Performances
  • Yoga
    • Yoga/Classes
    • Yoga/Workshops
  • Consulting
  • Writing
  • Blogspot
  • Suggested Links
  • Contact Me

Joan Myers Brown | 2013 DanceUSA Honor Honoree!

6/12/2013

0 Comments

 
PictureJoan Myers Brown
Joan Myers Brown, Honorary Chairperson of IABD will receive the 2013 DanceUSA Honor Award on Thursday, June 13, 2013 at the DanceUSA 2013 Annual Conference in Philadelphia, PA.  The Honor  goes to an individual who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in  the dance field by reason of artistic excellence and/or force of  vision.

Dance/USA - Honors a Legend: Philadanco's Joan Myers Brown by Merilyn Jackson

If you ever met Joan Myers Brown, you'd know you met the epitome of  glamour.

She's the elegantly 80, legendary impresario who founded The  Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco!) in 1970. In 1988 she was a  founder of the International Conference of Black Dance Companies and in  1991 she  founded the International Association of Blacks in Dance, of  which she  is now an honorary chair. She may never have been celebrity  enough to  be chosen for the popular BlackGlama fur campaign, but she  boldly wears fur, and would wither anyone with a stare if challenged. 

Despite  limited funding and not nearly enough local appreciation, Philadanco   has toured the world for many years and Philadelphia considers Brown its  greatest cultural ambassador. This decade has brought her and the   company more local recognition and stability. In 2004, The Kimmel   Center's Perelman Theater gave Philadanco a permanent presence on the Avenue of the Arts where the troupe often sells out the house as dance company in residence. Among Brown's many awards and honorary doctorates was her 2010 Philadelphia Award. She plowed back much of the $25,000 award into beefing up Daniel Ezralow's Xmas Philes, a funny and  often moving, holiday favorite. For her extraordinary artistic   guidance, her nurturance of many dancers and choreographers, visionary   leadership, and grace under fire in the dance field, Myers Brown is one  of the 2013 Dance/USA honorees.

 interviewed her for Dance Teacher Magazine in 2003 - the first national feature she says she had. During our   conversation I mentioned that as a child I took lessons at Jay Dash Studios in Philadelphia. "Oh," Brown said, "they wouldn't let me in cuz  I'm black." So she studied with historical black dance schools in the city, including Sydney School of Dance and went on to a successful   touring career in club revues - for two and a half years at Montreal's   Café Montmartre and a tour with Pearl Bailey and Sammy Davis, Jr. Tiring of life on the road, she started her West Philadelphia dance school in 1960 and can still be reached by phone there as late as midnight. It's  where the company rehearses and families (including her own  children and  granddaughters) crowd the halls to watch their children,  Brown's  students, blossom.  Philadanco! danced its recent April program like a well-oiled machine  gunning to overtake the pack of the other Philadelphia dance companies  that perform on the Avenue of the Arts. Yet Brown still struggles for  funding to commission new choreography, which the company has proven  time and again kicks the artistic cachet over the top. Christopher  Huggins' latest work for them, Big Bang, is but one example.  Most people in the dance world know some of these  facts about her, but I  got to know Brown on a first name basis over  time and thought readers would like to hear some personal anecdotes  about my friend Joan.  For more of the article CLICK HERE

Event Info - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.

Kimmel Center for The Performing Arts - Perelman Theater
300 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
www.conference.danceusa.org
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Never miss a post
    Your email address:*
    Please enter all required fields
    Correct invalid entries
    Please choose a color:

    Categories

    All
    Articles
    Audition
    Grants
    Intensives
    Interviews
    Lecture
    News
    Opportunities
    Performance Calendars
    Positions
    Previews
    Video-clips
    What I Saw
    Workshops

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012

    RSS Feed

    My LinkedIn Profile

    Author

    I am a performer, historian, consultant and dance writer. I am a Empire State College's online program Center for Distance Learning.  I am also a former faculty member at The Ailey School and the Alvin Ailey/Fordham University dance major program, Hunter College, Sarah Lawrence College (Guest), Kean University and The Joffrey Ballet School's Jazz and Contemporary Trainee Program.  I write on dance for The Amsterdam News, Dance Magazine and various publications.  Click below to read more about me at my home page - "About Me."

    "About Me"
Proudly powered by Weebly