Dance - Camille A. Brown: Train in vain

They tell artists to look for inspiration in their everyday lives, so Camille A. Brown had to look no further than underneath Manhattan.

“I grew up in New York, so I feel like I’ve had like 28 years to prepare for it,” says Brown, a dancer and choreographer whose 15-minute piece, “The Groove to Nobody’s Business,” will be featured in this weekend’s Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performance at the Fox.

In the dance number, strangers are waiting for a subway train, with ennui, frustration, impatience and vanity fueling the moods and group dynamic. One minute a dozing passenger causes a domino effect on the others sitting on a bench; the next minute a passenger’s persistent peek down the tunnel hole, as if watching a pot will make it boil, pique’s another’s curiosity. All the while Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say” percolates as the soundtrack.

“The thing that pulled me were how people related to each other, the fact that everybody’s waiting on the train – rush hour is the worst! – and the fact is, not only do you not want to be there, you have to be around people who you really don’t know,” says the 28-year-old, who attended the North Carolina School for the Arts. “All you want to do is get home, and sometimes the train doesn’t even come, or it’s delayed and that just makes everything go upside down.

“Hopefully, the audience will relate. They’ll see someone in the piece that they’ve seen on the train, or can relate personally with someone, or the choices that the characters make in dealing with each other. So I think when you’re in a close situation, things can get out of hand really fast, and it was a real challenge to put those things into a theatrical aspect, and to incorporate dance in it, and try and find the balance of dance and theater. Because I think it’s the type of thing that you don’t want to have one overdo the other.”

Brown is speaking by cell phone outside Tri-Cities High School in East Point, where last week she performed one of her latest works, “The Evolution of a Secured Feminine.” Moore used to perform in Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence Dance Company with Bridget L. Moore, Tri-Cities’ Repertory Dance Ensemble’s artistic director. “She asked me to come down and be a guest artist and teach a master class ... so I’m coming here to share that work with the students and the audience,” says Brown, who won’t be in Atlanta for the Alvin Ailey performance.

“The Groove to Nobody’s Business” is one of two world premieres presented by Alvin Ailey, which has helped define modern dance for nearly a half century. The other piece, “Saddle Up!”, is choreographed by Frederick Earl Mosley and features the song “Appalachian Journey” recorded by Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Mark O’Connor. There also will be company premieres, new productions and two Alvin Ailey classics including its definitive work, 1960’s “Revelations” – which underscores how the company inspires audiences and dancers alike.

“It’s definitely a spiritual connection,” says Brown, who attended Alvin Ailey’s junior division while in high school. “I think when you look at ‘Revelations,’ there’s absolutely nothing like it. It always will be fresh and pure, and it’s just so clear and beautifully crafted. I feel like I’ve really grown up in the foundation, and it’s so wonderful to actually work with artists that I remember sitting in the audience and being so enamored by, and so amazed at their beauty and their artistry ... and to now have them interpret my movement is just, that’s something that I never would have imagined to happen.”