Two years after a life-threatening stroke restricted his mobility, choreographer Ronald Ok. Brown stays a artistic pressure.
“I just keep showing up and working, and one of my mantras is ‘work for the sake of the work and not for the sake of the goal,’” mentioned Brown, as his Brooklyn-based dance firm Proof labored by a bit for this 12 months’s Dance Parade.
It’s referred to as 4 Corners, a bit he initially debuted with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater a decade earlier.
What You Want To Know
- Choreographer Ronald Ok. Brown is serving as one of many grand marshals of this 12 months’s Dance Parade
- Regardless of a life-threatening stoke that restricted his mobility, he stays a artistic pressure by his dance firm Proof, which relies in Bedford-Stuyvesant
- Brown’s work has been described as a mix of up to date, West African and Caribbean kinds
“Dance is a place where we communicate spirit to spirit, because choreography for me is something that can’t be written. It’s only when people see it and witness it, that it’s speaking to their heart,” mentioned Brown.
Whereas he could keep seated throughout rehearsals, he may be very a lot in cost whereas working alongside his companion and affiliate creative director Arcell Cabuag.
“Ron is still giving notes as he always does, for every moment, every gesture, every count, every rhythm,” mentioned Cabuag.
Brown is honored as one of many Dance Parade’s grand marshals this 12 months. It’s a nod to his legacy and resiliency. The celebration options a couple of hundred kinds of dance and expression.
Brown’s work has been described as a mix of up to date, West African and Caribbean kinds, which he’s mastered all through a dance profession that dates to the Eighties.
“In 1985, I looked at the dance landscape [and] I didn’t see a whole lot of myself. I knew I needed to make space for evidence,” mentioned Brown.
Thirty-eight years later, his firm goes sturdy in residence at Restoration Plaza in Bedford Stuyvesant, coincidentally in the identical studio the place he took his first dance class as a child.
“I grew up like three blocks from here,” mentioned Brown. “So how amazing is it that the boy who was afraid to take dance classes now has a company in residence in that same studio?”
He’s embracing serendipity and welcoming this stage of his profession regardless of his bodily setbacks.
“It’s just been learning how to live again, learning how to grow up again, so it’s another blessing,” he mentioned.
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