We recently had the pleasure of interviewing local dance artist Kenny Brown. Brown is an award-winning Columbus-based dancer, choreographer, and dance educator. He has had the opportunity to perform and create in a wide variety of shows and with a host of companies including CDance Company for the Arts' “The Adventures of Pan”, “The Black Nativity”, Onyx Productions' “The Colored Section”, Columbus Contemporary Dance Company, “Renaissance Magic”, Thiossane West African Dance Institute, and New Vision Dance Company. He also holds a Theatre Roundtable “Excellence In Chorography” award for State of The Arts Productions' “The Color Purple.” As a dance educator for over 13 years, he has had the opportunity to teach in a variety of studios in Columbus, Gahanna, Worthington, Powell, Canal Winchester, Dayton, Mansfield, Marion, and at Ohio Wesleyan University. Despite success in the competitive dance space, his primary focus is the development of honest artistic expression in his students and any dancer he has the honor of working with.

Kenny’s breadth of experience means that he has the privilege of navigating diverse and multi-faceted circles of dance and performance in the greater Columbus and surrounding areas. Below you can read his responses to questions that we asked:

Q: How would you describe your art?

A: I would describe my art as particularly purpose-driven. While I have a respect for those that engage in "art for art's sake" (a nebulous phrase in and of itself), I steer much more heavily towards art with a very specific purpose or message. Sometimes that is educational, sometimes that is entertainment, sometimes that is expressive and all the combinations and permutations in-between. I think at times we can silo different types of art or genres of art into fields of expression vs technique, but there is definitely a balance that exists regardless of craft that I try my best to tap into.

Q: What has your experience been making art in the Columbus dance community?

A: Varied is the best word I can think of. The Columbus dance community is both incredibly small and tight knit and frustratingly separate at the same time. It's like we've created these circles of influence around styles and genres and backgrounds that can be navigated by a chosen few, but that keeps the majority of dance artists existing in a fractured piece of the dance scene. In places like New York, LA, Chicago, the usual suspects, the community is so vast that those natural boundaries exist because there really isn't a way for a community that large to be integrated. Columbus, while not the smallest city, hasn't yet reached the scope where it has to be so separated. We all have so much to offer one another from background and perspective to criticism and growth opportunities to potentially never before seen collaboration, but for the time being I have to kind of be content as one who has been able to, somewhat, navigate in and out of different dance spheres, enriching my art along the way.

Q: We know that you are making work right now. In light of the current social climate, can you tell us about how you navigate the difficulties of making art in the current moment? How did it go?

A: It has been a very interesting prospect. I've never had to be so cognizant of the audience for, individuals involved in, and composition of my recent pieces. One, a dance film I was commissioned to conceptualize and choreograph, was for a local dance company that has a primarily white dancer base that wanted to speak out against systemic racism. How do I reconcile my personal vision and perspective with that of the Artistic Director of this company and the majority of the members of this company that cannot fully understand how that perspective was formed? How do I allow them, empower them to express their own unique pain and sadness at what has continued to happen around them without them feeling disqualified for it? How do I convince my black village that it's not a ploy to take advantage of the pain of our community like so many others have done? How do I convince my white village that these issues aren't just black ones, that their voices need to be heard, and that watching/sharing/participating in a dance video isn't enough? Part of my job was concept and choreo, but the other part was preparing them for what was definitively to come. Because no matter what the intent, no matter the spirit behind it, you cannot control others' perceptions about what you create. The question then becomes, knowing all this, "Is it still worth it?", to which the answer, for me, is nearly always "Yes." The other societal issue is of course Covid-19, which has made the development of projects a herculean effort. The other project, my independent spoken work short film, had many who really wanted to be there to help support and show solidarity. The spirit was there, but the risk for many was just too high despite my best efforts to create a safe environment for all involved. I am happy with the outcome and appreciate all those who made it and all those who wanted to, but couldn't. But there's definitely still that nagging "what if?" for the difference between the visual impact of what I had vs. what could have been.

Q: We saw that you were recently involved in making work with people in person. Can you speak about how it was different this time than it has been in the past? How did it feel? What were your thoughts?

A: It was weird for me. The artistic process for me has always been very familial. I touch when I teach to show the corrections so they can feel what it's supposed to feel like, not just hear me tell them what to fix. In the creative process, I usually end up really close with those I work with if we weren't to begin with, so hugs all around, etc. Working at a distance and just providing direction that way felt very sterile for me. It was like when you read one of those "what it's really like" articles where they tell you how cold and unemotional everything is. Particularly with my recent pieces, emotions were raw and at an all-time high with no interpersonal outlet for it save for the art itself...

Q: What are your hopes/dreams/desires for dance in Columbus, your dance or otherwise?

A: First and foremost, I would love for dance to be a more viable means of making a living in Columbus, OH. It would be amazing to see more working artists instead of working, working, working, working, and eventually leaving or quitting, artists especially in non traditional formats. I would love to be able to explore more of the circles and, ideally, start to help blur those lines both for my own personal knowledge and edification, as well as for all that we can teach and learn from one another.

Q: What other Columbus based artists are you inspired by right now?

A: Oooooh...Always and forever Gamal Brown. He's simply brilliant and amazing and knowledgeable and provocative. For anyone not familiar with his work, FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF IMMEDIATELY. Donald Isom, is one that I have seen tremendous growth out of. His foundational style that he brought to the city for the most part was Krump. But he's gone from establishing that community here to now getting involved in other styles, experiencing new things and creating art with it, and teaching at OSU on the actual foundation of hip-hop as a culture in addition to the dance forms attributed to it. Very dope stuff. TrigNo is a local renaissance man as far as art is concerned. He's an incredible dancer and instructor who is also a successful writer and rapper that has found a way to balance out all of the incredible creativity that is bursting out of him. I want to give an honorable mention to a newly local, non-dance artist.

Sterling Carter is a videographer that I worked with on my most recent project based on the previous work I'd seen from him. The man is just phenomenal at his craft. Being able to capture bodies in motion, fully engage with and add to your vision, an art is and of itself, and the level of professionalism and quality is incredible. I know we live in an age where we feel like we can record everything with a camera on our phones, but the way he enhances what we do is absolutely inspirational to me.

Shout out to CDA for providing a platform for local dance artists that frankly didn't exist before. Shout out to the Maroon Arts Group for providing opportunities, resources, and programming for the marginalized communities in Columbus. And shout out my dancer/instructor/choreographer wife, Cherelle Brown, for somehow being dope at literally everything she does (seriously, we have her artwork hanging and not for savior of marital bliss purposes).

Columbus Dance Alliance would like to pass on our gratitude to Kenny Brown for candidly sharing so much of about his process and output. We were so struck by that Kenny is working towards, educating about, and bringing awareness to, particularly in our local sphere! We were able to engage Kenny most deeply about his commitment to seeking out and immersing himself in collaboration as a driving force of art making. As a part of his elaboration on this subject, he imparted to us,

My parents were both products of the inner city, Mt. Vernon and Windsor Terrace, respectively, but made a conscious decision to move into an area that, while still urban, allowed me to go to school in a suburban school district for most of my educational career. This meant that I had two different sides of my social world where school and education-based social life was very predominantly white and home, church, family, friends circles were predominantly black. It made for some interesting birthday parties, but it also showed me how different my experience was as I watched how uncomfortable the two sides were until I bridged the gap. This was true from a social hierarchy standpoint as well. I was an athlete AND a singer AND and an actor AND a Mathlete navigating groups of people as friends who would otherwise not really exist in each others spheres. The other part comes from how late I was introduced to the "formal" dance world. I was always considered a good dancer, but learned primarily through interpersonal study of street style dancers, osmosis from being around them, watching and learning whatever was trendy, and from my musical theater background. I didn't start until very late in life taking formal classes at my high school during junior year. I did, and do, struggle with feeling like, from a technical standpoint I am just not good enough. But what I lacked in training I tried to make up for in energy, attentiveness, hard work, and study. I looked at every opportunity to learn with respect because there was nothing that made me feel superior to anything. I refused to allow there to be a question as to whether my heart was in it regardless of what my body was capable of. I realized, from being in a hip-hop/street dance culture and a formal, traditional dance setting that there is a wide spectrum of the way that people learn, grow, and express themselves none of which should be cast aside. So collaboration comes easier because I've never felt like my way is the "right way" or "only way" and I'm always open to exploring more of my craft and more perspectives. I see creating art in any capacity as a challenge, but open collaboration provides a unique opportunity for learning and growth on all sides of the process. I don't necessarily always find the "sweet spot." Especially when working with developing dancers, they have a lot of self-exploration to do before they really know who they are as a person and a dancer, honestly we all do. So, rather than trying to pull or push in a specific direction, I try to open new doors or light different pathways to provide more choices for them based upon a new perspective and their own personal feelings.

It has been invaluable to us to learn not just about Kenny Brown the artist, but about the unique history that Kenny has lived that led him into the present. If you are interested in learning more about or supporting Kenny’s ongoing work, follow him on Facebook @kbdaceexp and Instagram @kbdanceexp, or donate via CashApp ($kbdance) or PayPal (paypal.me/kbdanceexp).