Final Fridays - Bernard Brown

Part I

Part II

Bernard Brown is a magnificent dancer, dedicated activist, educator, and skilled storyteller born and raised in Los Angeles. He is one of the dance artist we have worked with the most, so we are thrilled to feature him in this two-part video for our Final Fridays programming, where we explore the artist’s who have shaped homeLA, dance and the places we call home.

Bernard's first homeLA: Alison D’Amato, Solos for the Home, at the JB Merrill House. Through processes of choreographic translation, Bernard captures the feeling of the unfiltered, unencumbered self-expression that comes from singing and dancing alone in your room.

For Bernard, the personal is political. This is overtly evident in many of his contributions to the field, such as his social justice dance company, Bernard Brown/bbMoves; and the choreographic works explored in this video: Box (2016), houseboy(2017), Processing Sugar Notes (2018-ongoing), Come.Unity (2018), and A New (2020-2021).

Bernard Brown drew inspiration from the site for his performance Box at Victoria Park. Drawing from the colonial-style architecture of the neighborhood and housing covenants of the past, Brown leans into black history to tell a story about hope. Bernard has since performed Box over 25 times–making homeLA an incubator for creative dance practice.

Over the years, Bernard asks us to reimagine black and queer history and agency through a lens of social justice. A 2018 NYT article, that situates Bernard in the lineage of California dance artists: Ted Shaw, Ruth St. Denis, Lester Horton, and Bella Lewitzky, and distinguishes Bernard’s work as a narrative dance style that’s rare in contemporary dance.

Bernard Brown’s choreography and performances excavate the ways in which art can transform, create ripples of empathy, and foster healing. Brown performed houseboy in the downstairs kitchen of Neutra’s VDL House in Silver Lake, dancing in a floral apron. This intimate solo explored queerness, domesticity, and the historical implications of labor on a male black body.

Thanks to Bernard Brown and Andrew Mandinach for weaving together a truly moving narrative. We hope you enjoy getting to know Bernard Brown, just as we have over the years.

Thank you, Bernard! ❤️