Photo by Dani Brown

BIO

"My artistic work feeds into a general fascination for encountering an audience, this group of strangers with whom I'm caught in a phenomenological moment 
– a moment which will never ever be repeated."

Dani Brown (03/02/80) was born and raised in Rochester, NY, a small city on Lake Ontario, with a huge gap between rich and poor and a high rate of violent crime. She completed her freshman and sophomore years at Virginia Commonwealth University dept. of Dance and Choreography. Bush was elected for his first term, and Dani thought, “I gotta get outta here”. After various, shall we say, cultural exchanges Dani finished her BDa, specialization Dance Maker at the ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem, NL (former European Dance Development Centre) in 2005. She received the danceWEB scholarship in 2009. After living in Hamburg and producing work in co-production with Kampnagel for five years, (THE INVITATION, BODY SWAP, IT’S GONNA BLOW, HOW DO YOU IMAGINE THE DEVIL?, HOME) Dani made Berlin her home in 2012. Her works for stage have been presented internationally in Europe, Africa and Asia. Dani’s most recent works THE PRESSING and CUNTED premiered in 2022 At Radial system, Berlin and online.

When she isn’t busy with her own productions, research or teaching, Dani performs both nationally and internationally for Ligia Lewis (USA/DE), Vincent Riebeek (NL), Dragana Bulut (RS/DE), Alexandra Waierstall (DE), Antje Pfundtner (DE), Heinrich Horwitz and the Japanese clothing label COSMIC WONDER Light Source.

In August 2024 she finished the first phase of her Intimacy Coordination studies with Principal Intimacy Professionals and is excited about moving into this field, continuing to empower performers and create compelling film and television. She had her first job in early Sept. 2024 coordinating for the the short film "Protagonist" by Nathalie Seidl due for release Spring 2025.

PRESS

EXCERPTS

LIK MAGAZINE, May 2013, Bulgaria, Milena Bozhikova
In her hot one woman show "HOW DO YOU IMAGINE THE DEVIL?" the new star of the German scene Dani Brown (USA / Germany) played a masterful performer on stage as a devilish tempter, constantly transforming, annihilating, and playing with the expectations and desire of the audience. An innovator of Contemporary Dance, she finished this year's edition of the ANTI-STATIC festival with a rumbling apocalyptic end. 


BLISTER MAGAZINE April 28th 2013, Bulgaria, Boris Zaphirov
Dani Brown's body while it was intended to tempt and to inspire carnal desires, rather asks reactions of self-irony. The audience seemed unable to look at themselves, in the face of the nakedness of the artist, and to laugh at their own behavior. 

The metamorphosis of the American artist simultaneously derides attitudes and perceptions of people (largely planted by religion) about the devil as a fixed image. At the same time, she creates a sense of play with the wishes of the people. 

Desires are almost always refracted through the prism of gender. She could be the idea of temptation beyond gender division. 

This again brings me back to the above topic for nudity on stage beyond sexual attraction, as if the eyes of men and women watch the naked body in the same way. The artistʼs free sexual primacy, and originality opens in the viewer a reflexive nudity, in affect stripping the audience.