Dr. Benita Brown

Dr. Benita J. Brown is a retired Professor of Dance at Virginia State University. She served as coordinator of the minor in dance within the Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Dance, and Sport Management from 1999. During her tenure, she created the dance curriculum at Virginia State University, which includes classes in African-Caribbean Dance, Modern Dance, Jazz Dance, Ballet, Dance Repertory, Dance Composition, and History of Dance. She is the founding director of VSU’s Sankofa Dance Theatre (1999), a performing arts group composed of students who minor in the dance program at Virginia State University. This performing arts/dance troupe has performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New York, New York, and Washington, D.C., as well as throughout the Richmond, Chester, Petersburg, and Hopewell, Virginia area.

Dr. Benita Brown graduated from Temple University’s Boyer School of Music and Dance, where she received the Future Faculty Fellowship and Dissertation Fellow in Dance. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the School of Communications and Theatre, a Master of Education, and a Doctor of Education in Dance from Temple University. She is the recipient of the Choreographer’s Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, the 5-County Arts Fund from Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Presenters Stipend from the Virginia Commission of the Arts, and Virginia’s African-American Heritage grant from the Virginia Foundation for Humanities and Social Change, the Research Initiation Grant from Virginia State University, FIPI grant from the University of Puerto Rico in 2010 and the Curriculum Integration Travel Grant. Dr. Benita Brown’s research interests include the study of dance throughout the African Diaspora insofar as the performative studies of spiritual and social dances are concerned. Her recent dance productions include Black History Through Dance, For the Love of Dance, A Tribute to Duke Ellington: A Dance Drama, Everything’s Copasetic: the Bojangles Exhibit, Stormy Weather: a Theatrical Dance and Lecture Demonstration, The King’s Horsemen, (Directed by Chirs Olsen), and Private Dancer: A Choreopoem, (Chris Olsen, co-producer). She has published with Scarecrow Press, Myth Performance in the African Diasporas: Ritual, Theatre, and Dance, Cambridge Scholars Publishing (United Kingdom) Performative Inter-Actions in African Theatre I: Diaspora Representations and the Interweaving of Cultures, African Performatives, The Women’s Folkloric Encyclopedia, The Virginia Journal, and the Philadelphia Folklore Project’s Works in Progress as well as with Cengage Publishers. Some of Brown’s lecture topics include: “The Orisa Paradigm: African-derived Mythology and Folklore and Kinesthetic Dance Performatives,” “Rhythm and Blues: The Line Dances of Philadelphia,” “Boppin’at Miss Mattie’s Place: Regionalism, Place, and Space in North Philadelphia,” “Social Dance as a Function of Ritual Dance,” “Earth, Wind, and Fire: African-derived Ritual Dance in America, and Dancing with Soul: The Performances of Yemoja, Oya, and Osun. She has performed with The African Diaspora Dance Troupe, Kariamu and Company, JAASU Ballet, and Kulu Mele African Dance and Drum Company, all located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has studied dance and presented research in dance in Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Morocco, Bahamas, Jamaica, and Wales. Dr. Brown is also a Sloane-C (now OLC) certified online instructor, An ACUE Certification in Online Instruction, and a Quality Matter Peer Reviewer. She is a member of the ACUE Virginia State Cohort for Fall 2021-2022. She is also a committee member of the Justice ACED Committee and the Wellness through Line Dance Coalition.