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Joel Brown is a paraplegic dancer and singer-songwriter. He has toured throughout the USA and internationally. Since August 2015, he is a dancer with the UK based Candoco Dance Company. He produced two solo albums and also composed music for the films A Person Falling (2013) and You (2015) by Graham Brown. In 2013, he was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Performance. In the acclaimed duet 111, Joel Brown performs with former Scottish Ballet principal ballerina Eve Mutso.
111 is about power, physicality, and vulnerability. It is also about the dancers’ friendship, exploring the importance of emotional support in our lives.
The powerful dance piece explores interactions between the body and physical structures – our skeletons, wheelchairs. The set is a large scaffolding cage which is also integrated into the choreography.
111 premiered in October 2018 in Glasgow at the Unlimited Festival.
Dancing always played an essential role in Joel’s family. Joel’s father was a gymnast, his mother was a dancer, and all seven siblings were dancing as well.
But, at first, Joel didn’t care much for dancing. He was drawn more to sports like Basketball.
Nevertheless, like all the other children in his family, he was sent to dance lessons during his entire childhood.
In 1998, when he was 9 years old, Joel auditioned for the Utah’s Children’s Dance Theater and was accepted.
However, a month later, an unfortunate accident happened. Joel’s older brother crashed their car, packed with siblings, on their way home from a sunny day together at the lake.
Joel’s resulting spinal cord injury put an end to both dancing and the other sports he was practicing. At least temporarily.
The years went by, but then, while still in high school, Joel returned to dancing, pushed by his 10 years older brother Graham.
Graham was a dance student at the University of Maryland at the time, and he created a duet for Joel and himself.
The online magazine Wellspect writes, “I’ve Had It Up To Here became their first project together. Exploring a new form of motion, dancing, and interaction, but also confronting the accident. Trying to come to terms with the fact that Graham was driving the car that day in 1998 when Joel was injured.”
“Graham wrote the text and Joel did the original musical compositions. And the brothers have kept working together in different projects ever since.”
Today, Joel is an established, professional dancer in the UK Candoco Dance Company.
Candoco produces contemporary dance for audiences and participants and wants to challenge and broaden the perceptions of art and ability.
Eva Mutso and Joel Brown are still touring with their duet 111, which has been received very well all over the world.
This month, in December 2022, you can see them at the NCPA in Mumbai, India.
The title of their show derives from Joel having 11 working vertebrae (out of 33). Plus, from his perception that it seems as if his incredibly flexible and beautiful dance partner Eva has 100. Which together gives them 111 vertebrae.
Disability Arts Online wrote in a glowing review from 2018, “Ultimately, 111 succeeds as a rumination on vulnerability and support with fecund physicality and a few choice words. All stage performers are vulnerable. Especially in shows where pieces of yourself are laid so bare. To help overcome that vulnerability we all need structures of support. Be it our spines, our wheelchairs, or other scaffolds in our lives.”
“But the most important support of all is the emotional support of friendship. A theme this show explores and exudes in abundance.”
At this point, we could not find any further tour dates for the following year online.
However, 111 is bound to continue to make its way around the world in the years to come. Breaking boundaries, changing our perception, and building bridges as it does.
Instagram Joel Brown
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Liam Klenk was born in Central Europe and has since lived on four continents. Liam has always been engaged in creative pursuits, ranging from photography and graphic design, to writing short stories and poetry, to working in theatre and shows. In 2016, Liam published his first book and memoir, 'Paralian'.
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