Ronald K. Brown has heart-to-heart talks to make dance speak

For four decades, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based choreographer Ronald K. Brown has built a body of work rooted in African diasporic traditions and resonating with spiritual transcendence and rich storytelling.

This year, his company, Evidence, celebrates 40 years of his groundbreaking works and returns to the Twin Cities after four years to perform at Northrop auditorium Thursday.

This time Evidence joins Minnesota’s own TU Dance, a company with deep ties to Brown and his work, which performed a thrilling version of his piece, “Four Corners,” this past April for its 20th anniversary.

TU Dance commissioned Brown’s “Where the Light Shines Through,” in 2017, which will open Northrop’s program in a large-scale staging featuring both ensembles.

The evening also includes “Grace,” Brown’s first commission for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and a work that helped define his national profile when it premiered in 1999, and “Percussion Bitter Sweet: Tender Warriors,” a 2024 commission honoring drummer, composer and activist Max Roach on his centennial birthday.

This conversation with the 59-year-old Brown has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: How does it feel to reach the four-decade mark of your career?

Q: You’ve said the first time you made a dance was when you were in second grade after seeing Alvin Ailey’s company. What has always driven you to create?

A: I think it was seeing dance at that concert, where you could tell stories about people in church. That lit a fire. I wanted to make dances and tell stories.

Q: You’ve lived all over the world. How have those global experiences informed your technique?

A: When I first started teaching contemporary dance in West Africa, I began to understand where I stood in this continuum of contemporary African dance. I think that was kind of enlightening.

Q: What were some of the things that you discovered?

Q: How do you make dance speak?

A: Dance is already abstract, and so the role of us as artists is to be as specific as possible with what we want to say. That’s how we make dance speak. We are talking heart-to-heart, spirit-to-spirit, with the audience.

Q: You will be collaborating with TU this time. How has that company influenced your work?

A: [Co-founder] Uri Sands was in the first piece I put on the Alvin Ailey company’s “Grace.” I was also a fan of [co-founder and artistic director] Toni Pierce-Sands for many years. When she got the McKnight Fellowship, she asked me to choreograph a solo on her and I was so happy to do that. Since then, they’ve had me and [Evidence associate artistic director] Arcell [Cabuag] come and work with the students. When they asked me to choreograph “Where the Light Shines Through,” I was so ecstatic. As we started talking about going to Northrop, we felt it’d be great if Evidence and TU could perform together. So we’re going to do a mega “Where the Light Shines Through.”

Q: What are some shared connections with TU Dance and your work?

Q: As you look back at your career, have there been dramatic shifts in your art making?

A: Definitely. Maybe in the early ’90s, I was playing a lot with gesture to help tell stories. I can see points from when I first started — how I was trying to be as physical as possible — and then how it shifted to bringing more intimacy through gesture. I can see the evolution of the work over the decades.

Q: What was your approach to create a work based on the “Percussion Bitter Sweet” album by Max Roach?

A: We were approached to create a piece to celebrate his 100th birthday. That was an amazing gift for us. It was an album that he made after a trip to Cuba. So that was really special for us to be able to help celebrate him and the music and dances from Cuba. Arcell and I listened to the music over and over, every day, and just started building material and taught it to the dancers, and it started to come together. We really love it.

Q: At Northrop, you’ll also be performing your first commission for Alvin Ailey’s “Grace.” How do you return to a historic, celebrated work like that?

Q: How has the stroke you had in 2021 impacted what you do?

A: These days, Arcell has to physically do everything because I’m still recovering. He has been in the company for 28 years, and so we teach a lot together all around the world. It’s kind of really a tag team — it’s an invaluable relationship.

When: 7:30 p.m. Thu.

Where: Northrop auditorium, 84 SE. Church St., Mpls.