Interview with Sanchel Brown

Sanchel Brown is an international dancer/choreographer/actress originally from Baltimore, MD. She has obtained her B.F.A from Virginia Commonwealth and has extensively studied movement of the African Diaspora in Senegal, West Africa under the direction of GermaineAcogny at L’Ecole De Sable. Sanchel is currently based in Philadelphia,PA and has had the honor to work with many choreographers in the Mid Atlantic region including Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Maria Bauman, Paloma Mcgregor, Jumatatu Poe, David Brick and many others. Her past performance credits include Urban Bush Women's "Chalabati" and "Batty Moves",”Black Nativity”, “The Kimmel Center’s Kinetic Tree Show”, “JAMAICA the Musical”, ”Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope”, “First World Theater’s Say He Had More Than A Dream”, Freedom Theatre's “Black Nativity” and many more. She is a 2015 Barrymore Award nominee for Best Lead Actress in a Musical and winner for Best Ensemble for her outstanding performance as “Mary” in Theater Horizon’s production of “Black Nativity”. Her choreography credits include Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls”, New Freedom Theater’s “Black Nativity”, Pulliam Button Hole's  "One More River To Cross"as well as her self-produced show, “Ode to Black Wombman”. Her teaching engagements include Gibney Dance Center, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Dancing Grounds, New Freedom Theater, University City Arts League, Drexel University,University of the Arts, North Carolina Undergorund Dance, Dogtown Dance Theatre and more.

Talk a bit about your work in the space

Title : “Ode To Black Wombman”


Inspiration:I was inspired through my personal life story. I begin working on womb wellness and spiritual elevation through Queen Afua’s Sacred Woman Ascension Program 

Materials: My “Magical “ fabric I grabbed while visiting the continent, a white candle, and a felt mask of the black woman’s face created by visual artist Nastassja Ebony.


What does The Colored Girls Museum mean to you and your artistry?

The Colored Girls Museum has unveiled a deep confidence and truth that my work scratched the surface with previously. It causes me to look at myself as a colored girl in fine detail and explore the simplistic variations of my being.


Why is The Colored Girls Museum important?

There’s no place in the world like it. There is a calling for images of the original woman and not all places are clearly delivering it. Having this museum not only puts the invisible images of the black woman directly into the art world it feeds each and every woman the words, sounds, feelings that are unique to the black experience directly to them. It gives black people a chance to exhale and give thanks for “black tradition”. We are often depicted as ghetto and worthless in mainstream media, so much that we begin to believe it. This museum shows us the magic sparks in us all. Clearly defines sankofa, reach back to fetch, because our past is here with us now as well as our future. We must embrace who we are fully and the museum gives us the space to do so.