Joan Myers Brown, Founder

Joan Myers Brown (affectionately known as “Aunt Joan” or “JB”) is the founder of The Philadelphia School of Dance Arts in 1960 and The Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!) in 1970.  She serves as honorary chairperson for the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), established in 1991, an organization that she laid the groundwork for in 1988 with the founding of the International Conference of Black Dance Companies.  She is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, which bestowed upon her an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts; is a member of the dance faculty at Howard University in Washington, DC; and awarded an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA. In May 2015, she received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from The University of Pennsylvania. Listed in Who’s Who in America and described as an “innovator and communicator,” Ms. Brown has made significant contributions to arts communities locally, regionally, nationally and throughout the world. 

Ms. Brown has served a broad range of organizations, including the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project; the United States Information Agency; Arts America; the National Endowment for the Arts; the state arts councils of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, Nevada, and Ohio; and the National Forum for Female Executives. Locally, she has been a part of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance; the Minority Arts Resource Council, Inc.; the Philadelphia Mayor’s Cultural Advisory Council; the Philadelphia Dance Alliance; the Women’s Heritage Society; and Dance/USA. Ms. Brown was appointed to the choreographer’s panel of the Rockefeller Foundation Arts & Humanities Program, and served as vice president (and co-founder) of the Coalition of African American Cultural Organizations. 

In 1997, Ms. Brown was honored as one of the “Dance Women: Living Legends” during a four-day series sponsored by New York-area presenters, in tribute to five African-American pioneer women who founded distinguished modern dance companies with deep roots in black communities around the country. In 2005, the Kennedy Center honored her as a Master of African American Choreography. In 2009 she received the prestigious Philadelphia Award, and November 7, 2010, was declared Joan Myers Brown Living Legacy Day. Ms. Brown was chosen as one of 2013 Dance/USA honorees “for her extraordinary artistic guidance, her nurturance of many dancers and choreographers, visionary leadership, and grace under fire in the dance field.” In 2022, Ms. Brown received Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts Visionary Award. In that year, she also received Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation’s Alan Cooper Leadership Award and was included in Forbes Magazine’s 50 Over 50 list. 

She has also received a host of other accolades throughout her career, including awards from The Philadelphia Tribune and the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and membership to the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania in 2012. She was designated as one of The Ten Best Philadelphians by Philadelphia magazine in 2012, in addition to recognition as an Outstanding Alumni of West Philadelphia High School, her alma mater. Her legacy was documented in the 2011 publication of Joan Myers Brown & the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina: A Biohistory of American Performance (Palgrave), written by dance scholar and critic Brenda Dixon Gottschild, esteemed author of several books on dance. 

Joan Myers Brown’s undisputed status as a leader in the national and international arts communities were acknowledged when she was selected to receive the 2012 National Medal of the Arts, the nation’s highest civic honor for excellence in the arts. President Barack Obama presented the prestigious honor at a ceremony that took place in July 2013 at the White House. President Obama cited Ms. Brown for carving out “an artistic haven for African American dancers and choreographers to innovate, create, and share their unique visions with the national and global dance communities.” 

In 2019, Ms. Brown received the prestigious New York Dance & Performance Award – The Bessie for Lifetime Achievement – for helping shape American dance for over six decades of generosity, artistry, and leadership in choreography, training, and mentoring dancers and emerging artists at her school and PHILADANCO!, and for championing and creating spaces for the work of African American choreographers through the formation of seminal organizations such as The International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD). 

In May 2020, Ms. Brown celebrated two landmark achievements – PHILADANCO!’s  50th year and the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts’ 60th year. 

History

The Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!)  was founded in 1970 by Joan Myers Brown. It was created out of a need to provide performance opportunities for Black dancers, who were at the time, systematically denied entrance to many local dance schools and had even fewer professional performance outlets. 

PHILADANCO!  has since grown into a professional dance company that is recognized across the nation and around the world for its artistic integrity, superbly trained dancers, and captivating performances. Established on principles of providing opportunity, inclusion, and hope,  PHILADANCO!   bridges cultural divides and consistently performs before sold-out audiences of people from diverse backgrounds and communities. 

PHILADANCO!  is a company representing a history of “first” accomplishments. In 1988, Joan Myers Brown, along with the  PHILADANCO! staff launched the 1st International Conference on Black Dance Companies with the support of The Pew Charitable Trusts, University of the Arts, the Pennsylvania Arts Council, the City of Philadelphia and the Coalition of African American Cultural Organizations. Eighty professionals attended in Philadelphia, PA, and Ms. Brown felt that a gathering of the Black dance community would serve not only her needs but also the needs of other Black  dance professionals.  In 1991, in Dayton, Ohio, at the then annual Conference,  The International Association of Blacks in Dance  (IABD) formalized and instituted an Emergency Fund for IABD artists and companies.  IABD, as a service organization, addresses the needs of the African American dance community in a supportive environment and produces an annual conference and festival. In January 2020, PHILADANCO!  and the IABD staff hosted the 32nd Annual Conference and Festival in Philadelphia where over one thousand dance professionals attended.