As a native of Columbus, Ohio, Gamal Brown embodies what it means to be a dancer and choreographer. His performance and leadership abilities has afforded him performance opportunities as well as choreographic mentorship. Receiving direct support from Alfred Dove and the Dove Arts Project as well as, principal dancer with the Thoissane West African Dance Company under the direction of Abdou Kounta and Suzan Bradford-Kounta.
As a dancer, Gamal trained at Wright State University Dance Department and Jeraldyne’s School of the Dance (Home of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company). Gamal has toured West Africa to study Senegalese dance with dance masters from the National Ballet du Senegal. His studies have also taken him to Washington, D.C., to develop his technique through dance workshops with Kankouran West African Dance Company under dance master and artistic director Assane Kounta and Dom Gueye. He has studied with Mari Bass-Wiles, artistic director/founder of Maimouna Kieta School of West African Dance in Brooklyn, NY. Gamal participated in a summer intensive program under the direction of Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, artistic director/founder of Urban Bush Women in Brooklyn, NY.
He was a guest artist with YouthMet (Ballet Met Outreach Program) with April Berry, former principal dancer of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company. He has also collaborated with Lee Edwards, former dancer with The Dance Theater of Harlem, and artistic director for NJB Dance Company.
As a choreographer, his work continues to challenge audiences to rethink the social, political and cultural significance of dance. He was commissioned by Judah Performing Arts Company to create a work for women’s suffrage titled Stand (2010) paying homage to the matriarchs of black family culture.
He choreographed, Mo's Lament (2012), a haunting testament of a dear friend’s ongoing trials of life.
Gamal wrote a choreo-poem, The Colored Section (2012), a realistic view of some of the worst atrocities of human kind; lynching and segregation. While partnering with a local dance studio, he co-founded, OYO Dance Company. The first production, 6 + 1: Seven Deadly Sins (2016) was written, directed and co-choreographed by Gamal Brown. As an independent artist, he built a production house, Onyx Productions, and produced ROHO: Spirit (2017), 8 individual ballets that provided the timeline for his dance biography. In 2018, he accepted an offer to direct a choreo-poem, Inside the Riot (2018), a collection of writers works officiated by the Maroon Arts Group, a non-profit social justice advocacy organization.
Gamal is also a graduate of the Lincoln Theater Incubation Program (2018). He was awarded the 2018 and 2019 Columbus Dances Fellowship sponsored by Columbus Dance Theater and the Greater Columbus Arts Council. He has recently been awarded the autumn: 2019 Community Arts Fellow from The Ohio State University African and African American Studies and Cultural Extension Center. Produced work for the Columbus Museum of Art – Wonderball (2019), and DiverCity Project (2016 - 2019). He was accepted into the inaugural cohort of Emerging Black Dance Choreographers sponsored by Cleveland based dance company Mojuba!
Gamal Brown was commissioned to create a production for the King Arts Complex in commemoration of the 400 years since the first documented arrival of enslaved Africans who came to English America. The show is aptly named, 20 & Odd, the recorded number of captured on the ships manifest. Continuing his artist advocacy, Gamal was named the Artistic Director for the King Arts Complex, HeArt of Protest (HOP) movement. The purpose of the protest was to illuminate the disenfranchisement of Black people as well as the mal-treatment and unfortunate murders of citizens at the hands of police. The capstone of HOP was its 45 days (non-consecutive) of artist protest events starting with Juneteenth and ending on November 3rd; Election Day.
He has been honored by the Ray Miller Institute for Change and Leadership; Cycle V Graduate, House of Representatives of the 127th General Assembly of Ohio; Commendation, Columbus City Council; Honoree, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas of Domestic Relations and Juvenile Branch; Resolution, The General Assembly of the State of Ohio – Ohio Senate; Commendation. Gamal has been appointed by the mayor of Columbus, OH to serve as one the commissioners for the Columbus Arts Commission.