2014 Emerging Artist Award-Winner, U-M dance alumnus, and assistant professor Rodney A. Brown is a choreographer and founder/director of The Brown Dance Project (The BDP) Brown connects art, performance and education by involving choreographic practice and advocacy. He has done national and international work as an HIV/AIDS educator— an activism that fuels his concern for using art and dance to enrich the community. On World AIDS Day (2011), The BDP premiered the sound of a feeling, a YouTube dance for the camera commemorating the first reported cases of HIV/AIDS in the United States. As an independent dance-maker, Brown’s choreographies have been performed in South Africa, Europe, and nationally by concert dance companies, university/college and community programs. His work has garnered commendation from the Ohio Dance Council, American College Dance Festival, and the National Society of Arts and Letters. Brown is a native Daytonian and former member of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC). His most recent ballet The Gatherer / weething (2012), continues a 15 year affiliation with DCDC. Brown has taught at University of Michigan, Spelman College, Kentucky Governors’ School for the Arts, and most recently as Artistic Director of Dance at Santa Fe College. He received his MFA in Dance from U-M and BA in Performing Arts from Oakland University. Currently Brown teaches coursework in Contemporary Dance Technique, Repertory/Performance, and Dance Composition. Class for students runs from 12:10-2 PM. Public welcome to observe the class. Each session features a different guest artist who teaches a master class and sections from their repertory—this panorama of the contemporary dance field is presented to broaden the student’s awareness of what career possibilities are out there. The guest artist conducts a 30-minute technique class/warm-up and then teaches repertory that is performed by the class. In the final 15-20 minutes faculty coordinator Bill De Young conducts a Q and A interviewing each guest artist about their career and what recommendations they have about the transition from student to professional and what they look for when they audition dancers for their projects.