Debra Brown
Choreographer

Renowned choreographer Debra Brown received an Emmy for Outstanding Choreography at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles for her efforts as the creative force behind the Cirque du Soleil’s tribute to special effects at the 74th Annual Academy Awards®. Paula Abdul (right) presented the Emmy. 

 

SCROLL DOWN TO READ DEBRA'S FULL BIO AND RECENT CREDITS...

Pressroom

Renowned choreographer Debra Brown won the 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography in her creation of a tribute that utilized the unique talents of the Cirque du Soleil, for the recent 74th Academy Awards telecast. The stunning Academy Awards tribute celebrated special effects in filmmaking and was featured throughout the telecast.  In 1997 Deba Brown, received THE AMERICAN CHOREOGRAPHY AWARDS Innovator’s Award for her imaginative and amazing work with the CIRQUE du SOLEIL, the METROPOLITAN OPERA and the CHICAGO LYRIC OPERA.   She is the choreographer for the spectacular feature film VAN HELSING starring Hugh Jackman and created a special sequence for CATWOMAN starring Halle Berry.  

 

Debra began her long relationship as principal choreographer for the CIRQUE du Soleil in 1987, her credits include their signature shows QUIDAM, ALEGRIA, SALTIMBANCO, NOUVELLE EXPERIENCE, CIRQUE REINVENTE, Las Vegas’ Bellagio Hotel’s water spectacular O and MYSTERE, the CIRQUE’s first production designed for a theatre specifically built for the company also in Las Vegas.  Disney World’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida also built a special theatre for the CIRQUE’s production of LA NOUBA, which features Debra’s brilliant concepts and choreography.  

 

In 2001, Debra Brown choreographed the aerial segment of Madonna’s Drowned World Tour in which Madonna performed thrilling aerial feats in a mystic Asian setting.  “Madonna wanted to learn how to fly and we had to be precise about her timing in the air”, Debra stated.  She has also choreographed AEROSMITH’s video JADED as well as their performance on the 2001 American Music Awards.  Her SALTIMBANCO choreography appeared on the 1993 Grammy Awards telecast with vocal artist PETER GABRIEL.  That same year, Mr. Gabriel asked her to choreograph a film for his WOMAD Festival Tour.  

 

Over the years, Debra Brown has continued to define and expand the boundaries of her art, recent work includes APOGEE, a fifty-minute trampoline-based ballet, which premiered in Toronto in 1995 and has been featured at many prestigious galas throughout North America and Europe.  Debra is now expanding APOGEE and plans to present the production for a limited run in Santa Barbara and San Bernardino in late spring of 2002.       In 1990, Debra Brown won the first ever SOVIET PRESS AWARD for most outstanding choreography, at the WORLD CIRCUS FESTIVAL in Paris for her work with the CIRQUE DU SOLEIL.  The dancers who star in MYSTERE were presented with the 1997 Best Of Las Vegas Award by Las Vegas Entertainment Magazine.  

 

In 1991, she served as choreographer for the world premiere of THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES at the Metropolitan Opera and again in 1995 at the Chicago Lyric Opera.  Also for the Chicago Lyric Opera she has choreographed Wagner’s “Die Valkyrie” and “Das Rheingold”.  The bungee Rhinemaiden scene in Das Rheingold inspired a new choreographed lexicon in international opera.  Her work in opera also includes “Daughter of the Regiment” at the Metropolitan Opera in 1995 with Pavorotti, “Ariadne auf Naxos” at the St. Louis Opera, “L’Historie du Soldat” for Theatre de l’Unite and Arts Nova in Paris, and Murray Schafer’s “Epitaph for Moonlight” with the Vancouver Chamber Choir.  

 

For the opening of GM Place in Vancouver in 1995, she choreographed and directed a stunning 26 person aerial ballet to the finale of Turandot with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, The Vancouver Boy’s Choir, and The Bach Choir.  International Special Events Magazine awarded the show as both Most Outstanding Spectacle and Best Theatrical Production.  At Opryland, Debra created an aerial extravaganza that rose on the wings of a gospel choir and danced in the midst of a dazzling pyrotechnics display.  A winner of eight national choreographic awards in gymnastics in Canada, she has worked with individuals and teams throughout North America, including Lari Fung, the 1984 Olympic Gold Medallist in rhythmic gymnastics.  

 

Other career highlights include the 1985 Opening Ceremonies for the first WORLD FREESTYLE SKIING Championship in Tignes, France; the 1990 GEMINI AWARDS in Toronto; 1994’s THE COLOUR OF MY LOVE television special with Celine Dion; and SATIE AND SUZANNE, an award-winning multi-disciplinary film with Veronica Tennant for Rhombus Media.  SATIE AND SUZANNE was nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award in the category of Best Music Video, Long From.  Additional feature film credits include the BARNEY’S GREAT ADVENTURE and Cirque du Soleil’s JOURNEY OF MAN.  

 

Always looking to reinvent the language of movement, Debra worked with the 2000 Canadian Olympic Synchronized Swimming team at the summer games in Sydney, Australia.  She also directed and choreographed CREATIVE OVERDOSE OF KINETIC ENERGY (C.O.K.E.), a multi-displinary dance cabaret, which premiered at a gala performance held in honor of the eighteen heads of state attending the AOEC Conference.  She also directed THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS spectacular presented in April 2001.  

 

Anyone who has seen Debra Brown’s inventive and often gravity-defying work will attest to its startling artistry.  Theater critic Bruce Weber of The New York Times referred to her work as “high-spirited, semi surreal and visually arresting”.     

American Choreography Awards Honoree - Innovator Award