Amelia Brownell is a dancer and choreographer based in the Chicago area. She basically grew up at her childhood dance studio right outside of the city, performing in two youth companies. She now attends Skidmore College in upstate New York, where she is pursuing a degree in Dance with minors in Arts Administration and Spanish. Amelia has had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Robert Battle, Monice Bill Barnes, Shakia “The Key” Barron, Ching Ching Wong, Maleek Washington, and Moscelyne ParkeHarrison.
She has presented original choreographic works at the Skidmore Dance Theater and Tang Teaching Museum on campus. During the summer of 2025, she received the Kathy and Charlie DiSanto Student Opportunity Fund and Pat and Sven Peterson Scholarship Program to attend summer intensive programs. She is a Member At Large with the Barnhill Movement Collective, and in January will set her first commissioned work on the company at her former high school.
When not dancing, she loves to be outside, read, and enjoy good coffee.
Artist Statement
I dance to seek expressions for the indescribable.
to find resolution between body, mind, and soul.
to develop relationships, both dancer-audience and dancer-dancer.
to ask questions and challenge conventions.
My movement is about finding grooves and breaking out. Pulling from the familiar and the uncomfortable, I am equally interested in the internal sensation of a movement and the external imagery it evokes. I value meaning-making over pure athleticism. In my approach to choreography, I believe in decentralizing Eurocentric conventions and instead recognize the value of all dance traditions and experiences.
On my continual journey towards accessing and embracing my own movement style, I work to empower others to dance honestly and assimilate movement into their unique anatomy. I use sound, staging, and movement to develop little ephemeral worlds, passing visceral emotion from dancer to audience. My dancing is a holistic process: instinctual, intellectual, and necessary. That my art may be able to touch others and effect change is a profound honor.
Photo credits: Cassidy Tryon