For Paula Brown, ballet was an art she fell in love with at an early age. Her first teacher was her mother – a dancer who envisioned her daughter becoming a talented performer. It was at the age of ten that Paula earned her first scholarship to study classical ballet at the Jones Haywood Dance School located in Washington D.C. where she learned contemporary, ballet and pointe technique.
“My mother taught me in my early years. But I always felt [dancing] was in my DNA,” says Paula.
After graduating, her hard work paid off and she received a full scholarship to attend one of the most renowned dance schools in New York, the Alvin Ailey School of Dance.
Paula then went on to join the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble and have a long successful career. She starred in Broadway plays like The Wiz and West Side Story, making appearances in popular films like Lackawanna Blues, School Daze, and Coming to America among others. She also became the artistic director for major television specials like The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The Martha Stewart Show and Ellen.
After living in Los Angeles for some years, she returned home to Prince George’s County to care for her mother. She taught dance at schools in the area before deciding to open her own dance studio in 2014. Since then she has never looked back.
Today, Paula’s dance studio has evolved into The Paula Brown Performing Arts Center, offering a variety of classes from beginner to professional. She is certified in the Vaganova technique, a Russian ballet technique that uses a full-body, step-by-step approach with movements encompassing the arms, legs, core and facial expressions that support each other rather than the legs propelling movement. She implements the Vaganova method in her training programs and teaches students as young as three years old the foundations of classical ballet that increase their awareness of their entire body.
“Dancing is all I’ve ever done. It is my life,” says Paula. “I had a conversation with a mentor and she emphasized to me the importance of passing the torch. That is why I do this.”
As the Founder and Artistic Director, she manages the responsibility of training her students, choreographing the productions and setting the creative vision for performances.
Recently, Paula held a “Black Swan Soiree” ballet recital at Prince George’s County Community College’s Performing Arts Center with the theme “Tapestry of Talent and Tranquility”. Stage performances included twenty numbers and guest performers that included three P.G. County youth dancers.The event kicked off the beginning of what will be a busy summer for the performing arts center which will be hosting a Summer Ballet Intensive program for dancers who want to experience two weeks of quality training in classical ballet, pointe, contemporary, Horton and jazz. Paula is also hosting Princess Dance Camp for dancers between the ages of 3 and 10 to help develop their dance skills, teach various styles and build their confidence.
Paula’s Performing Arts Center is home to Brown Ballerina’s Global, a program with a mission of addressing the lack of diversity and inclusion within the classical ballet world by offering training, mentorship and opportunities for ballerinas of color to excel in the art. The program brings her U.S. and South African dance students together to train and master the proper techniques.
Paula began mentoring students virtually in South Africa during the pandemic after two women from the country reached out to her through Instagram requesting lessons for their dance students. Last year, she brought 33 dance students from South Africa to Maryland for her Summer Intensive and plans to continue doing so with support from the local community.
“Ballet is a European art and I found that it was a challenge to find schools that can teach proper classical ballet,” says Paula. “I wanted to bridge the gap between classical ballet here and South Africa.”
Paula’s long-term vision for Brown Ballerinas Global is to form a touring dance company of competitive youth dancers that perform in different countries to showcase the beauty of diversity in ballet and expand opportunities for dancers of color. The program will be for young girls between the ages of 11 and 16-years old.
“It’s something that’s never been done,”says Paula. “I want people to know who we are and that we exist.”
