About

Carol Brown

Carol Brown is a New Zealand-born choreographer working at the intersection of dance, environment, architecture and performance technologies
She is the founder and director of Carol Brown Dances and a Professor of Choreography at the Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne. Brown’s work spans place-responsive choreography, dance-architecture collaborations, performance technologies, and interdisciplinary approaches to dance pedagogy. Through sustained collaborations and experimental processes, Carol investigates space, belonging, agency, and environment, creating choreographies that foster connection. Her research expands the choreographic field through transdisciplinary methods and results in live performances, screen works, curated events, lectures and writings.
Carol’s career began learning the Bodenwieser Method with Shona Dunlop-MacTavish MBE and performing with Dunedin Dance Theatre. After earning a History Honours degree she completed an MA in Dance Studies and a practice-led PhD, Inscribing the Body: Feminist Choreographic Practices (University of Surrey).
Her solo The Anatomy of Reason toured internationally and led to her appointment as the first woman Choreographer in Residence at The Place, London. There, she co-founded Carol Brown Dances with composer Russell Scoones.
Carol has made work for Scottish Dance Theatre, Verve, EDGE, Subcircle, Group Motion, New Zealand Dance Company, Touch Compass, London School of Contemporary Dance, Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Danish National School of Dance. Her work has received major funding and awards, including the Jerwood Prize, Ludwig Forum International Prize for Innovation, and a NESTA Dream Time Award. She has held fellowships and residencies internationally and, in 2025 was the Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance at the University of Otago.