CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Christal Brown never met Muhammad Ali, but spent years chronicling his story, through on-stage performances across the country.
Brown, a North Carolina native, and chair of the Dance Department at Middlebury College in Vermont, choreographed "The Opulence of Integrity," a multi-media performance inspired by Ali's career as a boxer, activist, and human being.
In January, Brown spent two weeks in residency at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where an ensemble cast performed "The Opulence of Integrity," which included recent Charlotte graduate, Shannon Thorpe.
"As we went through the full production, I learned about what his legacy was and who he was in the world and how he portrayed himself as a man," Thorpe said.
"I just know that his legacy will forever live on, and it will live on through me and so many other people that he's influenced."
Brown, along with fellow cast members have also performed the work in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts. She says her father and brother also inspired the performance, and found parallels in their lives with that with Muhammad Ali.
"My brother has been a part of the prison system, and my father lost both his legs in Vietnam," she said.
"These are two very similar situations to how Ali's life could have gone."
"The Opulence of Integrity” delves into the struggle for identity among men of color in the United States, and features six professor dancers and three actors, with a mixture of dance, spoken word, and boxing.
"We really were looking at the humanity of a man who's life is legendary," she said.
Cox Media Group
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