With this thought in mind, Blanche Brown returned to college to study dance in 1970. Becoming a dancer at the age of 35 could be considered by some to be an unrealistic goal, but Blanche Brown has lived her entire life defying limitations. The mother of three young children and the wife of a charismatic, rising politician, Blanche had her life role clearly defined early on, a role seemingly set in stone. The cultural limitations o black women in the 50's were stifling. "There were very few places for blacks to study ethnic dance....no existing forum for cultural study in the fifties," remembers Blanche.

The awakening ethnic consciousness of the late 60's propelled her into an in depth study of African-American Culture. Through the study of physical education and dance at San Francisco State, Blanche explored all the possibilities of movement, from afro-Haitian, ballet, jazz, folk dance and tap.Simultaneously, Blanch began to dance with the Wajumbe Performance Ensemble, Including African based dance forms in her repertoire. With Wajumbe, Blanche performed all over California at colleges, universities, community centers...even prisons! Blanche graduated from San Francisco State University in 1974 with her Bachelors Degree in Physical Education with an emphasis in Dance. Since then dance has dominated her life.

African rhythm struck a deep chord in Blanche, beginning an artistic investigation that led her to West Africa in 1974. Performing with Wajumbe throughout Nigeria, Blanche absorbed the rich spiritual influences ever present in West Africa. Her rediscovery of West African culture changed her personal out look on the African contribution to society as a whole. She realized that African rhythm and dance was universal and applicable to people of all colors and all ages. Her travels led her to France in 1979, where she taught a series of dance workshops in Nice. These classes included dancers of all ages, abilities and ethnicities.

The African experience awakened Blanche's interest in the spiritual aspects of ethnic dance. In New York City, Blanche began investigating the Haitian influences on dance, and was fascinated by the spiritual connection to the Yoruba culture. New York became cultural mecca for the politically-displaced Haitian artists and musicians; an ideal environment for Blanche's studies of the deeper aspects of dance. In 1981, Blanche was initiated into the Yoruba religion as a priestess of Oshun and is a respected elder of the religion. She has also been initiated into the Haitian Voudou religion as a Hounsi.

In 1988, Blanche formed the dance troop, Roots of Haiti, now known as Group Petit La Croix . Blanche created the troop to fully express and visually explain the Haitian culture by combining western choreography and theatrical techniques with traditional Haitian dance and drumming. Her goal is to educate American audiences in the riches and mystery of Haitian culture through dance. Given the current topical aspects of Haiti, this educational method is a beautiful way to deal with a complicated, often politically charged subject. Group Petit La Croix has performed all over California and the Southwest, and was one of the invited performers at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival as well as special guest artist at the Colorado Dance Festival in July, 1999.

Blanche has taught ethnic dance all over the California university system from UCLA to Hayward, Sonoma to Santa Cruz, U.C. Davis, San Francisco State, Mills College, the University of Santa Clara and Stanford University. Blanche has taught at The Shawl-Anderson Modern Dance Center, Alice Arts Center, Third Wave Dance House, New Mission Studio, Rhythm & Motion Studio and Motion Pacific Studio in the SF-Bay Area; and workshops and master classes in Santa Fe & Taos, New Mexico, Belfast, Maine, Burlington, Vermont, and Chicago, Illinois. With inspirational grace and enthusiasm. Blanche continues to defy limitations and expand the parameters of dance.

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