Beginning her studies with her P.E. teacher in Philadelphia, a Littleton Ballet ballerina who had to earn her living teaching gym, Joan aspired to be the lead.

“I wanted to be Mary in Mary Had a Little Lamb growing up. Little black girls never could be Mary.” she said. With that in mind, after having studied ballet, she aspired to the Pennsylvania Ballet, which, in her time, did not hire people of color. Not to be stymied by obstacles, she danced for Pearl Bailey and Sammy Davis, Jr., came back to her city and started a school, and then a company.

Her dancers began their career dancing on the back of recreation trucks in city parks in Philly. They came from her school in Philadelphia. Over the years, she has overseen the training of some 4,500 dancers under her tutelage and hand-picked the teachers who taught them. She now runs three companies and hires black choreographers.

Today her company dances in the Kennedy Center, are in residence at the Kimmel, where they sell out each Spring and Fall, work with major orchestras like the Philadelphia Orchestra, perform at the Joyce Theatre in NYC, B.A.M. in Brooklyn, the Travis Theatre in West Palm Beach.

They spend months in Europe, Asia, and occasionally visit Bermuda. The critics rave about them. And Joan, who could not be hired, now hires many; she who could not be seen, now oversees a company that performs on the average of 50-60 concerts per year and oversees 45 lecture/demonstrations.

“Philadanco’s dancers are a miracle of skill and energy. They work in a range of idioms most companies don’t even try to possess…A company that can do more than just anything…it can represent the possibilities of human spirit through dance.” says Dance Magazine.

In 2006, Ms. Brown was awarded the Dance Magazine award. This year she was chosen an “American Master” by the National Endowment of the Arts ( NEA) and she is linked with Martha Graham Dance Company, founded by Martha Graham, and with Beatrice Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, as three “American Masters” in the Mid Atlantic region of the U.S., chosen for their excellence.

“There’s nothing wrong with vision, with genius, with hard work. American values were founded on that. America invented modern dance. We invented jazz. We lose our culture when we can only aspire to mediocrity. The lowest common denominator should not be the norm. People like Joan Myers Brown create what they see, produce what they dream, and don’t take no for an answer. They know who they are, and what they serve.” said Barbara Beitel, Access to Art, Director.

“People like Joan Myers Brown show us the fruitfulness of a purpose, an ideal, a dream. She doesn’t leave her kids in the streets where they shoot each other. She actively engages them in something in which they can grow and develop and become something.” Beitel said.

“At Access to Art, Inc., we desire to present the best, because the best can encourage us, lift us up, teach us and inspire us. We need to return to discipline, aspiration, determination, excellence, hard work. It’s the American way,” Beitel said, “and if we don’t, we may become the next best banana republic.” she said. “The arts and humanities should be returned to our schools with a vengeance,” Beitel said. “We have had thirty years of “how-to” courses, how to make money, how to be powerful, how to be computer literate, how to be popular, how to be thin, how to be politically correct, how to have perfect sex, the best car, the best smelling breath, the biggest home, etc. We have been how-to-ed to death. And we worship at the throne of hedonism. We spend fortunes on education, and education continually spirals downward. We are below Latvia now. It eludes us because we watered it down. How about being lifted up? How about working hard, aspiring, dreaming about possibilities like Joan Myers Brown did? How about how to be a human being? That’s what the arts, and the humanities teach.” she said.

Often called an innovator and communicator, Joan Myers Brown is listed in Who’s Who in America, Delaware Valley. Ms. Brown was honored as on of the “Dance Women; Living Legends” during a four-day series sponsored by New York area presenters, in tribute to five African-American pioneer women who founded distinguished modern dance companies with deep roots in black communities around the country. She was also honored by Kennedy Center for African-American Choreography. She has served a broad range of regional and national organizations, including NEFA’s National Dance Project, the United State Information Agency, Arts American, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arts Councils of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, Nevada, and Ohio and the National Forum for Female Executives. Locally she has been part of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Minority Arts Resource Council, the Philadelphia Mayor’s Cultural Advisory Council, the Philadelphia Dance Alliance, the Women’s Heritage Society, Dance/USA and the Coalition of African American Cultural Organizations, which she served as Vice President. She serves on the Rockefeller Foundation.

Access to Art will serve delicious hors d’ouevres, provide some jazz to liven up the evening, and give people an opportunity to enjoy a wonderful art show by Philadelphia trained artist, Janet McShane, now of Dennisville, and former outreach director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Tickets for both the reception, which is a benefit, and the performance are $60. and include center orchestra seats. Send checks to Access to Art, Inc., 417 E. Pacific Ave., Cape May Court House, N.J., 08210. Call (609) 465-3963 to reserve tickets or to receive an invitation to the pre-concert social with Joan Myers Brown. Call (609) 463-l924 for MT PAC tickets to the performance which is $25. and $30. per ticket. The event is sponsored by Sturdy Savings & Loan, Sheller Family Foundation, Kindle Ford and Cape Savings Bank.