Joan Myers Brown (born 25 December 1931) is an American dance company director and former dancer.
[2] Brown is the only child of Nellie Lewis, a nuclear scientist, and Julius Myers, a chef and restaurateur, born on 25 December 1931 in Philadelphia.
[3] Brown's first dance instructors and role models were Essie Marie Dorsey, Sydney Gibson King, and Marion Durham Cuyjet.
As a child she wished to shatter the social barriers prohibiting African Americans from becoming famous in the world of dance.
She dreamed of a school where African Americans could learn and develop through methods tailored specifically to their individual needs - a program that was specially created for ethnic bodies.