By Kama Stigall
When Jason Brown stepped onto the ice for his short program at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, he enthralled the TV audience with his performance to Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman.”
Brown’s choreographer, Rohene Ward, had already visualized the moment happening a few years earlier.
“The idea for ‘Sinnerman’ came to me in a dream,” Ward said. “I saw Jason skating to this music, even down to the ending pose. It was just heavy in my heart, and I knew it would mean so much more than just skating.”
For Ward, “Sinnerman” was more than just a great piece of music. The program, inspired by Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations” ballet, tells the story of a sinner trying to hide from divine judgement. It seemed like a natural fit to use Simone’s rendition of the song, as she was a key figure in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
As Ward and Brown started to create the program during the summer of 2020, the U.S. was experiencing severe social unrest. Ward is a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where George Floyd was murdered by a police officer.
“It just clicked for me,” Ward said. “This was the time of George Floyd, the social justice movement and about tapping into unity.”
He also wanted to honor his heroes in the modern dance world — Alvin Ailey, Lester Horton and Derrick Minter. Ward began dancing at age 16 at the Minnesota Dance Theater and later at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City.
Ward’s “Sinnerman” incorporates many trademarks of Ailey’s dance — beautiful extension, defined arm movements and sharp turns.
“I wanted to pay homage to Derrick and the Ailey Company and show how their influence touched and shaped me,” Ward said.
Brown understood Ward’s connection to the music, as well as the message they were trying to convey with the program.
“For Rohene, ‘Sinnerman’ really embodied how he was feeling at the time,” Brown said. “With this program, it was about seeing things through his eyes. Rohene put his whole heart and soul into it. It was his vision, and I feel so lucky he entrusted me to bring it to life on the ice.”
Ward, who also created Brown’s popular “Riverdance” free skate, shared that the experience of creating “Sinnerman” allowed the two men to have an even deeper understanding of each other.
“Jason has always been the one who can bring my culture to skating, and he can bring skating to my culture,” Ward said. “This is not about appropriating — it’s about being appropriate and learning from our history.”
Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman” is an intricate piece of music, full of sharpness and dynamic beats. The process to create and perfect the program was extensive.
“Rohene was upfront that it was going to be a two-year process to develop it,” Brown said. “Within 24 hours, he sent me a rough cut of the music and you could just feel the emotion, the build of the music — it felt like magic.”
Ward believed Brown was the right skater to bring “Sinnerman” to life.
“When I challenge Jason with something — that’s when I get the best of out of him,” Ward said. “‘Sinnerman’ made Jason become a man on the ice. He feels so powerful when that music comes on. It really brings out his confidence.”
The result was a heartfelt, engaging program that is praised by both judges and skating fans across the globe. And for Brown, it served as a pathway for an emotional transformation.
“As a performer, we are always after creating moments that the audience can take home with them,” Brown said. “I love the way it (“Sinnerman”) makes me feel. When I perform it, I turn into my alter ego. I feel fierce and confident, and I let every doubt and insecurity fall behind.”
