Trisha Brown

Trisha Brown (1936-2017) is considered one of the most inventive and influential dancers and choreographers of the second half of the 20th century. Born and raised in Aberdeen, Washington, graduating from Mills College in Oakland, California, Brown studied with Anna Halprin before moving to New York City in 1961. In 1970, she formed her company and explored the terrain of her adoptive SoHo. In doing so, she embarked on a 40-year odyssey along the many paths of contemporary dance, marked by improvisation and experimentation, pushing back the limits of the body and incorporating unexpected urban and natural spaces (rooftops, walls, galleries, etc.).

She engaged collaborators who are themselves leaders in music, theater, and the visual arts, including visual artists Robert Rauschenberg, Donald Judd, and Elizabeth Murray, and musicians Laurie Anderson, John Cage, and Alvin Curran, to name a few. With these partners, Trisha Brown has created an exceptionally varied body of over 100 dance works that pushed the limits of choreography and changed modern dance forever. Brown is also an accomplished visual artist; her drawings have been seen in exhibitions, galleries and museums throughout the world. She is represented by Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in NYC.

Trisha Brown is the first woman choreographer to receive the coveted MacArthur Foundation Fellowship “Genius Award.” She has been awarded many other honors including five fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the NY ‘Bessie’ Lifetime Achievement Award, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, and the Dance/USA Honors Award. She has been named a Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame, Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the government of France.