Trisha Brown (Artistic Director and Choreographer) was born and raised in Aberdeen, Washington. She graduated from Mills College in 1958, studied with Anna Halprin and taught at Reed College in Portland before moving to New York City in 1961. Instantly immersed in what was to become the post-modern phenomena of Judson Dance Theater, her movement investigations found the extraordinary in the everyday and challenged existing perceptions of what constituted performance. In 1970, Ms. Brown formed her company and made the groundbreaking work, Man Walking Down the Side of a Building, one of many site-specific works created in, around and hovering over the streets and buildings of her SoHo neighborhood. Her first of many collaborations with Robert Rauschenberg, Glacial Decoy, premiered in 1979 followed by Set and Reset in 1983 with original music by Laurie Anderson.
Ms. Brown has created nearly 100 dance works since 1961 including several operas, including L’Orfeo and Pygmalion. As a visual artist, Ms. Brown’s drawings have been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions including Documenta 12 in Kasel, Germany (2007), as part of the Year of Trisha – a celebration of her entire body of work at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (2008), Sikkema Jenkins Gallery (2009), and Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 2011.
Ms. Brown was the first woman choreographer to receive the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Other honors include the Brandeis University’s Creative Arts Medal in Dance, two John Simon Guggenheim Fellowships, a New York State Governor’s Arts Award, and the National Medal of Art. In 1994 she received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award and she has been named a Veuve Cliquot Grand Dame. Ms. Brown was named a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France in 1988, elevated to Officier in 2000 and to Commandeur in 2004. She served on the National Council on the Arts from 1994 to 1997. She has received numerous honorary doctorates and is an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Ms. Brown’s visual art is represented by Sikkema Jenkins Gallery.
For more information on Trisha Brown Dance Company, please visit www.trishabrowncompany.org.