Trisha Brown was born and raised in a pristine forested area in Aberdeen, Washington. She was an athletic child; always playing sports and climbing trees. Her early years she performed tap dance, ballet and acrobatics. She eventually began dancing in jazz routines throughout her high school years. She attended Mills College in Oakland and there studied modern with Martha Graham and improvisation with Anna Halprin. She attended summer programs at Connecticut College working with Jose Limon, Louis Horst and Merce Cunningham. She graduated from Mills College in 1958 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Anna Halprin was a very big influence on Browns technique and improvisations. Her technique specialized in the vocabulary of the body in movement. She focused on improvisation, problem solving, use of space, rhythmic use of muscular weight of movement and manner of execution. This also later influenced her use of space through
site specific work, "Man Walking Down the Side Of a Building" and "Drift". Another influence Halprin had on Brown was fusing pedestrian movement and chance structures. Chance structures included childhood games and every day tasks given to dancers. At the time she also worked with other artists and choreographers such as Simon
e Forti, Yvonne Rainer, Terry Riley, Robert Morris and others. In addition, she began working with Robert Dunn at the Cunninham studio in New York. Throughout her years as founder and artistic director of the Trisha Brown Company (formed in 1970) she performed and collaberated with other artists such as Steve Paxton, musicians and visual artists Robert Rauschenburg, Robert Ashley, Laurie Anderson and Peter Zummo. Her influences and inspirations changed vastly over time and her work has evolved to great places and new innovative creations. Her work today continues to inspire and motivate dancers and choreographers of our time.
The first thing that catches my attention is the top picture, Floor of the Forest. The colors and hanging dancers create interesting take of an installation. I find it interesting that Trisha Brown explored in installation performance, improvisation, and chance structures. I would want to know more about how she incorporated chance structures. How and why would she use childhood games in these structures. Also, since you mentioned you attended the Trisha Brown summer intensive, it would be interesting to read about your experience. I think the photos you chose were a great addition and helped break up the text. You should see if there are performances of her work on YouTube. I've never had any insight on Trisha Brown and felt I learned, by reading this blog, more about her dance background and professional lineage.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you've gotten a little insight on her lineage and background, she has some really interesting ideas in her work and history. She frequently uses improvisation in her choreography as I learned also in the summer intensive. I was fortunate enough to learn some of her work, a couple pieces, "Glacial Decoy" and "Set and Reset". "Glacial Decoy" was a piece choreographed solely from her improvisation. It was very specific gesturally and I could feel that there was a certain quality in her movement that they were looking for. There are a couple of her newer works on YouTube, otherwise most of her work is on video. Thanks for the comment=)
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