Upcoming Performances
About Trisha Brown
One of the most influential choreographers of her time, Trisha Brown (1936–2017), forever transformed the landscape of contemporary dance. A student of Anna Halprin, Brown participated in Robert Dunn’s choreographic workshops, leading to the formation of Judson Dance Theater and the explosion of interdisciplinary creativity that defined 1960s New York.
In 1970, Brown founded Trisha Brown Dance Company (TBDC), embarking on four decades of artistic exploration. She created over 100 choreographies, six operas, and a body of visual art recognized in museum exhibitions worldwide. Her earliest works were shaped by the urban environment of downtown SoHo, where she experimented with site-specific performances. By the 1970s, as Brown developed a singular abstract movement language, her work found a home in art galleries, museums, and international exhibitions. A pivotal shift came in 1979 when she moved from unconventional spaces to the proscenium stage, integrating her experimental vocabulary into traditional theatrical settings.
Brown’s contributions earned her nearly every major award for contemporary choreographers. She was the first woman to receive the MacArthur “Genius Grant” (1991) and was honored with five National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and Brandeis University’s Creative Arts Medal in Dance (1982). France named her Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres (1988), and she received the New York State Governor’s Arts Award (1999), the National Medal of Arts (2003), and the New York Dance and Performance Bessie Lifetime Achievement Award (2011). That same year, she was awarded the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for her “outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world.”
Today, Trisha Brown Dance Company continues to honor her legacy through performances, education, licensing, and archival initiatives. The company reconstructs and remounts Brown’s major proscenium works from 1979–2011, alongside its In Plain Site initiative, which reinvigorates her choreography by adapting it to new spaces. In 2023, TBDC expanded its mission to include commissions from a new generation of artists, engaging contemporary voices whose work resonates with Brown’s legacy while reaffirming its primary role in preserving her groundbreaking contributions to dance.