Brown, Trisha (1936– )

US dancer and choreographer. One of the leading postmodernist choreographers, she founded the improvisational Grand Union (1970–76). During the 1960s and early 1970s, Brown devised a series of ‘equipment pieces’ that utilized harnesses to enable the dancers to perform movements, cantilevered out from the wall. Her works include Roof Piece (1973) (where 15 dancers, scattered over the Manhattan rooftops, were watched by an audience on an adjacent rooftop), Accumulation (1971), and Glacial Decoy (1979).

Her current style is more fluid and supple, in contrast to her earlier, deliberately angular movements. These works include Son of Gone Fishin' (1981), Set and Reset (1983), and Lateral Pass (1985). Brown's first opera production, Monteverdi's Orfeo in 1998, successfully integrated music, text, and movement, and was revived in 2002. The Trisha Brown Dance Company also participated in a production of Luci Mie Traditrici, composed by Salvatore Sciarrino, in 2001, and presented Schubert's Winterreise in 2002.

Brown was awarded the 2003 National Medal of Arts.