In 1960, at the
age of 23, Trisha Brown became one of the leaders of New York's
Judson Dance Theater, the revolutionary movement that changed
modern dance forever. After founding the Trisha Brown Dance Company
in1970, she began a series of large-scale theatrical productions
that transformed traditional stage space, collaborating with
such artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Donald Judd, Laurie Anderson,
Nancy Graves, Fujiko Nakaya, and John Cage.
Many of Ms.Brown's
works are set in cycles of three of four dances. Examples include
M.O. (1995), a 55-minute dance set to Bach's Musical Offering,
and her highly acclaimed production of Monteverdi's opera, L'Orfeo,
which had its world premiere at the Theatre Royal de la Monaie
in Brussels in 1998. The first woman to receive the coveted MacArthur
Foundation Fellowship in choreography, Trisha Brown has also
received many other honors and awards.
Five Part Weather Invention
Photographer: Chris Callis
One of Ms. Brown's
most recent projects is a full-length jazz trilogy, with original
music by composer Dave Douglas, sets by renowned artist Terry
Winters, and lighting design by Jennifer Tipton. Five Part
Weather Inventionand Rapture to Leon James,the first
two sections of the piece, premiered in London last year. Five
Part Weather Invention,a series of solos, duets, and ensemble
dancing, features choreography rife with unpredictable movements
and deliberate accidents. In contrast, Rapture to Leon James'
choreography echoes the jitterbug, Charleston, and Lindy
Hop, and includes Terry Winterswhimsical set (stacked golden
disks evoking cymbals or vinyl records). Characterized by a loose
discipline and freewheeling swing, Rapture to Leon Jameswas
described by The New York Times as "an ode to jazz
as music, dance, and social activity...a beauty, a perfect blend
of the vernacular and the abstract."
The third section of the trilogy,
Groove and Countermove,wasalsocompleted
last year, though it premiered at the American Dance Festival
in Durham, North Carolina. Slower, sparser movements color this
final movement, which some critics see as drawing the first two
together. Monochromatic, subdued choreography create a calm conclusion
to this inventive three-part work.
