Trisha Brown Dance Company (TBDC) is currently in the final year of its three-year Proscenium Works 1979-2011 tour, which includes stops at over 50 major US and international locations including an exclusive Canadian engagement at the National Arts Centre. TBDC performs in the NAC Theatre on Thursday October 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Trisha Brown is a living legend, both a choreographic maverick and the grande dame of postmodern dance. Over a 50-year career, her relentless curiosity and the poetic fluidity of her movement revolutionized the art form. As part of the avant-garde Judson Dance Theatre (1962-64), Brown became known for her precision, humour, and unusual intellectual sensibility.

“To see Trisha Brown Dance Company is to embrace one of the great voices of contemporary dance expression” Cathy Levy, NAC Executive Producer, Dance

This retrospective of the choreographer’s signature works includes the iconic Set and Reset, a beautiful female solo titled If you couldn’t see me, a poignant, rhythmic male duet titled Rogues, and PRESENT TENSE which features tumbling aerial choreography set to music by John Cage.

Cathy Levy’s 15^th season is off to a great start with this first performance already 95% sold out.

ABOUT Set and Reset

The seductively fluid quality of the movement in this Trisha Brown masterpiece, juxtaposed with an unpredictable geometric style has become the hallmark of Ms. Brown’s work. Performed to a driving score by Laurie Anderson, the exploration of visibility and invisibility is reflected in the translucent costumes and set by Robert Rauschenberg.

Set and Reset (1983)

CHOREOGRAPHY: Trisha Brown
ORIGINAL MUSIC: Laurie Anderson, Long Time No See
VISUAL PRESENTATION AND COSTUMES: Robert Rauschenberg
LIGHTS: Robert Rauschenberg and Beverly Emmons
DURATION: 25 minutes

ABOUT If you couldn’t see me

If you couldn’t see me is Brown’s solo collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg, whose costume design and sound score contribute to the piece’s seductive beauty. The soloist dances with her back to the audience and, restricted from showing her face, must rely on the suppleness of her torso and limbs for personal expression.

If you couldn’t see me (1994)

CHOREOGRAPHY: Trisha Brown
VISUAL PRESENTATION AND COSTUMES: Robert Rauschenberg
LIGHTS: Robert Rauschenberg and Spencer Brown
DURATION: 10 minutes

 

ABOUT Rogues

Rogues was created in the 2010-2011 season, during Brown’s year as a Mentor with the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. The piece is a result of intensive work in the studio with mentoree Lee Serle, and TBDC Dancer Neal Beasley. “This duet is a poignant study in rhythm, timing, and kinetic pathway. It’s a really sly game of falling in and out of unison, and its simple form is a testament to the pleasure of surprise found throughout Trisha’s body of work.” Neal Beasley

Rogues (2011)

CHOREOGRAPHY: Trisha Brown
ORIGINAL MUSIC: Alvin Curran, Toss and Find (excerpt)
CHOREOGRAPHIC ASSISTANT: Carolyn Lucas
COSTUMES: Kaye Voyce
LIGHTS: John Torres
DURATION: 9 minutes

 

ABOUT PRESENT TENSE

PRESENT TENSE combines Trisha Brown's abstract aesthetic with her interest in emotional narrative. This aerial choreography results in raucous, cantilevering partnering where dancers seem to ride and tumble suspended across the space. The earth-bound phrase work is distinctly Trisha Brown, but unexpected in its logic, employing motifs that hint at a poetic emotional narrative.

PRESENT TENSE (2003)

CHOREOGRAPHY: Trisha Brown
MUSIC: John Cage - Sonatas & Interludes
VISUAL PRESENTATION: Elizabeth Murray
COSTUME DESIGN: Elizabeth Murray, original costumes reimagined by Elizabeth Cannon
LIGHTS: Jennifer Tipton
DURATION: 25 minutes

ABOUT TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY

Trisha Brown Dance Company (TBDC) is a post-modern dance company dedicated to the creation, performance, and preservation of the work of Founding Artistic Director and Choreographer, Trisha Brown. Founded in 1970, TBDC has toured throughout the world presenting the work, teaching and building relationships with audiences and artists alike. The repertory has grown from solos and small group pieces to include major evening-length works and collaborations between Ms. Brown and renowned visual artists. The 78 year old choreographer retired as head of her Company in 2013, and the Board appointed longtime Company members Diane Madden and Carolyn Lucas as Associate Artistic Directors with the mandate that they develop, deepen and expand the Company’s educational initiatives; present her dances in a variety of spaces, indoors and out, proscenium and alternative; and treat the Company’s archive as a living organism to be used to better understand her work, in particular, and dance in general. The Company is finishing up a three-year Proscenium Works, 1979-2011 tour, which has over 50 major national and international dates lined up through December, 2015. TBDC has devised a new way to experience Brown’s vast repertory by placing it into unconventional sites. Trisha Brown : In Plain Site is currently touring alongside the Proscenium Works, 1979-2011 tour, and will continue to tour nationally and internationally in 2016 and beyond.

 

TICKETS AND PERFORMANCES

Trisha Brown Dance Company performs in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre on Thursday October 8 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40, $45, $53, and $61 for adults and $22, $24.50, $28.50, and $32.50 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card).

Groups of 10 or more save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices; to reserve your seats, call 613 947-7000 x634 or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca.

Tickets are available for purchase:

• In person at the NAC Box Office;

• At all Ticketmaster outlets;

• By telephone from Ticketmaster, 1-888-991-2787 (ARTS); and

• Online through the Ticketmaster link on the NAC’s website (www.nac-cna.ca).

A service charge applies on all purchases made through Ticketmaster.