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Thursday, 5/1/97 Brown's passionate imagination carries her success over lifetime Choreographer, dancer continues to evolve artistically, experiment with movement

By Alicia Cheak Daily Bruin Contributor "The stereotypes don't always live up to their reputation," says Trisha Brown as she explains why, at age 60, she is still dancing and choreographing. Age shouldn't even be an issue, or a limit, but how does a person keep at her craft and continue to be a major force in her field for close to forty years? It might be a question quickly resolved as dancer/choreographer Trisha Brown takes the stage at Veterans Wadsworth Theater this weekend. The performance by Brown and her company of nine dancers will give the audience an opportunity to experience and judge for themselves the structural beauty of one woman, her group, and her art. "It takes imagination (when) the dance, which is given to me by another choreographer, is not as fulfilling as what I can think up on my own," Brown says. Imagination and the courage to use it are factors which carried the fledgling dance student at California's Mills College to the forefront of the dance world. Unremitting perseverance, Brown stresses, is another factor. "It's been hard my many years in the field," Brown adds. Though she might be in an enviable position now - doing what she loves and having others love what she does - Brown has had to put in a life's work to achieve it. After Mills College, Brown studied with Louis Horst at Connecticut College. In the early 1960s she began choreographing in New York City and a few years later was part of the renown Judson Dance theater. In 1970, she formed her own dance company. Since then she has receivedthe Laurence Olivier Award in '87, the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award in '88 and 5 fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. In '94, Brown was appointed by President Clinton onto the National Council of the Arts. But with all these apparent riches, Brown remains modest, emphasizing movement itself as the real reward. The pieces to be performed are part of a cycle. "If you couldn't see me," "M.O.," and "For M.G.: The Movie" are explorations of movement, reflecting the author's accumulated knowledge and love of her art. "Trisha Brown and her dancers have a kind of knowledge about movement that is equivalent to being a rocket scientist," says UCLA World Arts and Cultures professor and choroegrapher Victoria Marks. Marks will lead a CenterStage discussion on Brown an hour prior to the performance. Because Brown works primarily in ensembles, "If you couldn't see me," a 1994 solo, will treat the audience to a simple look at the dancer. On a sparsely lit stage, Brown will explore movement, specifically the geometriy of movement. "'See me' is an anomaly, a bit of what my life is," Brown says with a laugh, yet not without slight gravity. "It's a solo with my back to the audience and through it I try to work with limitation as structure...it's a pretty unique piece." Ironically, Brown's chiffon tunic, designed by long time collaborator Robert Rauschenberg will offset to the rigidity and formality of her movements. The change in perspective for many who are accustomed to seeing the face and the front portion of a performer might be jarring. It could equally be mesmerizing. A George Washington University review of Brown's performance reads, "[Brown] reached quiet stances reminiscent of Greek tableaux that momentarily froze, only to be reactivated by rippling movements which eventually took her to new stances. The audience was captivated by Brown's seemingly effortless ability to surge into phrases of supple vibrato." Brown herself is placed in a vulnerable position from which she is unable to return the glances of those watching her. As such, the piece turns out to be an extremely private exploration of movement--because it is only Brown and her movements on stage. The audience just happens to look in. An excerpt from the 55-minute long "M.O." is also part of the weekend repertoire. And once again, there is a bit of the unusual to it--a dance interpretation of Bach's harpsichord score, "Musical Offering." "In M.O. I was working with classical music," Brown explains. " I took Bach's compositional structure and thought about it in musical terms. They might not be exactly what he did, they may even be oppositional but they were relevant, structurally and compositionally." Again, there is the emphasis on form and on discipline. Brown's choice of a challenging and complex score echoes very much the mentality she possess in making decisions throughout her career and life. "I don't have formulas so I'm always on the edge of discovery," Brown says, " and I go into the areas that I don't know, that I have questions about." "That propensity, or curse, always has an evolutionary result and people don't get tired of me," Brown says. Both body and style have had time to mature, be shaped and reshaped. And although her kinetic and formal structure are considered part of the foundations of contemporary dance, Brown's artistry continues to evolve. It is part of survival and partly explains why Brown continues to recieve invitations to perform all over the world and endorsements for future projects. But if there is a constant in her work, it is her passion. "There was a point where I was guided by the stereotypes and I began thinking I should wind down in my dancing," Brown recalls. "And then it dawned on me that I will never stop because I will always want to be a person of health, which requires exercise. "I will always be doing my daily dozen so if I'm going to bother to warm up I might as well bother to keep dancing." Summing up what dance means to her, Brown says, "At the base of dancing is the physical body engaged in exercise and discipline and that exercise shaped into phrases of choreography are euphoria giving." Sounds almost too good to be true. With another laugh, Brown adds, "And if I didn't have those endorphins in me, I would not have been able to sustain this." DANCE: The Trisha Brown Company performs at Veterans Wadsworth Theater May 2 and 3, 8 p.m.. Tickets are $30, $27 and $9 for students. For more information, call (310) 825-2101. UCLA CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Trisha Brown and her company will showcase their post-modern dance technique at the Veterans Wadsworth Theater this weekend. Related Links: National Endowment for the Arts Home Page

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