Roof Piece By Trisha Brown

The retrospective project the getty presents the west coast premiere of one of the acclaimed choreographer s most iconic works roof piece in two free performances on saturday april 6 2013.

Roof piece by trisha brown.

The original version performed in 1971 spanned 10 blocks in lower manhattan. Trisha brown roof piece 1971 performance work by trisha brown. After forming her own dance company in 1970 many of trisha brown s early works used the terrain of her adoptive soho. Brown s early works walking on the wall 1971 and roof piece 1971 were designed to be performed at specific sites.

For trisha the choreography was testing how improvised movements appear at a distance and are transformed by transmission by a succession of dancers mimicking with variation what they see and how what has been transmitted at one end is different when received at the other end. In 1970 brown cofounded the grand union an experimental dance collective and formed the trisha brown dance company. In partnership with center for the art of performance at the university of california los angeles cap ucla as part of the trisha brown dance company. These works were presented in non traditional settings outside of theaters such as on roof tops and the sides of buildings.

Generations of trisha brown company dancers have performed roof piece all over the world. She and some colleagues scattered themselves across the water tower capped roofs of soho and played a dance version of. Trisha brown dance company. Trisha brown set some her choreographies in the public spaces of new york city at a time of explosive experimentation in neighbourhoods such as soho and paid special attention to urban and architectural elements an approach that had an enormous influence on many contemporary artists such as gordon matta clark.

Roof piece uses distance to transcend the boundaries of a room a stage and the eye of a single viewer. Dancers artistic staffs. Roof piece was first performed in 1971 in and around wooster and lafayette streets.