Trisha Brown - article by Marcia B. Siegel

[dirac]

An appreciation of Trisha Brown, "If We Could Fly," by Marcia B. Siegel in The Hudson Review.

Quote

In 1978, with Watermotor, she gave this instinct its way. After the second or third time, she wrote, “I danced how I dance . . . unpredictable, personal, articulate, dense, changeful, wild as---.” The first performance was at the Public Theater on 22 May 1978; I saw it there during its run of four shows. It looked absolutely daring to me at the time, revealing Brown’s unique ability to move with abandon and control simultaneously. You can see this in Babette Mangolte’s remarkable film, made around the time of the dance’s premiere. With every part of her body alive to the impulse, Brown juts and tilts, swings and springs into space. Although the choreography is fixed, nothing is stopped or placed. Even in Mangolte’s black-and-white document, you can feel Brown’s exhilaration, her trust in her body as she jumps, veers off center, follows a sudden thrust of her lower back into a new direction. Mangolte filmed the dance, then filmed it again in slow motion, aiming somehow to capture the disappearing images Brown created. In a fascinating essay, she has described her own preparation for making the film.

 

[sandik]

Thank you so much for the link -- Siegel is a brilliant observer, and in Brown she had a wonderful subject.