Glacial Decoy / In the Fall / Working Title

For more than four decades, Trisha Brown was a defining influence on post-modern dance, creating her own pioneering movement language in a continual process of research and experimentation. This show consists of two of her core works, “Glacial Decoy” (1979) and “Working Title” (1985) as well as “In the Fall”, the first collaboration between the Trisha Brown Dance Company and acclaimed French choreographer Noé Soulier, which celebrated its world premiere in 2023. 

“Glacial Decoy” was Trisha Brown’s first choreography for a classical proscenium stage and marks a milestone of her career. This work was her first collaboration with visual artist Robert Rauschenberg and she went on to create numerous works in cooperation with other artists. Rauschenberg was in charge of the visual design for “Glacial Decoy”, creating diaphanous costumes reminiscent of caryatids. Rauschenberg’s large-scale black and white photographs form the backdrop for five dancers whose fluctuating, light-footed and yet powerful and immensely precise movements fill the space. As if in tandem – imagining they are invisibly connected to each other from a certain distance – the dancers spread out, only to come together shortly afterwards, underlining the juxtaposition of freedom and dependence in dance.

The invitation to Noé Soulier to create a piece for the current company was born out of a desire to bring Brown’s legacy into focus by engaging with present day choreographers who identify with her artistic heritage. “In the Fall” traces Brown’s movement vocabulary and combines it with Soulier’s own choreographic principles, resulting in a powerful and moving contemporary creation. 

In “Working Title”, eight dancers move to the recorded music of Peter Zummo in various formations. Both choreography and music are light and playful, while the exuberance of the work with all its asymmetric and unpredictable movement patterns challenges the dancers. The title refers to the simple staging that eschews a set and focusses on the choreography and on Zummo’s music.