Postmodern choreographer Trisha Brown was born in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1936. She began studying dance locally as an adolescent and continued her studies while attending Mills College. After graduation she taught for two years at Reed College, participating in summer workshops on dance and improvisation. In 1960 Brown moved to New York and studied with Robert Dunn at the Merce Cunningham studio. Dunn's classes produced a group of dancers and choreographers who formed the Judson Dance Theater, among them Simone Forti, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, David Gordon, Lucinda Childs, Meredith Monk, and Brown. At Judson, Brown created a number of dance roles and also choreographed her own works,… including Trillium (1962), Lightfall (1963), Chanteuse Excentrique Americaine (1963), Rulegame 5 (1965), and A String (1966). In 1968 Brown began creating equipment pieces, or dances that involved the use of external support systems, such as moving up a wall (Planes, 1968). She has since added other variations in her dances: dances in which each dancer takes turns adding to a system of gestures, sounds, or words; and dances based on the formation of lines by performers using props or their own bodies (Locus, 1975; Solo Olos, 1976; and Line Up, 1977). Brown now choreographs for her own group, Trisha Brown and Dancers.