Iowa City, IA • November 7, 2025 • Hancher Auditorium • TICKETS
Minneapolis, MN • November 11, 2025 • Northrop & the Walker Arts Center • TICKETS
Houston, TX • November 14-15, 2025 • Menil Collection • TICKETS
Boston, MA • February 13-14, 2026 • Celebrity Series of Boston • TICKETS
Brooklyn, NY • February 26-28, 2026 • Brooklyn Academy of Music • TICKETS
Hamburg, Germany • March 12-14, 2026 • Kampnagel • TICKETS
Beverly Hills, CA • May 7-9, 2026 • Wallis Annenberg Center • TICKETS
In celebration of the centennial of iconoclastic American artist Robert Rauschenberg, the Trisha Brown Dance Company performs Dancing with Bob: Rauschenberg, Brown & Cunningham Onstage, featuring two masterpieces with sets and costumes designed by Rauschenberg. Beginning with Trisha Brown’s seminal work Set and Reset (1983) with music by Laurie Anderson, the program also features Merce Cunningham’s Travelogue (1977) with music by John Cage, which hasn’t been performed by a professional company since 1979. Student dancers from the University of Iowa’s Department of Dance will perform Brown’s Foray Forêt (1990).
Two University of Iowa faculty members—Melinda Jean Myers and Tony Orrico—are former members of the Trisha Brown Dance Company and will be key collaborators during the company’s time on campus.
Step into a century of genre-blending creativity with Trisha Brown Dance Company (TBDC) and Merce Cunningham Trust’s (MCT) Dancing with Bob: Rauschenberg, Brown & Cunningham Onstage. To celebrate the 2025 centennial of the visionary American artist Robert Rauschenberg, TBDC unites the work of iconic 20th-century artists for an evening of dance featuring visual presentations designed by Rauschenberg. The program includes Trisha Brown’s beloved Set and Reset, set to music by Laurie Anderson, alongside Merce Cunningham’s Travelogue, a large-scaled vaudevillian pièce de résistance with music by John Cage—which hasn’t been staged by a professional company since 1979. In conjunction with the performance, the Walker Art Center will exhibit its collection of Rauschenberg scenery and costumes for Trisha Brown Dance Company in Glacial Decoy, on view Jun 26, 2025–May 24, 2026. Experience the electricity when dance, art, and history collide!
While widely recognized for his groundbreaking contributions to visual art, Rauschenberg also played a significant role in the performing arts—both as a performer and as a designer for choreographers over several decades. Among the many dance artists he collaborated with, his most frequent and notable partnerships were with Cunningham and Brown.
“I always tell people that dance is the most fragile art form because it’s dependent on everything about you … You know, everything shows—your body in a specific time and place, whatever it’s thinking, whatever it’s feeling. It’s all right there. I’m definitely envious.”—Robert Rauschenberg
In celebration of the centennial of Robert Rauschenberg’s birth, the Trisha Brown Dance Company and the Merce Cunningham Trust present a special dance event comprising excerpts from Brown’s Glacial Decoy (1979) and Set and Reset (1983), interwoven with sections of Cunningham’s Travelogue (1977). The program honors Rauschenberg’s artistic collaborations with both choreographers. Members of the Nameless Sound Ensemble perform John Cage’s Telephones and Birds, featured as a companion to the dance.