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Oakland, CA–September 16, 2008. Mills College celebrates the start of the academic year on Friday, September 19, 2008 with a Convocation address delivered by world-renowned choreographer and Mills alumna Trisha Brown. The College's 2008 Convocation begins at 10:15 am on the campus' Toyon Meadow.

On Friday evening, Mills will celebrate Brown's achievements in dance with a specially commissioned performance of Glacial Decoy Redux (2007)—an adaptation of Brown's 1979 masterpiece Glacial Decoy directed by visiting professor Shelley Senter and performed by Mills College dancers.

Trisha Brown has been defying gravity since graduating from Mills in 1958 with a degree in dance. Brown is widely acclaimed as the grande dame of postmodern dance, known for her maverick spirit and ability to push the human body to perform in unexpected ways. Unafraid to challenge new genres, she has choreographed opera, jazz, classical music, and ballet over the course of her storied career.

In 1991, Brown became the first woman choreographer to receive the MacArthur Foundation's "genius grant." Brown has also won numerous awards including two Guggenheim Fellowships, the National Medal of Arts, and Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the government of France. Brown will receive a new honor on Saturday, September 20, 2008 when Mills presents her with the 2008 Distinguished Alumna Award.

"Having Trisha Brown as an alumna is inspirational for our students because she embodies the tradition of experimentation that reflects our Dance Department's vision," said Sonya Delwaide, Chair of the Mills College Dance Department.

Mills commissioned Glacial Decoy Redux, an adaptation of Brown's first choreographic work for the proscenium stage and her first collaboration with artist Robert Rauschenberg, to honor Brown's lifetime of achievement. Shelley Senter, a member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company for five years and a guest artist for the past 17 years, has adapted the piece for Mills dancers and the College's performance theatre. A visiting professor at Mills, Senter drew upon her experience to create a slightly shortened, reformatted version of Glacial Decoy with excerpted material in the central duet. Senter invited artist Andrew Wass to create new photographic material for the set and tapped Mills alumna Liz Bootz '05 to create new costumes, both adapted from Rauschenberg's original designs.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering a dynamic progressive education that fosters leadership, social responsibility, and creativity to approximately 950 undergraduate women and 500 graduate women and men. Since 2000, applications to Mills College have more than doubled. The College is named one of the top colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report, one of the Best 368 Colleges by the Princeton Review, and ranks 75th among America's best colleges by Forbes.com. Visit us at www.mills.edu.

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