RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We have a remembrance now of a titan of postmodern art. In the 1970s, Trisha Brown ran with a circle of artists in New York whose work was all about experimentation.
MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV: I just remember her amazing, lanky kind of body, such angular movements but the same time very soft quality and her very strange coordination.
MARTIN: That's the voice of dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, who had worked with Trisha Brown.
Brown died over the weekend in San Antonio at the age of 80. She became an influential choreographer who helped shape the path of modern dance.
BARYSHNIKOV: Sometimes people were saying that modern dance is so cold, and Trisha Brown danced duets with Steve Paxton. They were so hot and so entertaining and amusing and wonderful.
(SOUNDBITE OF PHILIP GLASS COMPOSITION "PHILIP GLASS METAMORPHOSIS")
MARTIN: Trisha Brown won many awards. In 1991, she was the first female choreographer to get a MacArthur Genius Grant. She's also a member of the Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Dance. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.