Princess Grace Statue Award, 1994

Princess Grace Award
Dance Fellowship, 1986
Trisha Brown Dance Company

Born in 1958, Diane Madden originally trained in ballet, jazz and modern techniques. After studying ballet intensively for two years in New York City, she quit dancing, and went to Hampshire College in Massachusetts, only to discover improvisation. For the next three years, Diane studied, practiced, and performed improvisation as a soloist and in collaborative groups. Her major influences were Daniel Lepkoff, Steve Paxton and Simone Forti. She also studied the Skeletal and Muscular Systems with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.

In 1980 she returned to New York City when she was invited to become a member of the Trisha Brown Company. Shortly after returning to New York she begin her studies of Klein TechniqueA. Since that time, her work with the Company and with Klein TechniqueA has been an ever-present force in her life.

In 1982, Diane was a founding member of Channel Z, a group of improvisers collaborating in dance, film and video. From 1983 through 1989, Channel Z performed extensively in New York City. Diane continues to this day to investigate improvisation in performance as a soloist.

As a member of the Trisha Brown Company at 22 years of age, Diane grew as a dancer, performer, improviser, and eventually an administrative assistant. Throughout her 20 years as a dancer/soloist in the Company she enjoyed a very rich creative and exciting relationship with Trisha Brown. Her focus was on the company and on expanding and enriching the expressive and technical ability of her body and her dancing. From 1984 to 2000 Diane was the Trisha Brown Company Rehearsal Director, training dancers and maintaining repertory, as well as acting as Ms. Browni¿½s personal assistant. In all her varied roles and involvement with the Trisha Brown Company, Diane found Klein Technique™ to be invaluable as a tool to understand and explain movement. It served her personally to improve her dancing year by year and her ability to help others dancers understand and perform Ms. Browni¿½s work.

Diane has also taught technique, improvisation, composition, and Brown repertory throughout the world, both independently and through/with the Trisha Brown Company,

In 1986, Diane was awarded The Princess Grace Foundation fellowship in choreography and dance and again in 1994 she was awarded The Princess Grace Foundation fellowship award for sustained achievement. In 1989, Diane received a New York Dance and Performance Award (i¿½Bessiei¿½).

Diane is now a member of the Teacher Certification Program in Klein Technique™.