Trisha Brown - that iconic contemporary dance choreographer - announced in December 2012 that she had created her last works. The 77-year-old, who has had health issues, stepped back from running the long-running company that bears her name.

The celebration of her artistry, though, continues. Her Trisha Brown Dance Company has embarked on a three-year tour to perform her major stage works for a final time in theaters. "Proscenium Works, 1979-2011" is travelling the world - and comes to Connecticut College on Saturday.

Brown, 77, also happens to have a long-ago connection to Conn. She studied at the American Dance Festival when it was held there.

The company's program at Palmer Auditorium this weekend will include 1991's "Astral Converted," which uses visual and costume designs by artist Robert Rauschenberg, with whom Brown frequently collaborated. Metal frame towers - constructed using automotive supplies and employing lights and a sound system - have motion sensors activated by the dancers' movements. The piece is accompanied by John Cage's original music.

Rounding out the evening will be 1994's "If you couldn't see me," in which the dancer performs without facing the audience, and 2011's "I'm going to toss my arms - if you catch them they're yours," which is the last dance Brown choreographed.

The title "I'm going to toss my arms - if you catch them they're yours" was what Brown said, verbatim, during a rehearsal. She was choreographing the dance and was improvising with the dancers, recalls associate artistic director Diane Madden.

"We were taking note of all she was saying because some real gems would come out of her mouth, and that one stuck," she says.

Madden, who started dancing with the Trisha Brown company in 1980, says that the dances in "Proscenium Works" have "a strong visual bend." Someone recently spoke about the tour being a retrospective and, Madden says, "It's almost like we can't help that. Trisha's work spans such a huge period of time and range of kinds of dances that it's like every program is a retrospective."

As for what the pieces in the Conn performance say about Brown as a choreographer, Madden says, "Certainly that there's a range and that there's an accessibility within that ... so that, regardless of how familiar or unfamiliar someone may be watching Trisha's works specifically or even contemporary dance in general, there's a way in."

She says there's an accessibility via "Astral's" virtuosity and "Toss's" playfulness. And, she says, "I think 'See Me' stands out in how unique it is in the mystery of a performer keeping their back to the audience. You never see their face. I think there's something inherently intriguing about that."

Trisha Brown Dance Company, founded in 1970, has focused mainly on a group of touring dancers. The company, though, is changing.

"Certainly, it's obvious we don't have the benefit of new choreography coming in," Madden says. "But even if we did, I think it's becoming more and more difficult to sustain that structure. ... It's just harder to pay the bills for many, many different reasons that are beyond our control."

Things will shift to more educational pursuits and some project-based performances. Brown was connected to the art world through her collaborations with artists like Rauschenberg, and the company will bring her work to museums and galleries, for instance.

Placing Brown's dances more site-specifically, Madden says, "is really coming full circle in terms of her choreographic trajectory. This is where she started off, turning to that more intimate performance situation. Our goal is ... to really bring people more closely into (Trisha's work)."

Trisha Brown Dance Company, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Palmer Auditorium, Connecticut College, New London; $28, $25 seniors, $14 students; (860) 439-2787, onstage.conncoll.edu.