 Coming from a dancing family in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Carolyn (Rice) Brown studied with her mother, Marion Rice in Fitchburg.Brown was a product of the Denishawn School and graduated in philosophy from Wheaton College in 1950.After attending a masterclass with Cunningham in Denver in 1951, she decided to pursue dance full-time and moved to New York to continue her studies at the Juilliard School.