Pioneering Japanese "movement theater" masters Eiko and Koma are celebrating their 40th anniversary of making art with a national retrospective tour that will touch down at REDCAT this weekend. Presenting work that spans their career and which they, themselves, will perform, the legendary duo will revisit ideas, images and terrain that have marked them as groundbreaking creator/performers from their inception in the 70s. ARTKABINETT art collector social network appreciates their choreographed "still life" performances which are, in fact, human sculpture.
Labeled as "stark and elemental" in promotional materials "their works use precision and stillness . . . [to] create resonant performances of slowly evolving movement and image.î Molding the ìunyielding forces of nature and human desire, the two create ìvisual landscapes . . . [that evoke] near-geologic expanses of time." Sounds like it may be a little over the top, but my experience seeing them in the past lines right up with that description.
Calling the show Regeneration, they will perform a triptych of butoh-influenced works, beginning with their most recent, Raven (2010) and following that with Night Tide (1984) and White Dance from the 70s.
There will be nudity, bodies painted white, animal and natural world props and a whole lot of unspoken drama that is hard to identify but easy to feel.
Eiko Otake and Takashi Koma Otake, generally known as Eiko & Koma, are a Japanese performance duo.
Since 1972, Eiko & Koma have worked as co-artistic directors, choreographers, and performers, creating a unique theater of movement out of stillness, shape, light, sound, and time. For most of their multi-disciplinary works, Eiko & Koma also create their own sets and costumes, and they are usually the sole performers in their work.
Neither of them studied traditional Japanese dance or theater forms and prefer to choreograph and perform only their own works. They do not bill their work as Butoh though Eiko & Koma cite Kazuo Ohno (a Butoh pioneer) as their main inspiration.
Eiko & Koma are permanent residents of the United States in New York City.
They have presented their works in theaters, universities, museums, galleries, and festivals worldwide, including numerous appearances in American Dance Festival, five seasons at BAM's Next Wave Festival, four seasons at the Joyce Theater, and a month-long ìliving gallery installation in the Whitney Museum of American Art.
They were 1996 recipients of a MacArthur Fellows Program genius grant.
On Friday, March 4, Eiko & Koma led a master class for approximately 20 fourth year BFA's of the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts.
Eiko made her only request of the class: "If you do not like this kind of work," she said softly, "please pretend that you do."
She performed a solo demonstration of her slow, meditative movement technique, beginning curled up on the floor, but as she said, ìalways moving." Next, in a lulling, comforting voice she guided the class through the same exercise, each dancer experiencing the presence of her or his body in each moment and each movement, regardless how slight.
In the third phase, Eiko asked each student to partner with another, and again, from a starting position lying on the floor, to slowly find, connect, and move together with the other dancer. Koma joined the circle at the end of the class inviting the dancers to attend their performances at REDCAT over the weekend.
The students reported that they left the Lund feeling inspired, refreshed and rejuvenated.
Sunday afternoonís performance of Retrospective Project 1:Regeneration treated the full house at REDCAT to a sampling of Eiko & Koma's newest work, Raven (2010), Night Tide (1984), and an excerpt from White Dance (1976).
Their powerful, riveting dances engage with the most elemental aspects of the human condition: our essential aloneness and alienation, as well as the search for connectionñto the natural world, to others and to ourselves.
More than their universal themes, however, it is the raw emotion expressed through controlled, precise movements of their faces and bodies -- slowed to warp speed -- that transform the time and space shared with each other and the audience.
The couple's work was acknowledged with a standing ovation to which Eiko and Koma responded, first by touching their hearts and then, by picking up raw potatoes from the stage, (props from White Dance) and handing them to members of the audience.
Opened by CalArts in 2003, REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, shown here) introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature.
