Born and raised in Japan, Eiko Otake is a New York-based movement artist, performer, and choreographer who worked for more than 40 years as Eiko & Koma. Since 2014, she has pursued her own solo projects. When they met as performers with Tokyo’s Tatsumi Hijikata company in 1971, Eiko and Koma Otake were law and political science students. In addition to their work with Hijikata, they studied with another key Butoh figure, Kazuo Ohno, as well as with exponents of the German modern dance tradition. Based in New York City since 1976, they have presented their works at theaters, universities, museums, galleries and festivals world-wide, specializing in site-specific work and museum installations at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, and elsewhere. In honor of its 85th Anniversary, Jacob’s Pillow commissioned Eiko to create A Body at the Pillow, a site-specific component of the solo project known as A Body in Places. The film excerpted here was created to memorialize the ruins of the Doris Duke Theatre, which was destroyed by a fire two weeks before filming. The full 8-minute film may be viewed here.
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