Sat, May 09
|Chicago Cultural Center
50 Years of Being a Foreigner: Special Screening and Activation
Eiko Otake presents a multimedia performance combining dance, video projection, and storytelling, reflecting on her five-decade journey in America since arriving in May 1976 as an “eternal foreigner.”
Time & Location
May 09, 2026, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington St, Chicago, IL 60602, USA
About the event
On May 9 at Chicago Cultural Center Claudia Cassidy Theater, Eiko will present a multi-media event that combines dance, video projection, and storytelling. She will share her five decades of an artist’s journey in America that began in May 1976. She considers herself an eternal “foreigner” and a performance maker, not a choreographer or a dancer. Videos she edited and prepared for this presentation will include seminal works by Eiko & Koma, her solos in public sites, and her recent collaborations.
Selected Moments of Eiko Otake
Credit
Top (left to right):
Eiko Otake in Governors Island, 2014, photo by William Johnston
Eiko Otake, 2019, photo by Ben McKeown
Eiko Otake, A Body in Pittsfield, 2017, photo by William Johnston
Bottom (left to right):
Eiko Otake at Valparaíso, Chile, 2016, photo by William Johnston
Eiko Otake in Fukushima, 2014, photo by William Johnston
Eiko Otake, A Body in Hong Kong, M+ Live Art, photo by CPAK Studio
May 2026 marks 50 years since Eiko Otake began living and working in the United States. Eiko & Koma first performed at the Japan Society (NYC) on May 6, 1976. Fifty years later, hosted by the Heritage Museum of Asian Art, Eiko returns to Chicago with multiple presentations. This event series is presented in collaboration with Asian Improv aRts Midwest, Japanese Culture Center, and Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and is supported by the Arts Midwest GIG Fund and DePaul Humanities Center.
Explore other programs in this series here.
Eiko Otake
Born and raised in Japan and a resident of New York since 1976, Eiko Otake is a movement-based, interdisciplinary artist. From 1972–2013, she worked exclusively as Eiko & Koma performing their own choreography, earning awards from MacArthur, United States Artists, American Dance Festival, Dance Magazine, and the first Doris Duke Artist Award.
Since 2014, Eiko has been directing her own projects. A series of site-specific solo work, A Body in Places, became the subject of her 2016 Danspace Platform that brought her a Special Bessies Citation, an Art Matters and the Anonymous Was a Woman award. A Body in Fukushima brought Eiko and historian/photographer William Johnston repeatedly to Japan's irradiated landscape, producing presentations, exhibitions, films, and a book. In the Duet Project (2017-), Eiko collaborates with Ishmael Houston-Jones, Joan Jonas, DonChristian Jones, Iris McCloughan, Beverly McIver, and Mérian Soto. I Invited Myself (2022-) presents exhibitions and screenings of her media works. Wen Hui and Eiko co-created a film No Rule is Our Rule and a performance work What Is War, which premiered at Walker Art Center and toured to BAM’s Next Wave Festival. www.eikootake.org