Who Do We Carry?

Eiko will lead a special workshop and conversation with participants. How do we carry memories of different lands, upbringings, and voices? Our bodies are both ancient and contemporary, and in that, how do we meet others and how do we carry others with us? In this workshop, participants will explore talking bodies and listening bodies. How do we carry different voices within us from our families and other lives and influences? How do we move and converse with others, with and without words? How can we create a sustainable culture of sustainable peace? No previous movement or art-making experience necessary. Come with an open mind and willingness to share generously with others.

Workshop moments (Eiko Otake in Nanjing 2020, Photo by Qian Min)

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.

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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