Eiko Otake

Born and raised in Japan, Eiko Otake is a New York-based, movement-based interdisciplinary artist and performer who, from 1972 until 2014, worked with Takashi Koma Otake in the performance duo Eiko & Koma. They performed in theaters, museums, and outdoor sites worldwide, including American Dance Festival, BAM’s Next Wave Festival, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Kennedy Center, the Walker Art Center, and the MoMA. Eiko & Koma were honored with two New York Dance and Performance Awards (“Bessie” Awards), two Guggenheim fellowships (1984), a MacArthur Fellowship (1996), the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award (2004), the first United States Artists Fellowship (2006), the Dance Magazine Award (2006), and inaugural Doris Duke Artist Award fellowships (2012). Walker Art Center published a comprehensive monograph of their works, Eiko & Koma: Time is Not Even, Space is Not Empty (Walker Art Center, 2011).   Using movement study as a means of inquiry along with readings and media studies, Otake has taught interdisciplinary college courses about the atomic bombings and other environmental issues at Wesleyan University, Colorado College, and UCLA. Otake’s solo project will be the subject of the 10th annual Platform titled A Body in Places, a month-long curated program of Danspace Project in New York City to be held February 20-March 20, 2016.