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Dance magazine awards 2006.

Article Excerpt
Dance Magazine has been honoring outstanding women and men in the field since 1954. This year we are proud--and thrilled--to present awards to Todd Bolender, Joan Myers Brown, Eiko & Koma, David Howard, and Gelsey Kirkland--all legends in different ways. The awards event takes place November 13 at Florence Gould Hall (see page 49). Following are brief biographies of these artists.

EIKO & KOMA

Eiko & Koma have developed a body of work that defies categorization. Their dances are slow motion journeys that pull us back into an elemental time and place. Sometimes barely discernible from their surroundings, whether it's water or dirt or light, the duo inches toward each other with an attraction that is more basic than human desire. The mesmerizing continuity of their movement brings revelations about nature, human nature, and change. They fabricate their own surroundings, creating a kind of dream version of a prehistoric environment. Their effect on the dance world has been enormous. Though few model their dancing on them, everyone remembers the first time they saw an Eiko & Koma performance.

Eiko & Koma met in 1971 while dancing with butoh co-creator Tatsumi Hijikata in Tokyo. The following year, while performing as independent artists, they studied with Kazuo Ohno, the other major creator of butoh. Their interest in the Neue Tanz movement style led them to Germany, where they studied with Mania Chmiel, a disciple of Mary Wigman. They melded the expressionism of German austruckstanz with the extremism of Japanese butoh into a unique aesthetic that became their signature.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Eiko & Koma's arrival in the United States. They came to California in 1976, were given the key to Anna Halprin's studio, and have been working nonstop ever since. They presented works with nature-honoring titles like Grain (1983), Night Tide (1984), and Rust (1989) across North America, Europe, and Asia. The American Dance Festival invited them to perform in 1983 and has commissioned many subsequent works. The Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Japan Society, Dancing in the Streets, and Sam Miller's Leveraging Investments in Creativity have also regularly supported new works.

Extending their vision beyond theaters, Eiko & Koma have created site-specific works that have reached more than 30,000 audience members (often free of charge). River (1995) took place in a body of water (though was later adapted to BAM's Harvey Theater). The Caravan Project (1999) was a traveling trailer with doors open on all four sides, parked in a quiet spot where observers could behold Eiko & Koma within. Offering, performed near Ground Zero in 2002, was a ritual of communal mourning. In Tree Song (2003) they seemed to rise from the dead...

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