The Eiko & Koma Collection

This page serves as a guide to navigating Eiko & Koma’s extensive body of work.

About The Eiko & Koma Collection

“Since 1972, Japanese-born choreographer/dancers Eiko & Koma have created a unique and riveting theater of movement out of stillness, shape, light and sound. Eiko & Koma dance about what matters to them. Their subjects are elemental; their message pitiless yet humanistic. Both their choreography and stagecraft are characterized by bold, highly theatrical strokes. The result is stark, infused with relentless stillness that subverts and transcends our everyday notions of time and space. Eiko & Koma want the vulnerability of their own dancing bodies to invite the audience's empathy.”

The subcollections below are based on Eiko & Koma’s own categorization of their works. The Performance works are ones which were presented for live audiences. These performances were often presented on stages, such as White Dance which toured Europe and the United States from 1972-1974 and was revived in 2011, or the performances were choreographed for a carefully considered environment, such as the Hudson River landfill for the site-specific work Event Fission. In their Dance For Camera works, the camera recording the performance became both their audience and a part of the environment in which they are dancing. Also called “media dances,” these works would frequently be integrated into live performances via screen projection. Eiko and Koma performed together for over forty years, creating an impressive body of work as a duo. The Documentary subcollection includes videos which document their artistic process and reflect on the pair’s contributions to dance and performance art. 

Visit Eiko Otake’s Collection Page for information about Eiko’s solo projects.

Eiko & Koma Sub-collections

Dance for Camera

Artworks created collaboratively, and in which the presence of a camera is part of the choreography. These works are intended to be viewed on a screen or as a projection. 

Documentary

The videos in this sub-collection chronicle Eiko & Koma’s trajectory as performance artists and includes documentation of their artistic practices from concept to creation to completion. 

Performance

Outdoor works, site-specific works and stage works.