Slow Turn

On September 11, 2021, Eiko Otake performed at 7am and 6pm at Belvedere Plaza in Battery Park City by the Hudson River, directly west of where the Twin Towers once stood. This video work is from the 6pm performance. 

Eiko & Koma were artists-in-residence in the North Tower throughout the year 2000. In 2002, on this very plaza, they premiered Offering: A Ritual of Mourning with David Krakauer, an internationally acclaimed clarinetist/composer. Offering was produced and presented by Dancing in the Streets with free admission in parks throughout Manhattan. Eiko & Koma later performed Offering in many cities around the world.

Marking 20 years since the 9/11 attacks, and created specifically for this occasion and this site, Eiko’s new piece, Slow Turn, centers on a monologue of her personal memories of that day and its aftermath. She invited David Krakauer to perform short solo pieces to bookend her monologue, with Iris McCloughan as a dramaturg. 

Commissioned by NYU Skirball
Produced by Battery Park City, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and NYU Skirball

Conceived, written, performed by Eiko Otake
Dramaturgy by Iris McCloughan
Camera by Yiru Chen
Edit by Eiko Otake and Yiru Chen