Year: 2025-2026
DanceForce Member: Glenna Yu
Partnering DanceForce Member: Ivan Sygoda
Artist: Eiko Otake
Community Partner: Bushel Collective
Audience: 42
County: Delaware

Pillow Fort Arts Center will host Eiko Otake for a residency from September 14th – September 17, 2025 as part of an upstate New York tour. This tour will introduce Otake to multiple new communities in upstate New York, including in the Hudson Valley and the western Catskills, with Pillow Fort partnering with other dance spaces to make this experience possible. For Otake, this bundled residency will allow her to deepen her engagement with new audiences across the region.

As part of her residency, Otake will present a series of public programs designed to offer the local community multiple avenues for engaging with her and her work. On Sunday, September 14th, Otake will offer a three-hour Delicious Movement Workshop hosted at Pillow Fort Arts Center, where participants can experience Otake’s embodied practice and engage with her as a teacher. Later, Otake will present a small performance in the community, offering an opportunity to witness her powerful and evocative movement language in an accessible outdoor setting. Finally, Otake will screen her film work, followed by an intimate discussion about her creative process and the themes explored in her work, co-hosted by Bushel Collective in Delhi, NY. The diverse events offer the local community a unique opportunity to engage with Otake in multiple ways—experiencing her as a performer, engaging in dialogue during an artist talk, and interacting with her in more intimate, participatory settings like workshops, allowing for a deeper understanding of her multifaceted practice. The intimate nature of the program is expected to draw an engaged audience of approximately 30-50 people, fostering personal dialogue and community connection.