My multicultural background as a choreographer in NY, who grew up in Japan, has led me to assess movements from the West and East to find my "Japaneseness" in choreography.  I immigrated to the US to explore postmodern dance, and was influenced by the 1960’s American visual art scene, including the Light and Space movement. Through this investigation, I’ve discovered connections between those minimalist aesthetics and my cultural influence of Zen philosophy. 

Currently, I am researching Japanese Tea Rituals as a format of collective performance ritual. 

The Japanese Tea Ritual aims to listen deeply to your own mind and your guests' minds, to build relationships of care, and to pay attention to your environment, including sound, body, and space.

Drawing on those concepts, I choreograph with dancers' perceptive phenomena and create collective sensorial gatherings with audiences. 

My choreography doesn't require "attention" from audiences; the aim is to invite them to "be in" the sensory phenomena. Like watching the clouds, the performance offers a pause to create a collective 'silence' for meditation.

It fosters a quiet yet active mindset that wordlessly heals and unites across communities.

As a choreographer in New York, I see how Asian bodies, gestures, and cultural contexts are often left out of the conversation. With my work, my goal is to dismantle oppressed body gestures and cultural contexts as performance, empower erased cultures, and fight for cultural equity in nonviolent ways. 

Maho Ogawa 2026