Artist Biographies

Eiko & Koma, Japanese-born choreographer-dancers, have collaborated since 1972. They studied with Kazuo Ohno in Japan, Manja Chmiel in Germany and Lucas Hoving in the Netherlands before moving to New York in 1976. Since then, they have presented their works in theaters, universities, museums, galleries and festivals world-wide, including numerous appearances at BAM's Next Wave Festival and the American Dance Festival. For Breath, a "living" gallery installation commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art, Eiko & Koma performed for four weeks throughout the museum’s opening hours.

Eiko & Koma have created and presented site works as free-admission events at dozens of sites for over 30,000 audience members. River takes place in a body of moving water. The Caravan Project, performed in a specially modified trailer, is a "museum by delivery" installation. Offering, premiered in Battery Park near the Ground Zero in 2002, is a ritual in communal mourning. Tree Song was presented in the St. Mark's graveyard in 2003.

Eiko & Koma's noted stage collaborations include Be With (2001, with Anna Halprin and Joan Jeanrenaud), When Nights Were Dark (2000, with Joseph Jennings and a Praise Choir), the proscenium version of River (1997, with Kronos Quartet, who performed Somei Satoh's commissioned score live), and Land (1991, with Robert Mirabal).

Eiko & Koma's recent Death Poem, designed to be performed in an intimate space, is a meditation on dying. Eiko & Koma will next collaborate with pianist Margaret Leng Tan on a work scheduled to premiere in February 2007.

Recipients of two "Bessies" and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, Eiko & Koma were honored with the 2004 Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement in modern dance. For more information visit: www.eikoandkoma.org.

Daravuth Ly (Dramaturge) was born in Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia in 1969. In 1980, as a result of the violence in his native country, he fled to refugee camps in Thailand. In 1983, he was granted asylum in France and eventually studied art history and visual arts at the Sorbonne. In 1995, Ly returned to Cambodia where he currently lives and works. He lectures in cultural anthropology at the Faculty of Archeology of the Royal University of Fine Arts. He is also the co-founder and Director of the Reyum Institute.

Ingrid Muan (1964-2005) was an American artist, scholar and cultural worker who, with Daravuth Ly, co-founded the Reyum Institute. She dedicated herself to the preservation and development of Khmer culture—through exhibitions of traditional and contemporary arts, through the publication of books and articles, through her support of the few surviving older Khmer craftspeople, and through her mentorship of a new generation of Cambodian artists and researchers.

Sam-Ang Sam, Ph.D. (Music Director), an ethnomusicologist and performer by training, was educated in Cambodia at the Royal University of Fine Arts, in the Philippines at the College of Music (University of the Philippines), and in the United States at Connecticut College and at Wesleyan University, where he received his MA and Ph.D. degrees in Music composition and Ethnomusicology respectively. He has made a significant contribution to the international understanding and appreciation of Cambodian traditional performing arts. His artistic and scholarly work has been recognized with a number of important awards, including a 1994 MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and a 1998 National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Thorn Chan , 20 years old is a graduate of the Reyum Institute.

Vannak Huoth , 21 years old, is a graduate of the Reyum Institute.

Sotha Kun , 18 years old, will graduate from the Reyum Institute later this year.

Sokchanthorn Ngin , 19 years old, is a graduate of the Reyum Institute.

Nimit Ouen , 20 years old, is a graduate of the Reyum Institute.

Sophon Phe , 22 years old. is a graduate of the Reyum Institute, where he is now a guide.

Chakreya So , 16 years old, will graduate from the Reyum Institute later this year. She currently studies at Vat Kosh high school at the tenth level.

Setpheap ("Peace") Sorn , 17 years old, will graduate from the Reyum Institute later this year and studies at Preas Sisovat High school at the twelfth level.

Sok Than , 20 years old, graduated from the Reyum Institute and now studies at Boung Trobeack High School at the tenth level.

Chivalry Yok , 19 years old, graduated from the Reyum Institute and now studies at Preas Sisovat High school at the twelfth level.

David Ferri (Lighting Designer) has worked with prominent choreographers such as Pina Bausch, Shen Wei, Doug Varone, Jane Comfort, David Rousseve and Ballet Preljocaj. He has been the Production Manager for the prestigious American Dance Festival for the last nine years, training upcoming designers in America. Recipient of a 1987-88 Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) for his design of Doug Varone's Straits and a 2000-2001 Bessie for Sustained Achievement in Lighting Design, David was also resident lighting designer and technical director at PS 122 from 1985-1991. He lives in New York between his travels and projects.