Eiko and Koma combine fluid movements with their lithe, graceful bodies to help the audience visualize the concept of the river. The river is seen as a mediator between worlds in many cultures, including Eiko and Koma's native Japan. So it's interesting whether or not the sort of abstraction, or abstracting the concept of the river and bringing it onto the stage, might even make a stronger experience. Eiko explains that before we were born, our embryonic growth occurred completely surrounded by the watery womb. She also says that all of life was once in the ocean as ancient fish, swimming through the rivers to get to the land.
Rivers are the place where life began.
That's really the river I'm talking about. It's not really the river that flows in the landscape. It's really the river that pushes our life into the forwardness. For the members of the Kronos Quartet, the ideas Eiko and Koma are trying to communicate are intriguing and powerfully influential over their music. For us to kind of have that experience personified in their dance right in front of us, it clearly becomes a part of the way we're playing at that moment.