​MAKURA 枕 (pillow)- Junko Wada

MAKURA 枕 (pillow)

Choreographed and performed by: Junko Wada | Music: Hans Peter Kuhn

Writing about the state of mind, the inner thoughts or conflicts like in a diary is called. Makura or Makura no sōshi in Japanese language of the Heian period, approximately 1.000 years ago. The famous Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon is titled that way and I originally thought it was just the title until I found out that there is a whole literature genre of Makura (the word Makura means pillow). 
Since several years I am fascinated by the Heian period culture, which can be seen as a Japanese renaissance. Specifically the handwriting of one of the most famous calligraphers of the time, Yukinari Fujiwara, is an enormous inspiration and touches the source of my creativity.
This dance is the trial to express my deep thoughts by writing with my body a poetic diary in space. For me the word Makura (pillow) is connected to our dreams, since we place our heads on pillows to sleep and dream. And our dreams become the stages for the mysterious secrets of our minds. I would like to move on the borderline between reality and dream…


Junko Wada Painter and Dancer. After studying painting at Musashino Art University in Tokyo she was working on large scale abstract painting. The physical aspect of the work lead her to her very personal dance style. The source of painting and dance are the same and the dance becomes a three dimensional painting in the space. Both - painting and dance - are abstract and have a faint relation to traditional Japanese art.

Since1985 she collaborated often with sound artists, Akio Suzuki, Rolf Julius, Hans Peter Kuhn and others. She participated in productions of Sasha Waltz&Guest (noBody, Matsukaze e.a.).

She performed in many museums, galleries and public sites worldwide including Adelaide Festival, Ruhrtriennale Essen, ZKM Karlsuhe, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Staatsoper and Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, and others. Recent exhibitions include Haus am Waldsee Berlin. In 1998-99 she received a grant at Schloß Solitude, Stuttgart.

She was born in Tokyo and since 1999 she lives in Berlin and in Kyoto.