“Through dance, we present archaic landscapes, eons older than the world we occupy, in which we, humans, can rediscover our essential selves.” So reads the entrance page to the website of Eiko and Koma Otake, a dance partnership that has performed across the globe and is known for pushing the limits of their bodies by posing in snow and freezing water. Next semester, Eiko, a visiting professor of dance, will return to the University to again collaborate with History Department Chair and Professor William Johnston in an attempt to redefine traditional ways of learning.

In 2006, Johnston and Otake taught “Japan and the Atomic Bomb,” a history class cross listed as a Dance, Science in Society, East Asian Studies, and American Studies course. Next semester, after a three-year gap due to, among other factors, Johnston’s responsibilities as Chair of the History Department, Otake and Johnston are coming together to teach the course again.

Originally, the idea for the course came about at a luncheon organized by Director of the Arts Pamela Tatge, who was searching for ways to integrate dance with otherwise straightforward academic subjects. At the event, which was attended by a number of well-known contemporary dancers, Johnston immediately recognized Otake from her photos and the two immediately connected. Otake mentioned that she was interested in teaching, and Johnston described to her what he had in mind.

“I said that I had a course I’d been interested in doing but just hadn’t gotten around to, about Japan and the atomic bomb,” said Johnston. “She said, ’I’m doing a Masters in Japanese Lit at NYU on atomic bomb literature.’ We started talking and hit it off, and we said that we’d like to do this course together.”

Johnston describes the 1.5 credit course as a very intense reading seminar, and advertises it to students as one of the most difficult classes he has ever taught. The course is designed to challenge students to use their minds and bodies to explore some of the fundamental questions about not only the history of World War II but also history in general. This will include questions of national identity and the use of terror in war. Johnston will lead the Monday afternoon lecture portion of the class, while Otake will lead the workshop portion, which will meet Tuesday nights.

“Through movement studies, discussion, and weekly journal entries, I hope to help students develop creatively and use artistic and emotional rigor in responding to the course material,” Otake wrote in an e-mail. “I think it is essential to learn and keep reminding ourselves that we reside and live in one body, and so does everyone else. A body is the base of an individual. One cannot divide a body.”

When first discussing its conception in 2006, Otake was concerned about attracting students to the course, but Johnston told her not to worry. The class enrolled 22 students, but Eiko’s workshop soon proved to be extremely popular. Johnston estimates that about 40 to 50 students would show up for any given workshop. Consequently, enrollment in the course for next spring required Permission of the Instructor, and Johnston and Otake reviewed individual applicants, looking at the strength and diversity of interests they could bring to the class.

Otake and her partner, Koma, have performed their own choreographed dances several times at the University, and Otake says that several of her students have come to see their performances in New York City. Following the success of the 2006 course, Otake taught her own class in 2007 and 2008 that she called “Delicious Movement for Forgetting, Remembering and Uncovering,” which combined the study of post-war Japanese arts and the atomic bombings with the study of movement.

“Professor Vera Schwarcz, who is the chair of the East Asian Studies Program, calls her [Otake] a force of nature, which is well put,” Johnston said. “She’s just magnetic. She truly is one of these amazing, charismatic individuals. Students just surround her—they’re attracted to her.”

Matt Donne ’07, who took “Japan and the Atomic Bomb” in 2006, thought that the course was a success.

“What I learned from Professor Johnston’s class extends far beyond the simple historical knowledge that he taught,” wrote Donne in an e-mail. “He forced us to think critically and openly and without previous conception. He also forced us to place our psyche in the mind of the individuals on the ground through his choice of reading materials, movies, and other tasks.”

Johnston and Otake’s course isn’t the first time mind learning has been combined with body learning; other courses at the University have taken a similar approach. Dr. Laura Grabel and Liz Lerman’s performance piece, for example, “Ferocious Beauty: Genome,” was a result of a partnership between scientists and ethicists to confront genetic research and a new biological age in a theatrical work that combined movement, music, text and film.

Johnston also noted that this seemingly alternative approach to learning takes place in the Dance Department all the time.

“Dance courses are often thought of as just movement courses,” Johnston said. “But the dance as it is performed can represent a very sophisticated outcome of intellectual currents.”

The collaboration has been an exciting one for both Otake and Johnston. Johnston, who is a practicing Zen Buddhist and who has published two books about Japan, claims that he does not have much expertise in dance. He plans, however, to participate in the workshops along with the students, saying that he too will “be there rolling around on the floor. “

“I know I look like a straight historian, but I lead a closeted existence,” Johnston revealed to the Argus. “I am a closeted artist!”