Maho Ogawa: Japanese Tea and Ritual Room—卯月Uzuki (April) at JACK

Japanese Tea and Ritual Room—Uzuki (April) is a research-based interdisciplinary work expanding perspectives on Japanese Tea Culture, seeking new meanings in ritual, and finding common ground between Japanese traditional culture and contemporary New York life.

Japanese Tea and Ritual Room consists of interactive installations inspired by personal rituals, as described by survey participants. Live performance activations of the installations realize the cultural intersections of the concept of "nothingness" that Japanese Tea Ritual invokes. During each performance activation performers will evoke a zen garden as human statues, stretching our sense of time so that we may find presence and stillness.

Performances are being presented in tandem with the release of Maho's upcoming article in Push/Pull (published by Culture Push in March 2024). Interrogating her roots as a Japanese choreographer, Maho Ogawa started researching Japanese Tea Ritual for its formality, concept, and the social function as a community gathering. In 2023, she conducted a survey about personal rituals in the local community in New York.

Results and reflections from the survey, along with an overview of Japanese Tea Culture, and an interview with a Japanese Tea Master, Yoshitsugu Nagano, will be presented in the article.