also scheduled on
September 21, 2025 18:00

as part of the Fabbrica Europa 2025 festival

fish άɪ lens is a multidisciplinary solo dance performance by Megumi Eda – a kaleidoscopic self-portrait told through movement, memory, and a touch of mischief. Spanning six cities and six pivotal chapters – Nagano, Hamburg, Amsterdam, London, New York, and Berlin – this autobiographical journey captures her escape from Japan at 16 to chase ballet dreams, only to find herself in a world of cultural confusion, comic missteps, and transformative self-discovery.

Much like a fisheye lens, Megumi’s perspective bends and reframes the familiar into something startling and new. The piece explores not only the pursuit of art across continents, but also the delicate balance of being both mother and artist—a choice Megumi has embraced with courage and complexity.

At the heart of the performance is a rich creative collaboration. Guiding the process from behind the scenes is stage director Shintaro Oue, a teenage friend Megumi had not seen in 30 years, whose reconnection brings humor, insight, and emotional resonance. Adding a dynamic sonic layer is special guest musician Kazuhisa Uchihashi, performing live to create a soundscape that breathes with the performance itself.

Blending past and present, East and West, memory and movement, fish άɪ lens invites audiences into a textured, emotionally vivid world—where perspective shifts, stories collide, and identity is constantly remade.

Megumi Eda is a dancer and filmmaker creating multimedia works that blend theater, dance, and film. She began her career at 17 with the Hamburg Ballet, later joining the Dutch National Ballet and Rambert Dance Company, performing a wide range of classical and contemporary works.
In 2004, she moved to New York as a founding member of Armitage Gone! Dance, collaborating on over a dozen new works as a muse for Karole Armitage. That year, she won the New York Dance Performance Award (Bessie Award) and was named Best Performer by Dance Magazine in 2009 and 2015. She has also worked extensively with Yoshiko Chuma, developing innovative performance projects.
Since relocating to Berlin in 2019, Megumi has focused on her own interdisciplinary creations, exploring Multi-Generational War Trauma, Women’s Rights, and Institutional Abuse in the Dance World. Her notable works include Please Cry (2022), DIVINE (2023) with Yuko Kaseki and Momentum the second sleep / first part, solo (2022–) with Cristina Cristal Rizzo.

Originally from Kyoto, Shintaro Oue graduated from the Hamburg Ballet School in 1992. He has danced with renowned companies including the Hamburg Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater 2 (NDT2), and Cullberg Ballet. Alongside his performance career, Oue has developed a strong choreographic voice, earning several awards, including first prize at the Hannover International Choreography Competition in 2005. In 2008, he co-founded C/Ompany with Masahiro Yanagimoto and Shintaro Hirahara, an ensemble built on the idea of collaboration without fixed identity. C/Ompany debuted at Julidans NEXT09 and has toured in Japan, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Oue has also worked closely with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in both dance and theater productions, and began collaborating with Nagelhus Schia Productions in 2018. His latest work, 51/49, an international exchange project with NSP2 (Norway) and OrganWorks (Japan), premiered in February 2025. Since 2020, Oue has explored Butoh through close collaboration with Akira Kasai, contributing as both dancer and assistant.

Uchihashi Kazuhisa is a Japanese guitarist involved in free improvisation music. Born in Osaka, he began to play the guitar at age 12, playing in various rock bands, though he later studied jazz music. In 1988 he joined the band the First Edition, and in 1990 formed the band Altered States. He was also a member of Otomo Yoshihide’s Ground Zero from 1994 to 1997. Uchihashi also plays daxophone, and in addition to his role as a free improviser, Uchihashi has been the musical director for Osaka theatre group Ishinha, has held improvisation workshops (a project known as New Music Action) in various cities in Japan, as well as London, Oslo, and currently in Vienna also. Uchihashi has set up his own record label, Innocent Records a.k.a. Zenbei Records, had held a music festival annually since 1996 Festival BEYOND INNOCENCE.

by Megumi Eda in collaboration with Shintaro Oue
concept, performance: Megumi Eda
stage direction: Shintaro Oue
live music: Kazuhisa Uchihashi
costume: Mylla Ek
production: TIR Danza
co-production: DOCK11
residency: Fabbrica Europa/PARC in collaboration with Museo Novecento, Florence and Theaterhaus Berlin

photo: Yozy Zhang