Eiko & Koma with pianist Margaret Leng Tan

UNC Asheville's Cultural & Special Events series will welcome Eiko & Koma to the Lipinsky Auditorium stage at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 12, to perform their original choreography "Mourning." Pianist Margaret Leng Tan will provide accompaniment.

"Mourning," which was first presented in 2004 at the Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues and Ideas, is a metaphorical exploration of loss as a singular experience in each human life. For the artists, "Mourning" is a way of grieving for human cruelty to other humans and the earth.

Eiko & Koma were law and political science students in Japan when they joined Tokyo's Tatsumi Hijikata dance company. Though they have no traditional Japanese dance or theater training, Eiko & Koma went on to work with artists like Robert Mirabal, Chanticleer, Praise Choir and Joseph Jennings. In 1984, they were named John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellows and awarded "Bessies," New York Dance and Performance Awards.

Born in Singapore, Tan was the first woman to earn a doctorate of music from Juilliard. Upon graduation, Tan's desire to explore the crosscurrents between Asian and Western music led to an active collaboration with John Cage that lasted until his death. She is now known as one of the pre-eminent interpreters of Cage’s music and was chosen as the featured performer in a memorial tribute concert at the 45th Venice Biennale. Tan continues to be a major force within the American avant-garde movement with unique performances embracing aspects of theater and choreography.

Co-sponsors for the performance include the Asheville Art Museum, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation and JP Morgan Chase.

General admission tickets are $20. To purchase tickets online, visit www.uncatickets.com or to reserve tickets by phone, call UNC Asheville's Highsmith University Union Box Office at 828/232-5000.

Eiko & Koma will also host a Delicious Movement Workshop from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at Warren Wilson College's Bryson Gym. The workshop is open to the public; no dance experience is necessary. Cost is $10 cash or check at the door only. No pre-registration is required. Participants should dress in loose, comfortable clothes and be prepared to work barefoot.

For more information about the performance, purchasing group tickets or the movement workshop, call 828/251-6991 or click on www.unca.edu/culturalarts/.