West Windsor resident Eri Tanaka Millrod coordinated a benefit evening to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. “Together for Japan: A Benefit Concert” was presented on Saturday, May 21, at the West Windsor Arts Council.
Performers included Alexia & Groove Merchant Drum & Dance Ensemble; Dance Vision Youth Ensemble from West Windsor; DongLi Dance, based in West Windsor; Glen Swan; Lanyun Dance Troupe, based in Plainsboro; Lisa Botalico; Princeton Korean Dance Troupe; Ramya Ramnarayan’s Classical Indian music; Red Currant Collective; Sun Palace; Tangerine Dance Collective, based in West Windsor; and Timeless Music from Plainsboro.
Millrod, born in New York City, has lived in the United States most of her life. She attended kindergarten and part of first grade in Japan and she lived and worked in Japan in 1988 and 1989. “Growing up, I went to Japan very frequently, spending two full months in Tokyo during summer vacations, since my parents’ families were all in Japan,” she says.
Millrod graduated from Barnard College in 1986 with a major in dance and psychology. She received a master’s degree in dance and movement therapy from NYU and danced briefly with NYU’s Washington Square Repertory Company. She and her husband, David, a clarinetist, moved from the West Village to West Windsor in 1992.
“We were looking to live somewhere that values the arts and has a theater, has ethnic and cultural diversity, and has an intellectual and academic community,” says Millrod.
A dancer and a dance/movement therapist at Princeton House Behavioral Health, Millrod returned to dancing after her two daughters were born, Allegra in 1994; and Elise in 1997. “I wanted to reconnect with my body as a dancer and dance felt richer after having become a mother,” says Millrod.
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan on March 11 and the tsunami that followed wiped out towns, left more than 151,000 people without homes, more than 13,000 dead, and 14,608 still missing.
Millrod is currently the only one in her family living in the United States. Her mother, her sister and her family, and her brother are all in Tokyo. “They are all doing well, says Millrod. “My cousin’s family in Sendai are also safe, and have decided to stay there. I am fortunate that my immediate family was not harmed by the earthquake and tsunami.”
Says Millrod: “I shifted from feeling bad to doing something about it when I saw the workers at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants going to work on the crippling plants knowing that they may be risking their lives through radiation exposure.” “I could not imagine what it is like to survive a magnitude 9 earthquake and a 128 foot tsunami, and then have the constant threat of radiation from the power plants.”
After a few days of hearing how vast the damage was through family and friends by phone, E-mail, and Facebook, Millrod “felt so sad and helpless that the whole northeastern region of Japan was in such a state of devastation, and that I could not be there to help. This is not something that happened just to Japan. We are all affected by it. As individuals, we may feel helpless and not know what to do, but as a community, we can feel hope and strength.”
She reached out to dancers and musicians of different backgrounds to donate their time for a benefit concert. Millrod was overwhelmed by the generosity of all the artists and the West Windsor Arts Council, who all jumped at the opportunity to make the event happen. The result was a benefit concert that featured music and dance from Japan, India, China, Korea, Spain, Middle East, and the United States. The event raised more than $3,676.
