Fort Wayne Taiko

TAIKOPROJECT Performance at the Arts United Center!

Andy Welfle — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:30:07 +0000

Apr

8:00 pm

Fort Wayne Taiko and Fort Wayne Dance Collective is pleased to announce a 3-day guest artist residency by the internationally-renowned TAIKOPROJECT, a Los Angeles-based drumming group. This residency includes a performance of “(re)generation” April 17, 2010 at 8 pm at the Arts United Center (see map below).

LA Weekly said of TAIKOPROJECT, “This ain’t your mama’s taiko, but it may be your hip, younger cousin’s”, and they couldn’t be more right. This company seamlessly blends fast-paced, exciting taiko with storytelling, music, hip-hop choreography, multimedia and dance.

In 2005, TAIKOPROJECT traveled to Japan to represent American taiko at the Tokyo International Taiko Contest. They took home the top prize, becoming the first foreign taiko group to win the contest. Earlier that year, they were featured in Mitsubishi Motor’s national ad campaign, featuring women in their group.

This 8-member company is in Fort Wayne for a three-day residency that includes educational lecture/demonstrations with schoolchildren, workshops for local taiko drummers and taiko enthusiasts, and will even be doing a demonstration during the Cherry Blossom Festival, happening downtown on April 18!

Reserved tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for children 12 and under. At the door, tickets are $30. They can be purchased by calling Fort Wayne Dance Collective at 260-424-6574 or by emailing info@fwdc.org. For more information about TAIKOPROJECT and their residency in Fort Wayne, visit www.fwdc.org/taikoproject.

FUN FACTS ABOUT TAIKO:

Taiko, which means “big drum” in Japanese, is a drumming and movement art form from ancient Japan. In taiko, the movement is as important as the rhythm — drummers play rhythms with sticks using choreographed arm movements while dancing from drum to drum.
Fort Wayne has our very own taiko group! Fort Wayne Taiko has been around since 2001 and has performed at countless local festivals, schools, and other events. See their website at www.fwtaiko.org.
Drums (at least those used by Fort Wayne Taiko) are made out of 50-gallon bourbon barrels, skinned at both ends in cowhide and played in horizontal, diagonal and vertical positions. Read a history of the drums and see pictures at http://fwtaiko.org/who-we-are/the-drums

TAIKOPROJECT at the Arts United Center

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, It’s back to work we go!

Jackie Hinsey — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:08:08 +0000

Fort Wayne Taiko members have been hard at work preparing for Knock on Wood IV. New material, costuming, themes, and set ideas are under way as well as a new venue in the Downtown Library Auditorium. In February, we were lucky enough to have John Yost, of Kaiju Daiko, back in the Fort for a 5-hour workshop and another new and exciting piece of music to explore. This one is an original composition by John that his group performed at our 2008 concert. So the metronomes have come out again and members are being frustrated (and humbled) by that tiny piece of equipment. But its all worth it as we prepare for all the summer festivals and culminate with Knock on Wood IV on Nov 20, 2010.

Manchester College

Jackie Hinsey — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:41:15 +0000

Apr

1:00 pm

International Fair at Manchester College 1-5PM in the PERC.

Fame Festival

Jackie Hinsey — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:31:19 +0000

Mar

12:30 pm

Demo at 12:30, Performance at 2:30

Grand Wayne Convention Center, Downtown Fort Wayne

KOW 3 was a blast!

Chris Johnson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:14:59 +0000

Our Knock on Wood 3 performance was soooooooo much fun! We were all psyched and poised to give the best show possible.

Our audience was hugely receptive and appreciative of our performance. We experienced (some might say “endured”) weeks of learning new pieces or new parts of pieces, extra rehearsals, planning and organizing, etc.

All our hard work was more than worth the effort as we enjoyed our audience’s appreciation and the great fun of drumming with such a wonderful group of performers.

Special note of appreciation to our families and friends who are so helpful and supportive!

Knock on Wood 2009

lhillyard — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:35:07 +0000

As we prepared for the 2009 concert, there were many questions, doubts and insecurities. This happens with any kind of performance. Will we be ready, will people like what we are doing, can we even do this??? According to many audience members, it was very successful! I had a person comment to me that she thought we had improved so much from last year. She had attended last years concert as well and really liked it. I was encouraged and grateful for all the work and dedication each drummer had to make this performance what it was.

What really made it special for me was that my whole family helped in setting up drums, the stage, coming to rehearsals and other odds and ends, when they would’ve probably wanted to be doing something else.

It was such a joy to drum with this group of people and it was alot of fun!!!!!!

A day in the life of taiko drummers

Andy Welfle — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:15:39 +0000

Wednesdays are rehearsal days, and here’s Teri Duclos, Lori Price-Hull, and Susie Vetter practicing for the upcoming concert Nov. 8.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Heart of Taiko!

Allison Ballard — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:11:58 +0000

Last night a drummer told me in the midst of the performance she could feel the vibration of the drums so strongly in her heart center it brought her to tears even while she was playing. This is what keeps taiko drummers humble and coming back for more in spite of the endless practice, hours of repetitive drills, sore muscles, dirty sweat, exhaustion and mental gymnastics. This is why the back of FW Taiko members’ shirts say, “Big Drums, Big Sound, Big Life.” The heart of taiko is the art of taiko!

Taiko drumming at the West Central Tour ArtsFest

Andy Welfle — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:06:38 +0000

There’s music and dancing in the streets! Check out this mobile video taken at the FW Taiko performance on Union Street between Wayne and Berry Streets, nestled in the heart of West Central.

West Central Arts Fest

Allison Ballard — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:57:49 +0000

Performing at West Central Neighborhood on 9/12 was such a blast! The weather was beautiful, the drummers were focused, calm and ready (!) and the crowd was great. It takes an amazing amount of effort sustained over a long period of time to present that level of performance-the energy flying around on 9/12 makes it all worth it! One of my greatest joys is drumming with my taiko friends-we have developed such a cohesive sense of each other and have learned to anchor each other in the moment. Yahoo! I was all revved up for hours after last night’s show–in spite of my hunger and exhaustion and the sore finger I smashed while playing (ouch!). In fact, I drummed all night in my dreams and was still revved when I woke up. I am so grateful to West Central, FWDC and drummers for making last night’s performance possible! And I am so excited about the work we are putting together for our studio performance KNOCK ON WOOD to be presented 11/8, 2 p.m. at FWDC.

(Editor’s Note: I took a mobile video of part of the performance — see the YouTube video attached. —AW)