Taiko Drummer Revisits SRU

Takumi Kato, a Japanese Taiko drummer, performed at Slippery Rock University Saturday April 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Swope Music Hall.  The performance was a part of the Kaleidoscope Arts Festival which took place from April 15-29 across the SRU campus.  There was great anticipation for Kato’s performance, as he performed here at SRU in the past. 

Taiko drummers combine dynamic drumming and movement using the Taiko drums, Shamisen (three-string Japanese instrument) and Shinobue (Japanese transverse flute). 

This performance was Kato’s largest performance in North America this far, and he repeatedly let the audience know that he was nervous.  He had a translator accompany him, because he is not fluent in English. 

Kato adorned an outfit made by his mother which he cherished, as well as armbands made by his grandmother back in Japan.   Most of Kato’s song choices related to his family and friends and their support throughout his music career.  He started playing the violin at a very young age, but laughed when he told the audience that his instructor suggested that he started playing the drums instead.  Kato admitted that he was not very good at playing the violin. 

Other songs that he played included one about his noisy household at home, where he mocked his mother yelling at the children.  Kato is the youngest of three children in his household and let the audience know that he is still a little childish. 

It takes a tremendous amount of upper body strength to play the Taiko drums, so it required Kato to push himself at a younger age to work out constantly by doing pushups.  Many of the women in the audience gushed over Kato, even asking him to take off his shirt to play one of his songs. 

When the performance was over, Kato took a picture of himself with the audience in the background.  He said that he loves coming to Slippery Rock because he can sense a strong family connection and bond between the people in this area.  It reminds him of his family life back in Japan. 

Audience members asked questions, including how old the Taiko drums were and how long they maintain its durability.  Kato said his current drums were about 50 years old and that the skins usually last about 10 years, depending on how often they are played. 

The crowd checked out Kato’s CD’s and t-shirts for sale when the performance was over, and could donate to his charity which supports the Japanese tsunami victims and family members affected by the storm.  Kato personally lost a 20-year-old cousin in the tsunami. 

He also made sure to take pictures with fans when the hour-long show concluded. 

Kato will be performing for Japanese Emperor Akihito later this year.

Third Coast Dance Film Festival

The second entry of my three-part series of Kaleidoscope events took place on Thursday, April 26 in the Advanced Technology and Science Hall Auditorium.  It was the Third Coast Dance Film Festival, which celebrates the intersection of contemporary dance and the moving image with a screening series of short dance films. 

This dance film festival was an hour-long program that featured both national and international choreographers, dancers, and filmmakers who excel in the dance film as a distinct art form.  The Third Coast Dance Festival was able to be shown at Slippery Rock University through the donation of SRU alumna Rosie Trump. 

Colleen Reily is the Director of the Kaleidoscope Arts Festival.

Overall, 10 dance film videos were shown over the hour-long program.  Some were longer than others, but each brought its own uniqueness to the overall feel of the Third Coast Dance Film Festival. 

One of my favorite pieces that were shown was entitled “Nobody’s Darling” and was made in the United States in 2010.  The dance film was directed and choreographed by Marta Renzi, and featured dancers Amos Wolff and Tina Vasquez.  It is easy to tell from the clip, but the dance film is a duet danced by a pair of independent spirits, whose intimacy is both tough and tender.  The graphic treatment of the image and their posture definitely heightened the underlying sexual tension between the two dancers.

Lola was the first piece shown on the April 26 to the audience, and was directed and choreographed by Anna Potapova.  Lola’s description is that she cannot speak, but she knows how to feel and how to dance.  She is the only one around who expresses herself by dancing.  The people around her live ordinary lives, but Lola used ballet in order to speak.   The music for this piece was by Xploding Plastix.

  

One of the most interesting clips shown at the Third Coast Dance Film Festival was Stranger Dances, which was also created in 2010 in the United States.  The dance film was a simple way of showing the wide variety of dances people would do in front of the camera.  It explores the unpredictable dance moves that people would choose to express themselves through movement, which most of the time was very humorous.  The dance film was directed, produced, and edited by Sabrina Cavins. 

Dead and Cast Away (United States, 2010) and Plan B (United States, 2011) were two other clips that I really enjoyed throughout the hour-long performances.  Dead and Cast Away featured three dancers that embody different personalities inside each of us.  It was directed and choreographed by Emily Lockard. 

Plan B as choreographed and directed by Jasmine Ellis, and gives the viewer a glimpse about waiting.  Three young men are impatiently waiting for their laundry to be finished, and have to come up with ways to occupy themselves in the meantime.

Be sure to check out my third and final installment of the Kaleidoscope Arts Festival this Friday!