Swarthmore Taiko Ensemble - Omiyage - 4/1/22 Trico Cultural Dance Showcase, Swarthmore College LPAC

Performers: Emma Dulski '22, Anna Fruman, Scout Hayashi '22, Anna Jing, Daisy Lee '22, Rebecca Lin '22, Zhijia Shirley Liu '22
Clara Mulligan, Kieran Mulligan (Haverford), Joe Small
Composition and Choreography: Shoji Kameda
Arrangement, with additional composition/choreography: Joe Small, Shirley Liu ’22, and STE members
Description: Meaning “gift” in Japanese, Omiyage mixes spinning, arcing arm choreography with catchy and dynamic rhythmic interplay. Composed in 2004 by Shoji Kameda as an uplifting ‘gift’ to the taiko community, Omiyage lies at the forefront of a movement in the international taiko community for open, arrangeable, and shareable work created in the spirit of generosity, encouragement, and mutual love of the art. One of the premier pieces of repertoire for LA-based professional ensembles Taikoproject and Unit One, Omiyage is also wildly popular amongst community, collegiate, and youth groups around the world. This semester, STE members collaborated in sectional ‘pods’ to choreograph and compose their own material, and took on the challenge of enhanced parts for odaiko big drum and two-drum sets of okedodaiko and shimedaiko drums.
Special Thanks: Mei Chinese Dance Club, STE members present and past, Shirley, Bethany, Tamiko Ooka, Kim Arrow, LPAC staff, Shoji Kameda, Bryan Yamami, Yuta Kato, Jen Baik, Yumi Saito, Isaku Kageyama, Taikoproject, Unit One, David Cheetham, Youji Ueki and Tsuzumiya studios, Eitetsu Shishou.
Swarthmore Taiko Ensemble (STE) is the taiko drum performance ensemble of Swarthmore College. Officially known as 'DANC049D Swarthmore Taiko Ensemble' - a repeatable, for credit (.5 academic or PE) repertory ensemble course in the Swarthmore College Dance Program (Department of Music and Dance). STE is instructed and directed by taiko artist and Asst. Professor of Dance Joe Small.
DANC049D Swarthmore Taiko Ensemble:
Taiko is an energetic neo-folk drumming art stemming from Japan and its postwar diaspora. Emphasizing choreographic, embodied approaches to Taiko, as an ensemble we learn contemporary and folk-based repertory from Japan and the international Taiko community, culminating in end-of-semester performances. Through Taiko, we hone intense physicality and musicianship, perseverance, mindfulness, cooperation, responsibility, creativity, and an appreciation for Japanese and Asian American cultures.

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