Chieko Kojima & Taikoz: The Beauty of 8

Chieko Kojima & Taikoz: The Beauty of 8

The Beauty of 8 centres around a special guest from Japan, Chieko Kojima, the world famous Taiko drummer; highlighting her particular skills and gifts, both as a dancer and traditional musician.

“It’s a good chance to go really deep into Chieko’s particular artistry and to bring what she does and what we do together,” explained Ian Cleworth, artistic director of Taikoz. Drawing on old tradition, the group bring their own language to the performance style.

“Taikoz is an Australian group, we’ve all lived and studied in Japan and we’ve taken these beautiful old forms and composed and made new forms,” said Cleworth, who also performs in the show. “There’s a sense of adventure, a sense of being transported to another place. That’s what we’ve worked towards, through the dance and the music, we’re transporting the audience to a whole other world,” he added.

The Beauty of 8 has a lot of different moves, from the meditative calm feeling to a super high energy of the absolute extreme when we get our odaiko (grand drum) sticks,” said Cleworth.

The show really explores those extreme dynamics.  A bamboo flute is played, weaving mesmerising beautiful melodies, the show is centred around movement and rhythm through drums and beautiful melodies. The movement of the arms and drumsticks resemble a figure of eight, which is how the show’s name came about.

“You’ll get the impression of going on a journey and arriving in a new place. We have some poetry spoken, a few stanzas of Tennyson’s Ulysses that talks about exploring new frontiers, adding to a sense of exploration,” said Cleworth.

Taiko drums date back many centuries, and Taiko always been a part of Buddhist and Shinto ceremonies. The main place you see Taiko is festivals where all the community comes together and the pounding of the drums brings the gods down into your community for the day. In more recent years it’s developed into a concert art form. (MS)

Oct 23 & 24, 8pm. York Theatre, Seymour Centre, City Rd and Cleveland St. $70-50. Tickets & Info: taikoz.com/TaikOz/Performances.aspx 

SPECIAL CITY HUB OFFER CODE: TAIKOZFAN (save $15 per ticket).

 

BY MEL SOMERVILLE

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