Asian Improv aRts Midwest

Asian Improv aRts Midwest presents the Bridge Dance Festival (Tickets available online)

Identity, Aesthetics, and Expression, Fujima Yoshinojo (aka Rika Lin) brings together dancers encompassing the connection to their Asian heritage in the Bridge Dance Festival 2019 (Alexander Hayashi with Takashi Shallow, Ayako Kato, Ayaka Nakama, and Mitsu Salmon with ryotaro.)
The individual is in a continuous flux. The fluid dynamic state of being that is shaped by variable experience within the environment is surrounded by culture and aesthetics; this is presented in a visible, observable release and transference known as “dance”. The Bridge is the individual.

BUY TICKET | Thursday Nov 14
BUY TICKET | Friday Nov 15
BUY TICKET | Saturday Nov 16

Asian Improv aRts Midwest presents the Bridge Dance Festival (Tickets available online)

Identity, Aesthetics, and Expression, Fujima Yoshinojo (aka Rika Lin) brings together dancers encompassing the connection to their Asian heritage in the Bridge Dance Festival 2019 (Alexander Hayashi with Takashi Shallow, Ayako Kato, Ayaka Nakama, and Mitsu Salmon with ryotaro.)
The individual is in a continuous flux. The fluid dynamic state of being that is shaped by variable experience within the environment is surrounded by culture and aesthetics; this is presented in a visible, observable release and transference known as “dance”. The Bridge is the individual.

BUY TICKET | Thursday Nov 14
BUY TICKET | Friday Nov 15
BUY TICKET | Saturday Nov 16

Asian Improv aRts Midwest presents the Bridge Dance Festival (Tickets available online)

Identity, Aesthetics, and Expression, Fujima Yoshinojo (aka Rika Lin) brings together dancers encompassing the connection to their Asian heritage in the Bridge Dance Festival 2019 (Alexander Hayashi with Takashi Shallow, Ayako Kato, Ayaka Nakama, and Mitsu Salmon with ryotaro.)
The individual is in a continuous flux. The fluid dynamic state of being that is shaped by variable experience within the environment is surrounded by culture and aesthetics; this is presented in a visible, observable release and transference known as “dance”. The Bridge is the individual.

BUY TICKET | Thursday Nov 14
BUY TICKET | Friday Nov 15
BUY TICKET | Saturday Nov 16

CHICAGO – Directed by multi-instrumentalist and media artist Tatsu Aoki at the Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL

As Tsukasa Taiko marks its 22 year in Chicago. Asian Improv aRts Midwest brings 3 Grandmasters from Japan: Shijuro Tachibana, Chizuru Kineya, and Hyakkyo Fukuhara. This is an opportunity to experience the percussive sounds of the kabuki theater. An integral part of the language of the Kabuki theater, the music and percussion are utilized to proficiently express the nuanced stage set in Kabuki. Together with Tatsu Aoki, Grandmaster Shijuro Tachibana will be presenting an introduction to Kabuki music soundscape which will provide the audience an opportunity to experience the creation of the musical landscape that provides a lush verisimilitude within a Kabuki performance.

Tsukasa Taiko is a program of Asian Improv aRts Midwest and is supported in part by theJapanese American Service Committee of Chicago and is supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council, the MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, CDH. P.C, JCCC Foundation, Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Joyce Foundation.

The sleekness and effervescence of jazz meets the dynamism and boldness of the taiko drum in a concert of unreleased materials from 1970’s original taiko theater – the Gintenkai in Tokyo. Classical masters Hyakkyou Fukuhara (flute/percussion), Chizuru Kineya (shamisen) and Shijuro Tachibana (kabuki dance), will be joined by a critically acclaimed roster of jazz artists including poet and musician Coco Elysses; the fiercely creative jazz/reggae/world music specialist Hamid Drake; JoVia Armstrong, the winner of Black Women in Jazz Awards’ 2014 Best Black Female Percussionist of the Year, and, direct from France, drummer and improviser Yuko Oshima.

The resonating thunder of taiko drums, the precision of traditional Japanese dance and the delicately emotive sound of the Shamisen share the stage when the multigenerational Tsukasa Taiko performs a fascinating and highly entertaining mix of original compositions and arrangements in a broad range of musical styles from ozashiki (geisha chamber music) to minyo (folk music) to ohayashi (classical/folk/theater music) and matsuri taiko (festival taiko music). Joining the 30 members of Chicago’s Taiko Legacy will be San Francisco’s Melody Takata and the GenRyu Arts and three classical music grandmasters from Japan: Chizuru Kineya, Hyakkyou Fukuhara and Shijuro Tachibana.

Grandmaster Shijuro Tachibana conducts an interactive Kabuki music workshop giving the audience an opportunity to participate in creating the musical landscape for a traditional Kabuki performance.

George Freeman, Mike Allemana, & Rami Atassi with Tatsu Aoki