Fast punchy taiko, Stomp, Marco Leinhard and a beautiful ballet…New York, you didn’t disappoint in any way!
Cobu – Stomping good taiko
As I walked through the red metal doors into the Theatre for the New City, the place hit me immediately as somewhere I would love to spend time regularly – loud colours in the form of sculptures hung, stood and draped around you as soon as you enter, the front desk merely a gap in the paint, stacks of paperwork and people…A friendly face directed us down into the basement (Joanie and her housemate Xin had earlier walked with me for an hour through the city in the early morning, and we’d stopped at a deli for brunch that offered exquisite food, great service and an open fire that warmed our -7 fingers and toes) and the colours deepened, the vibes picked up as the sound of taiko pulsed through the low brick corridors of the theatre basement.
Cobu were exactly as I imagined – a fresh faced, energetic Japanesse woman called out rhythms over the ongoing base beat, and one by one her class’ taiko responded. The beats were fast, punchy and delivered with meaning – no hesitation or fear of being too loud or off beat, every sound was packed with attitude. As I watched, it became so clear that this energy started at the front of the class and got played back and forth, as the class reacted to her, amplified and raised the bar. Even the talk was fast paced and high energy – no time for explaining or stopping too long incase this hyper atmosphere dared to fizzle out and sneak off into the East Village outside. Full of pep, the group was loose, natural, comfortable, like dancing to strutting hip-hop beat, it started from the feet up, body not afraid of a big space, every move assertive, the body speaking up as both instrument and performer. I loved every minute of being there.
The class ended on an unsurprising high, Yako bounced down the steps to greet me with a huge smile (we’d emailed back and forth for a few days) and we talked openly about hanigng out to talk about what she’s done with this vibrant, clearly thriving and inspiring group of women that forms the tap/taiko group Cobu. If she weren’t about to fly to Japan tomorrow, not before squeezing in two performances of STOMP, we’d have had longer…it’s just one reason to come back I guess. Although I never got to play with them (their website promotes very old information, including address of rehearsal space, which led me to miss a class) I’m so glad to have witnessed this in its entirety rather than be an element lost in a piece I clearly didn’t know being played. Observing this happen in front of me, my brain working out the difference of all the taiko classes I’ve seen in the past year, and what makes each different…if you could bottle the atmosphere down in that basement, you’d have far happier people in the world!
Marco Leinhard
The afternoon brought me to the 4th floor of a dark building to meet somewhat of a taiko legend to me – Marco Leinhard is a name I’ve been aware of from the first day in the Kagemusha Taiko office. Jonathan’s creation of Brother Drum back in my taiko darkages (years before I knew tako existed) included shakuhachi from Marco that still makes me tingle. Stories that Jonathan tells about those days (he never forgets a thing and is a great teller of stories) excited me and I had always wanted to meet this man – and yesterday was that day. I had turend up expecting to me a particpant of an advanced class, and however wrong it is to be delighted that no-one showed up, I was floored to find that I’d have a one-to-one with him! So, he pushed my boundaries (not hard) with some naname warm-up drills and then taught me a couple of sequences that invovled, as I have got used to, learning a whole different style of playing! It was great to be playing my first taiko beats in NYC here, and the time flew – I emerged from that small studio with that satisfied, tired, slightly shiny glow that taiko players world round know and love.
Ballet in the city
All I needed to do with the rest of my day was to creep around the block to meet up with my cousin, who is studying at the Manhattan School of Music, and hit the city for the evening. This included a huge treat – a trip to the New York City Ballet. As a taiko player, and as a human, I sort of reel from seeing what I horrifyingly relayed to a friend as ‘rigid traditionalism that promotes unhealthy human disfiguration in the name of art and beauty’…but ever since I was small I’d loved the magic of the orchestra, the dancers and the hours of strenuous work that goes into portraying this effortless graceful illusion. I loved it, my favourite moment being outside on the balcony at the intermission, having been treated to some champagne, surrounded by the bitter chill of the city night, watching a woman in her sixties talking to a young man. With one gesture I saw her in a flash, forty years younger, and leant over to my cousin to say I bet she’d danced…we randomly ended up talking to that young man who told us that she had, indeed, danced here years ago…I guess a passion like that never leaves someone. Totally un-taiko related, I had a wonderful first evening in New York and ended up safely tucked up in the Bronx by 2am, having had a very very good day.
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