Celebrate this exciting Japanese tradition of music, dance and fun! This high energy evening is a great event the whole family can enjoy. The Tamagawa Taiko & Dance group has been touring the world from Japan since 1961. Its unique blend of music, Japanese folklore dance and performance has awed audiences around the world. With a growing fan base, it has been invited to the Philadelphia Cherry Blossom Festival every year since 2003. Tamagawa University Dance and Taiko Group has been touring the world since 1961, visiting Mexico, England, Greece, Canada, Malaysia, Russia, Indonesia, Africa and the United States. They have been touring extensively in East Coast since 2003, which includes performances at the Kennedy Center, the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphia and the NBA half-time show at the Wachovia Center.
Its amazing performance of high-energy Taiko drumming and Japanese folkloric dance has received rave reviews from The New York Times and other media. It won third prize in competition against 450 other groups at the Tokyo International Taiko contest. With growing numbers of fans every year, it returns to the U.S. to its 16th annual East Coast tour that stretches from Philadelphia and Syracuse to Washington, D.C. and New York.
The group is led by a great Kabuki-dance master, Isaburoh Hanayagi. He is the choreographer and director of the Tamagawa University Taiko Drum and Dance Group, a Professor of Performing Arts at Tamagawa University in Tokyo, Japan, and served as the Cornell Distinguished Visiting professor of Swarthmore College for 2008–2009. Trained as a kabuki performer in the Hanayagi School, Isaburoh made his stage debut at age 3 under the tutelage of his father, Yoshigosaburoh Hanayagi. The Hanayagi School is the largest school of kabuki dance in Japan, with over 200,000 members. Isaburoh is known as a unique dancer and choreographer among them, and in addition to teaching kabuki dance classes, he also instructs in subjects such as Creative Folkloric Dances and Comparative Study of Western and Eastern Dances. Isaburoh has choreographed and directed Japanese dance and taiko drumming performances, including performance tours to Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Canada, Thailand, South Africa, the UK and the U.S. Isaburoh has also choreographed for the theatrical group En, one of the most prominent companies in Japan. Company members include Kyoko Kishida, Isao Hashizume and Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, Letters from Iwo Jima).
In addition, Isaburoh has led workshops at numerous institutions worldwide, including Michigan University, Washington University in St. Louis, Ursinus College, Hamilton College, Pennsylvania University, the Painted Bride Arts Center in Philadelphia, The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, the London Festival in England, Thummasart University in Thailand and the Festival of World Dance in Hong Kong.
