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The Triangle
Project was
conceived and produced by San Jose Taiko, in collaboration with Great Leap.
Through the use of folk and contemporary music, personal stories and dance,
the project will examine the lives and cultural contexts of three prominent
Asian women artists:
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Yoko Fujimoto was born
and rasied in postwar Tokyo which was quickly being westernized. Learning to play
the koto and singing Japanese songs her mother knew was a way of knowing her roots.
A founding member of Kodo, now home is Sado Island, where she lives in a village of
musicians who use taiko as a means of creating "one earth". |
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PJ Hirabayashi grew
up in predominantly non-Asian neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area, pursuing
western dance and music as her hobbies. While in college, anti-war activities, community
organizing, and Asian American Studies incited her to explore her cultural roots.
A founding member of San Jose Taiko, taiko became her voice to express her two worlds
and became her tool to create a sense of community. Now home is San Jose Japantown,
one of only three Japanese communities remaining in the U.S. |
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Nobuko Miyamoto, a
third generation Japanese American of mixed heritage, was a child of Japanese relocation
who found joy in the western dance and music. Awakened by the movements for social
change in the 70's, she created songs, dances and theater works to express the Asian
American experience. In 1978 she founded Great Leap which uses the arts to deepen
the understanding between people of diverse cultures. |
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Nobuko, PJ and
Yoko come from vastly different backgrounds, yet they have found deep communion in
the way they have pursued their music. The stark sImplicity of two voices and taiko
percussion, is the starting place of the web they skillfully spin. Forging a language
between English and Japanese, taiko and songs scatted and soaring, stories emerge
of their spiritual journeys.
The
Triangle Project culminates with a newly created song/dance, in
the Buddhist tradition of Obon, engaging local musicians and community members
in residency. In Japan, people would return to their hometowns to observe
the Buddhist tradition of Obon---to dance in a circle and remember their ancestors.
Today in America Obon still thrives with Japanese Americans dancing across
the border of time and culture, connecting past with the present.
This project
is partially funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
For booking
information contact
Great Leap: 213.250-8800
or www.greatleap.org.
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Triangle
Project
Dates
Thursday,
May 3
Charles B. Wang Center
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY
www.stonybrook.edu/wang
Saturday,
May 12
2:00pm
Kaufmann Theater
American Museum of Natural History
New York, NY
Free with Museum Admission
www.amnh.org/programs
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Triangle
Project
Features
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