AKB48 ~Team LC~ will be dancing a medley of songs by AKB48, a group of pop idols in uniform that are currently a huge hit in pop culture Japan. All of the members in the Team LC group are students from Japan who are currently studying at Lewis & Clark College. We will be performing “Aitakatta/I wanted to see you”, “Oogoe Diamond/Loud Voice Diamond”, and “Ponytail To Shushu/ Ponytails and Scrunchies”!
Arashi: “We are students at Lewis and Clark College and we are going to do a song called ‘Believe’ by the J Pop group Arashi.”
Hippoh Project: Since the original days of Adidas pinstripe track jackets, b-boys and b-girls pioneering breaking in schoolyards and parks, and boom-bap coming from boomboxes in the South Bronx, hip-hop has never been conventional. Hippoh aims to promote this spirit of originality by being not just a dance studio, but an embodiment of everything that music and dancing encompasses. All kinds of music and dance styles are welcome as we promote every type of art because we know that beauty, rebellion, and power can come in many forms from many different cultures. “Hippoh is a lifestyle, Hippoh is a movement, Hippoh is HipHop.”
Mitsuki Dazai is a graduate of Japan’s renowned Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, Japan, where she majored in vocal studies of Western Classical music. During the course of her studies in ethnomusicology, she found herself in venerable awe of her own cultural musical heritage, thus completing a circuitous route to traditional Japanese music and prompting her to begin intense studies in traditional koto at the Ikuta School of koto. Inspired by the legacy and veneration for this instrument, she next pursued advanced studies in contemporary koto at Sawai Koto Conservatory in Tokyo, with instructions by modern Koto Masters Tadao Sawai and world renowned Kazue Sawai, from which she graduated and was further honored as a certified koto instructor.
Since moving to Oregon in 2002, she has been performing extensively throughout the U.S. while serving as guest lecturer at the University of Oregon and Marylhurst University. She has organized numerous concerts of Japanese Music at universities, museums, libraries and community colleges. When returning to Japan she is welcomed as a guest performer and always pays an honorable visit to her respected mentor, Kazue Sawai.
Always seeking the challenge of performing with other talented musicians, she has joined in concert with Tessa Brinckman (flute, alto flute, piccolo, baroque flute), James Nyoraku Schlefer, Kaoru Kakizakai, Kazushi Matama, Larry Tyrrell, Peter Hill, Teruo Furuya (shakuhachi), Craig Green, Joe Ross (guitar), Curtis Patterson, Masayo Ishigure, Ryuko Mizutani, Shoko Hikage (koto), Joe Powers (harmonica) and Radim Zenkl (mandolin).
As a not-quite-retired educator, she also enjoys giving lessons, lectures and workshops.
In 2007 she released her first solo album “AUTUMN” and her second CD worked with Michael Hoppe is just released in 2010.
Sahomi Tachibana Dancers: As a child in California, Sahomi Tachibana was surrounded by members of her family who were avid amateur Kabuki actors. This led to her quest to become a classical dancer. During the 1930’s, Sahomi intensified her training in the classical Japanese dance with Saho Tachibana in Tokyo and Fukushima.
In 1941 she received the dance name of Tachibana and returned to the United States. From 1942-45 she was interned in the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah with other Japanese-Americans and taught dance there. Since her New York debut at La Meri’s Ethnological Dance Center in 1948, Ms. Tachibana has continued to be a vital force throughout the United States in Japanese dance as a performer, teacher and educator.
In the course of her career, Ms. Tachibana has served with the Metropolitan Opera as an assistant director; appeared on Broadway in “A Majority of One”, and in the Equity Library Theatre production of “Rashamon”; as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony and other symphony orchestras. She has adapted Kabuki drama and acted as assistant director for the National Theatre of the Deaf and production assistant to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, restaging Yoshio Aoyama’s production of “Madame Butterfly.” She appeared in the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival for six seasons, and has performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Radio City Music Hall. Her teaching and performance experience spans colleges and universities from New York to Alaska and Florida to Ontario. Ms Tachibana has also appeared at the Smithsonian Institute (Japanese Folklife Festival in America), the American Museum of Natural History and numerous Buddhist churches.
In 1966, Sahomi Tachibana formed her dance company which includes two of the original members, Sahotae Tachibana and Sahotoyo Tachibana who studied with Sahomi for a number of years and received their Japanese dance names in Tokyo in 1975. They are presently in charge of the Tachibana School in New York City, assisted by Samie Tachibana.
Portland Taiko: An award-winning Asian American drumming ensemble established in 1994, Portland Taiko combines traditional and contemporary compositions and choreography to take Asian American music into unexplored territory with its innovative and provocative creations. The first professional taiko company in the Pacific Northwest, Portland Taiko brings its own unique, contemporary style and innovations in taiko to over 50,000 people a year at festivals, schools, theaters, colleges, and fairs. The group offers one-time taiko workshops and ongoing taiko classes for children and adults (no experience required!), so contact Portland Taiko for information about pursuing the art form of taiko: www.portlandtaiko.org.
Utsuki-kai: When looking at the night sky, people in the west often refer to the man on the moon. In Japan, however, people see a rabbit pounding rice cakes! The name Utsukikai is composed of the character “U” 卯 meaning rabbit, “Tsuki” 月 or moon and “Kai” 会 which means group. Phonetically, the reading of the name can also be taken as “Shall we pound?” With that playful image in mind, Utsukikai is a community-based group dedicated to sharing the tradition and festivity of New Year’s mochi making.
