(re)generation show in Torrance recap!!

Hello TAIKOPROJECT friends, family, and followers! Here is a recap post about our (re)generation show on October 2nd, 2010 at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, not from a performers perspective, but from the stagehand trainee perspective.

The day started very early with many of the guys heading over to our studio in Long Beach to pick up any remaining drums and equipment we needed for the show. But most importantly we needed a lot of strong hands to get our Ohiradaiko (weighing over 330 pounds!) loaded up and ready for the show.

Once the entire cast was present at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, we all helped setting up equipment, unpacking the drums, and prepping for the show. One of tasks some of the trainees were assigned was to setup the risers for the show, with the help of some older members we managed to set them up just fine. The risers added some great level changes to the show and it looked really good. I also got the chance to retie some of the okedo (roped taiko drums, normally played with a sling) which I have never done before. It was a surprisingly difficult task causing me to break a sweat, but I guess it didn't help either that is was progressively getting warmer outside too. Once all the equipment was set it was time to start spiking the performance and we moved all of the drums to the stage.

Photo Courtesy of Tomomi Hongo

Once on stage the cast practiced the songs for concert while lighting and crew were setting up backstage. This was one of my first experiences of a big show with taiko on stage and I've never realized how much goes on during the setup. For example when the stagehands want to alert the performers that something will be lowered to the stage, they say "(whatever they are adjusting) coming in" at which point all performers have to repeat the call so the stagehands know the performers know its coming in. After spiking and making final adjustments to the show, it was only a matter of time before show time.

Photo Courtesy of Tomomi Hongo

Once all the equipment was prepped on stage and backstage, costumes were set, and everyone was warmed up, the show was ready to kick off. It was so exciting even though I spent most of the time backstage prepping equipment for the upcoming songs along with my fellow trainees. When we had the chance we would get to watch a glimpse of the show from the sides of the stage and it was so cool to see the energy not only from the performers but also from the audience's applause. What I also enjoyed was the unspoken dialogues between the performers off stage, since we had to be so quiet when adjusting equipment a simple smile or sign of acknowledgment seemed to say "keep up the good work" or "let's keep doing our best!". I think the highlight of my night backstage was when we had a little bit of stage time when we took off some of the drums for the finale song "Here We Go Now!", sure it might have been only a couple of seconds, it was better than nothing. :)

Great job with an amazing show TAIKOPROJECT and this was definitely an educational show for my many performances in the future. Thanks to all the friends and family who came to watch the show and I hope you enjoyed the performance as much as I did. Being a local performance it was great to have so much support from the home crowd as well as other taiko groups in the area, thank you so much!! If you missed this performance of (re)generation, TAIKOPROJECT will be hitting the road for our next (re)generation show which will be in Longview, Washington on March 19, 2011!! Thanks for reading and see you next time TAIKOPROJECT followers!!

Photo Courtesy of Tomomi Hongo