ECTC, Yuki Matsuri, and Nightmarket

Driving to ECTC!

Rose Gibson having a fun time playing with Mr. Knocky.

Left to right: Erin Hinesley, Lorrie He, Sophie Donohue, Rose Gibson, Athena Kihara, Isaku Kageyama

Yuki Matsuri 2015!

E-board playing Omiyage at TCO’s Nightmarket 2015!

Aiko’s been busy this semester!

First up was our trip to the annual East Coast Taiko Conference, which was hosted by Cornell University this year! This event sees huge attendance numbers from school groups like Aiko, as well as amateur and professional players from all over the world! Only five of us could go this year, but it was well worth the amazing performances, workshops, and getting to see our old teacher Isaku again!

Japan Club’s Yuki Matsuri was on the same weekend as ECTC. The remaining members who didn’t brave the blizzards to travel to Cornell performed Yatai Bayashi and Ryujin Daiko, to a crowd of hundreds of students and off-campus guests!

Finally, Aiko made an appearance at Taiwanese Cultural Organization’s annual Nightmarket food and culture festival! Our e-board has been working hard on Omiyage, an open-source song by TAIKOPROJECT. The audience was super enthusiastic and were excited to hear that our show this year, Festival, will be happening on April 3rd @ 7:00PM in Jewett Auditorium!

Hope to see everyone there!

Aiko @ Baccalaureate 2014!

On May 29th, 2014, Aiko had one last performance of the year at Baccalaureate 2014, a celebration of the senior class’ journey through their life at Wellesley planned by the senior class. Our 2013-2014 co-Presidents April Zhu and Karin Dakarananda performed Miyake for their last taiko performance at Wellesley, along with juniors Amanda Ruiz and Athena Kihara.

From front to back: Athena Kihara, Karin Darakananda, Amanda Ruiz, and April Zhu performing Miyake.

April (left) and Karin (right).

April Zhu (left) and Karin Darakananda (right) sporting their senior gifts – happi signed with personal messages from the team!

Aiko would like to congratulate April and Karin for becoming the next generation of Wellesley alumnae! Through your leadership, you’ve inspired all of us to become better taiko players, and we will miss you guys! Good luck with whatever comes your way, and may the taiko gods be with you on all your future endeavors.

Wellesley Aiko and Wushu present: Elemental

Spam for the show

The team

Yatai Bayashi

Co-Presidents with Isaku Kageyama

First-Year Aiko member Imara

Co-President April

Athena and Mizuki

Aiko and Wushu members

On April 19th, we held our first joint show with Wellesley Wushu! We had so much fun performing Kiyohime, Yagi Bushi, Yatai Bayashi, Miyake, Sound of the Earth, Omiyage, and Elemental for our friends and family. Special thanks to  Wellesley Asian Dance Association and Isaku Kageyama for being a part of our show! Special shout out to Gendo Taiko for coming to see our show, even though you guys were still recovering from your own show.

Missed Elemental? Or want to relive the excitement? Either way, videos from the show are now up on YouTube. Check them out!

Here are some photos taken by Vicky Wang and Amy Hu.