Taki (Waterfall) GenRyu Arts 17th Anniversary Concert

Come join us on November 11th at our annual concert and help us celebrate our 17th Anniversary, Taki (Waterfall).
The concert is our primary fundraiser for the year and will feature:
Gen Taiko and Odori School, Gen Ensemble
Artist in Residence-Hideko Nakajima Sensei and her group Hideki Kai, Kaori Nakano, Shoko Hikage
Special Guest from Japan Noriko Sugiyama
Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California
1840 Sutter Street, SF. CA. 94115
November 11, 2012
12:30pm
GenRyu Arts was founded… Show more as Gen Taiko in 1995 and incorporated as GenRyu Arts in August 2008, its mission is to promote, present and participate in Japanese and Japanese American culture through Taiko (Japanese Drumming) and other traditional and contemporary music and dance forms. Deeply rooted in San Francisco's Japantown and in the Asian American Community. GenRyu Arts engages in art-making that merges Japanese cultural forms taiko, dance and folk songs with new music, spoken word and visual design into singular expressions that honor community heritage and address key issues stemming from the legacy of internment and redevelopment.
GenRyu Arts is directed by its founder Melody Takata, a multi-faceted artist trained in Japanese Classical Dance, Taiko and Shamisen. Sensei Takata has been performing for over 20 years in Japan and U.S.A. Ms. Takata grew up in the Japanese American community of Los Angeles with a rich experience in traditional arts. From age 8 she learned odori (Japanese dance) at the Nishi Hongwanji as part of the obon festival ritual (festival honoring ancestors). At age 10 she began formal study of Nihon Buyo (formal name for Japanese classical dance) at the Fujima School and has performed dance at numerous theater works under Madame Fujima Kansuma until age 20. From age 13 to 18 she studied shamisen with the Kineya School. At 15 she began studying and performing with Los Angeles Matsuri and at 20 traveled to Japan to study and later perform as a member of Tokyo's O Edo Sukeroku Taiko, one of Japan's most highly renowned taiko ensembles. Ms. Takata completed the ACTA master apprentice program for 2002-2003 on shamisen with Hideko Nakajima Sensei. Most recently, Ms. Takata has reestablished study with Madame Fujima Kansuma in Los Angeles to strengthen her integrity of Nihon buyo and to ensure a high standard of integration of odori into GenRyu Art's repertoire.

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