New Initiatives with KASA
KASA and Kodo board, staff and guests in Portland at the 2019 NATC.
by DONNA EBATA
NEW INITIATIVES FOR TAIKO, WELLNESS, & COMMUNITY BUILDING WITH KASA
Kodo Arts Sphere America (KASA) and PJ Hirabayashi have a long-standing collaborative relationship most recently amplified by PJ becoming President of KASA in 2017 (she began as a board member in 2011).
In recent years, she and board member Iris Shiraishi have begun collaborating with Exadon in Japan—spending time on Sado Island learning, consulting, and sharing their own work and the work of others in the “wellness” community. This has led to our expanded mission of creating and fostering opportunities to come together as part of the worldwide taiko community, seeking to be active members of building a positive, healthy community.
ABOUT KODO ARTS SPHERE AMERICA (KASA)
Kodo Arts Sphere America (KASA) started in 2002 as an American non-profit company affiliated with Kodo, the Japanese taiko group from Sado Island. Our programs include:
Workshop and small concert tours presented to taiko communities in North America
KASA/Mix: a taiko intensive in Japan, with participants from around the world taking part in taiko/dance/song workshops and experiencing the lifestyle of Kodo apprentices.
Exadon: combining the terms “exercise,” “Sado,” and “don”—the sound of a beating taiko drum—this program started by using taiko exercises to enhance the health of seniors on Sado Island. It has developed into a comprehensive physical, mental, and nutritional program bringing generations and regions together with the aim of creating inner peace and well-being through positive action and thoughts.
KASA/Mix reunion at the 2019 NATC, with alums from around the globe—U.S., Canada, Japan, Singapore, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Australia, Argentina.
Donna Ebata has been a member of Kinnara Taiko in Los Angeles for over 30 years and she is the Program Director for KODO Arts Sphere America. As one of the first two taiko groups in the U.S., Kinnara and Kodo have a long friendship going back to the early 1980s. Donna has had over 25 years experience in the non-profit community world, including producer and administrative director of Great Leap, Inc., an Asian American and multicultural arts organization based in Los Angeles. She has been organizing workshop and concert tours for KASA since 2005.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
