Last Sunday we went down to crowded Granville Island to catch a free dance/drum show. Part of the New Moves “All over the Map” festival, this was the first of several Sunday performances held outdoors at the base of the big, treed hill they call Ron Basford Park. The performance was on a small wooden stage outside of Arts Umbrella/Carousel Theatre, and the three members of Uzume Taiko, a Vancouver-based Japanese-style drumming group, played a good hour’s worth of original Canadian compositions.
There was a fairly good turnout – the few wooden bleachers were filled up and we, like many of the audience members, perched ourselves precariously on the steep hill and allowed the spell of Uzume Taiko to take us over. There was a minimum of silly segments and despite a somewhat stupid digression to sushi education, overall the performance more than made up for our frustration in finding parking (next time, we’re biking). There were sublime moments, when they were moving in concert, beating each other’s drums as if they were one, many armed drummer. Other moments, especially the final piece, where they held lunge positions low to the ground for extended periods of time while drumming their large, heavy drums, were both impressive and transporting.
