Janet
Koike
Janet's
passion for taiko led her to become a vital part of San Jose Taiko's
artistic staff and touring ensemble. Her original compositions have
highlighted the group's national tours from Arsenio Hall to Carnegie
Hall. She recently performed and taught at the PPDF
Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival.
 |
Janet
has performed in Hong Kong at the "New
Dimensions Festival" with Mark Izu, and Brenda Wong
Aoki. She toured Indonesia with Keith Terry's first Body
Tjak project. And has performed with Anthony Brown’s
Asian Jazz Orchestra, Theatre Yugen, D'Cuckoo, Jennifer Berezan,
and Hiroshima's June Kuramoto. |
Janet is the founder
of the world music ensemble, RhythMix who's performances range
from Lincoln Center "Out of Doors," Tanner Theatre at
the gates of Zion National Park, San Francisco's Millennium celebration
at Union Square, the Experience Music Project in Seattle to San
Francisco Symphony's AIM (Adventures in Music) program. In 2003,
RhythMix was invited to perform in Japan at the Kodo's international
"Earth Celebration". RhythMix was the recipient the
California Arts Council Multicultural Program Grant to create
new works for recording with Joan Jeanrenaud (formerly of Kronos
Quartet). RhythMix performed with Young Audiences of the Bay Area
and Bread
and Roses until 2005.
RhythMix also had a cultural exchange component, RhythMix Cultural
Works (RCW) which is now realized as a community arts space in
Alameda. This program has taken three groups to Cuba to study
folkloric music and dance. In 2003 RCW joined with Kodo Arts Sphere
America to create KASA/MIX, and a second trip to Sado Island to
study at the Kodo apprentice center, followed by another KASA/MIX
tour in September 2005.
As Outreach Coordinator
for San Jose Taiko Janet created a school program that was presented
in over 75 schools. Her previous cultural arts education experience
includes work for the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through
the Arts, Oakland Museum, and the City of Oakland Parks and Recreation.
|
