Alameda Runners – Get After It!

What do the Alameda runners do while we are not exercising, planning to exercise or writing about exercising?  We do things like go see taiko drums performed by Maze Daiko at the Rhythmix Cultural Works in Alameda.

The RCW is a nice little place that opened about 3 years ago in an old factory.  The show floor holds about 175 seats with standing room for an additional 30 or 40 people.  It is really nice to see a show in a small local venue.  Before the show we sat around and chatted with other people from the area in a friendly atmosphere that you do not get in the bigger places.  I like going to events where people are social and nice to each other.  Brazen racing events are similar to this.

If you are looking for cultural things to do as cross training, taiko definitely fits the bill.  The girls in the show were in excellent shape.  They were swinging those big drum sticks around for two hours in one night.  They also get into drumming position in a stance that is similar to a yoga warrior pose.

The taiko group was really well organized.  They had the floor marked for all of the different drum scenarios.  When it was time to move the stage setup, a few members would play while the others did the setup.  They did not look at each other and had it timed so the instruments were placed in synchronization no matter how different the travel was.

The show started off with a group of 6 ladies playing powerful drums.  They all seemed happy to be playing in front of their home crowd.  I love the way taiko can change from power to grace.  We went from the 6 drums to two ladies singing while one of them played a single stringed instrument.  In a small venue, you could feel the energy from the players and the bass coming off the drums.  The girls had style, sass and rhythm.  It seem like they could play anything you put in front of them.  I have always been indifferent about xylophones but they were awesome mixed with the taiko drums.

The show we saw had Yoko Fujimoto as a guest singer.  She has a beautiful voice that comes through in any language.  It is really unique to the system going from the power of big drums to Yoko singing “a cappella” (solo without instruments)

If you are planning a trip to the SF bay area, I recommend a visit to see Maze Daiko.  For those of you who are not planning to visit the SF bay area or the United States, I recommend a local taiko show.  If you have seen taiko drumming at someplace like Disney, imagine Disney as a high school basket ball team while Maze Daiko is in the professional league.