As we emerge into our 3rd year of sharing relevant stories through drum and dance, we are excited to break new ground in our work. We ask you, our amazing supporters, for your help to activate our first-ever annual TaikoWorks show. Beginning a new yearly tradition, TaikoWorks will be an opportunity to celebrate and showcase our most current ruminations of both finished and unfinished work. This 3rd year represents big transitions in the life of our company in which we leave behind the start up nature of our “youth” and bloom into a new phase of growth and beginnings. Please help us say goodbye to the past, and hello to a new era in Unit Souzou’s artistic journey. Your contribution towards our Goodbye, Hello campaign will truly bring to life the multiple meanings of souzou – “creation,” “imagination,” and “noisy” in new and exciting ways.

To contribute, please go to our Indiegogo campaign

About TaikoWorks 2017
On August 30th, Unit Souzou will present TaikoWorks 2017, our first-ever annual showcase of current artistic ruminations. As our inaugural year, we will ignite our creativity and imagination by hosting a site-specific performance exploring themes of goodbye from sacred formal farewells, casual everyday parting, and unforeseen, sometime tragic transitions.

The site of this work has deep and layered significance for Unit Souzou. It will take place at the Jade APANO Multicultural Space (JAMS), which has been our home since our inception. In the fall, JAMS will close down in its current form as it begins transformation into a new affordable housing and community space.

While we are excited for this important new community project, it will be a bittersweet goodbye to our artistic home of the last three years. Using the unique shape and layout of the building, this performance will span three rooms, inviting the audience to physically embody the act of parting. It will also be a symbolic and meaningful goodbye to this gathering space, allowing us to create a sacred and intentional farewell for all attending.

TaikoWorks will feature exciting artistic milestones:

• Debut of the Unit Souzou professional ensemble in Portland
• Premiere of new composition, Entangled, composed by ensemble member, David Wells for the Unit Souzou community group
• Performance of thematic works inspired by the sacredness of goodbye created by the Unit Souzou professional ensemble

TaikoWorks 2017 will take place Wednesday, August 30th 8:00 pm at the Jade APANO Multicultural Space (JAMS), 8114 SE Division Street, Portland, OR. Tickets will be on sale starting August 1st. In order to make TaikoWorks accessible to a diverse audience, we will make it a “pay what you will” ticket. Funds from this campaign will also help subsidize this ticketing structure.

It takes a village to make art!
We love to create new work, but we can’t do it without community support. Contributions to the Goodbye, Hello campaign will allow UNIT SOUZOU to fully embrace and realize a new artistic milestone. We hope you will join us on this journey.