Triangle Project - Nobuko's New York Tour Experience

New York Tour of “Journey of the Dandelion”
April 19 – May 15, 2007

It had been a year and a half since “the Dandelion’s” Japan America Theatre performance in November, 2005. Besides revamping our show into a simplified 1 hour adult, and 45 minute youth version, Yoko, PJ and I had lots of catching up to do…personally, musically and spiritually, during our 12 days of rehearsals in San Jose Taiko’s home base, Okida Hall.

It’s always a question of how to bring it all into our work: Yoko’s Australian experience working with W. Papuan community, PJ’s encounter with Hideo and the healing vibrations of the Shinto chant, and my work with Art of Weaving Faiths. It may not have been visible, but it was all present in our packed-full schedule at Stony Brook University and in New York City.

The Stony Brook experience started with in-depth video interviews, to be a part of the Asian American Center’s archives of renown artists, activists and scholars. This and other activities were arranged by Professor Gary Mar, philosopher, visionary and activist extraordinaire.

The next day, Gary interviewed us on stage at the Brookhaven National Lab’s auditorium, where I talked about my mother’s cousin who perished in the bombing of Nagasaki and Yoko communicated eloquently, in words and tears, about growing up in Japan in the shadow of the atomic bomb. Given that Brookhaven Lab is the “Los Alamos of the East Coast,” there were powerful and amazing moments to plant seeds of peace.

After a cozy lunch at Brookhaven, we rushed back to the Wang Center Theatre, finished tech and were thrust into our first performance (yikes) at Stony Brook’s Charles B. Wang Asian American Center. Our performance was following by a lively hour of workshops with the audience (whew! And thank you, Sunita Mukhi).

After a short, but peaceful, sleep at the Little Portion Friary, an Episcopal Franciscan monastery, we woke to the aroma of freshly baked bread. The bread was baked by Brother Clark Berge and Brothers Noel Nikki and Patteson Kwa’a visiting from the Solomon Island. These two brothers had been involved in prayers and peace-making to reconcile the warring ethnic groups of Melanesia and Guadacanal, who, after four years, threw their guns into the sea so they would rust and be used for war no more.

A delicious breakfast preceeded a 3 hour workshop with members of the Templeton Trust, a group that explores science, spirituality and “trust”. We shared ‘trust’ and ‘community building’ through our artistic processes, using their chapel and an amazing labyrinth surrounded with fresh green and pink of trees in full spring bloom.

The next day we opened the Sakura Matsuri with “Ei Ja Nai Ka!” and watched tea ceremony, Ikebana, Koto and Taiko performances by Taiko Tides and Ryushu Taiko, two of the 200 (!) North American taiko groups spawned by the original three: San Francisco Taiko, Kinnara and San Jose Taiko, just 40 years ago. It’s more than drumming. It’s a movement!

Sunday was a wash and pack day with a special Japanese dinner for our host, Joan Miyazaki’s son, Andy’s birthday. Touring grass roots style is characterized by deprivation of sleep, privacy and morning yoga; but ‘homestays’ give an abundance of deep ‘talkstory’ and yummy food. Thanks Joan.

On Monday, our illustrious temporary producer/manager Prof. Mar personally delivered us to NY City’s Museum of Natural History, where we were greeted by old friend Teddy Yoshikami, and immediately dove into a tech rehearsal. Tuesday night we did a lecture/demo at NYU’s Asian/Pacific American Institute, meeting younger and elder generations of Asian New Yorkers who said our talk gave a deep context for our performance to come.

Wednesday, 10am we sang a song for an NBC promo and at 11, faced a theater full of second graders and special ed kids. I was amazed that they listened equally to PJ’s taiko solos and Yoko’s quiet traditional ballad. Bravo sisters!

New York City is always a sentimental journey for me, connecting with old comrades and family. But I missed visiting Yuri Kochiyama’s apartment on 126^th Street. She brought me into the AA movement where I began singing with Chris Iijima and Charlie Chin. In our off hours I got to walk the Upper Westside with PJ and Yoko, where I lived, became part of the Squatter’s Movement, helped found the Asian American storefront “Chickens Come Home to Roost”, and performed with Latin American artists at our neighborhood coffeehouse, “The Dot”, on 91^st and Columbus (now a McDonald’s. Yuk!!).

Our Saturday afternoon family performance at the American Museum of Natural History reminded me that Yoko, PJ and I are relics, in a way, but still kicking and evolving. We were followed by 3 young male, ground-breaking musicians: Kaoru Watanabe, Shoji Kameda, and Zosar, a Mongolian throat singer. I realized we are very much connected…all part of the same ‘dandelion’.

Sunday morning I flew to Detroit to visit my other dandelion seeds, Kamau, Malika and my 3 grandchildren. In my brief day and a half stay, I squeezed in a workshop with Detroiters Dream for Children. I was dog tired, and happy Kamau could help facilitate, assisted by granddaughter Asiyah, 10. The whole family participated with about 30 other Detroiters and their children. After, my grandson, Muhammad, 7, said: “You call that a workshop?! All we did was dance and have fun. “ Thanks Muhammad, you made it a perfect ending.

From your traveling dandelion… Nobuko

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Updated: 5/30/07

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