INTRODUCTION TO PERFORMERS GALLERY

This gallery is composed of three performance troupes: Genryu Arts, Tsukasa Taiko, and Manuia. Genryu Arts is an organization founded by a Japanese American, Melody Takata, to preserve and Japanese performing arts and foster community in San Francisco’s Japan Town. Tsukasa Taiko is the troupe created by Tatsu Aoki in Chicago and is the largest taiko troupe in the Midwest. Manuia Polynesian Review is a San Francisco Bay Area Tahitian dance troupe formed by Tommy Tualaulelei who along with his wife are both anxious to preserve traditions of Polynesian cultures, foster community, and help young people find pride who might otherwise get in trouble on the streets. My aim in these pictures is to capture the timelessness of these performers in their ethnically symbolic costumes whether or not performing. Manuia performers make their costumes from scratch.