TAO mixes martial arts and music
Japanese performers come to the river campus
Matt Mossman
Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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"You will see nothing like this, in this area, for years to come," promises Bob Cerchio, assistant director at the River Campus, who booked the group after reviewing hundreds of possible candidate performers.
According to the group's website, the members of TAO spend their days training, composing, and performing for the patrons of their compound in the Aso-Kuju National Forest in Japan, which can host up to 3000 concertgoers at a time. Before they can even become a member of one of TAO's two performing groups, TAO Red and TAO Yellow, the initiated must undergo years of intense training at the compound to develop the unbelievable skill and endurance it takes to carry out the rigorous athleticism required for each evening's production.
According to their website, TAO has hosted hundreds of sold-out shows worldwide including a 25-day stint of sold out shows at the world's largest music festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the festival, they sold more tickets than any other festival performer that year. The group has now performed at Edinburgh three years in a row and each year has brought them the same overwhelming ticket sales and critical praise.
With up to ten drummers on stage at any given moment, and taking into account the massive size of the drums themselves-some as large as six feet in diameter-TAO's performance is set to be a stunning array of both auditory and visual spectacles.
"Out of all the groups I reviewed, TAO seemed the most exciting," Cerchio said, noting the entrancing movement and sheer physicality of the performance as being what attracted him to the group in the first place.
Tickets are available at the River Campus box office or by calling (573) 651-2265. You may also purchase them at MetroTix.com using the keyword "TAO".
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