“From Rage Comes”

December 7 (8pm) & 8 (2pm), 2013
Betty Oliphant Theatre, 404 Jarvis St

“Sharing the stage with the amazing musicians and performers in RAW is a transcendent experience. Through their music, they help the audience feel their own power and courage and anything becomes possible.” - Naomi Klein

In December 2013, audiences at Toronto’s Betty Oliphant Theatre will witness the creative unleashing of RAW. And it will not be your typical percussion event. Toronto’s well-loved ensemble of Asian women activist drummers is experimenting with a full length evening work rooted in Taiko drumming and socially relevant consciousness that are equal parts of the feminist collective’s unique DNA. “From Rage Comes…” presents the truths of diasporic Asian-Canadian women in the 21st century through music, movement, and storytelling.

For more than 15 years RAW has performed in Ontario, using booming drums to give voice and inspiration at political, social, and cultural events. This world premiere represents a new milestone in the collective’s history: “From Rage Comes” will be RAW’s first full-length concert stage production. Taiko drumming, the core artistic practice of the group, will be the foundation and jumping off point for an artistic journey to explore racial, sexual, and cultural identities, the core social work of the progressive collective.

In 2012 RAW mounted the highly successful 1st Toronto Taiko Festival, which culminated in Bang On! a well-received Taiko concert at McClellan Theatre which showcased RAW and three other great Taiko ensembles. After this empowering experience in community-building through the arts, RAW chose in 2013 to create an evening-length work to share their own story more deeply with their audience. RAW performers mined lived-experiences for stories to explore the theme of Rage… and what comes from it. When it is unleashed…when it is muted…when it must be swallowed…and when it empowers women to transcend.

Original compositions, traditional scores, innovative choreography, video projections, recorded narration, and other media will convey stories of transplantation, rituals of establishing home, fights, flights, and the countless movements we make and are moved by every day.

RAW came into existence in 1998 as a critical response and challenge to both systemic and internalized oppressions, and to break the stereotypes of Asian women as silent and meek. Raging Asian Women Taiko Drummers (RAW) is a community arts collective of Asian and Asian-Canadian Women in Toronto. They carry on the Japanese Taiko drum tradition as evolved through North America with a special focus on social activism, education, and community building. Through performance, education, and community outreach, RAW seeks to challenge racial oppression and cultural stereotypes, define and claim their own racial and gender identities, and inspire and empower others, especially women and girls of colour. RAW is based in Toronto, Canada and is a registered, not-for-profit organization.

Contact: Young Park 416.671.7256
young@ragingasianwomen.ca