As the lights rose in Jewett Auditorium at dusk on Saturday, Wellesley’s AIKO members took to the stage for a rousing performance of taiko drumming. The show was told as a journey from sunset to sunrise through a projected grassy scene that gradually darkened, then glowed in the light of day. After a show trailer by Mana Sakamoto ’26, Aiko Chang ’28 read Sei Shongon’s poem “In Spring it is the Dawn” to set the tone for the rest of the show. The meaning of the theme took on literal and figurative meaning that encapsulated the changing of the light and the repertoire that built towards a stirring final piece titled “Kenka Yatai” by Yoichi Watanabe.
Oumayma Dakhama ’26, co-president of Wellesley AIKO, said that the event’s central motif came from a general desire for a celestial theme.
“‘DAWN’ was also inspired by the phases of night into daylight, symbolizing new endings and beginnings, much like this year was for AIKO,” she said.
For Dakhama and her fellow senior and co-president Ana Paku ’26, this performance marked the end of their time with Wellesley AIKO and the beginning of the new postgraduate day. Paku noted, “It’s also a surreal moment to see yourself in the senior video after watching previous senior classes get their turn.” This year, the video was produced by Jannah Alsayid ’29 and set the joy of the graduating seniors in the organization to Bruno Mars’ “Runaway Baby.”
The show also featured Wellesley’s Yanvalou and Boston Rebel Alliance Taiko (aka the BRATs), who both brought their unique rhythms to the Jewett stage.
Paku’s and Dakhama’s favorite pieces of the night? “Omiyage” and “Kenka Yatai,” respectively. For Paku, “Omiyage,” which she described as a “now-canonical North American taiko piece written by Shoji Kameda,” symbolizes the best part of taiko: “making connections.”
“When we play Omiyage, we’re connecting both with each other on stage, and with the greater taiko community,” Paku said.
“Kenka Yatai” was Dakhama’s favorite piece (and also mine, not just because my tambourine made an appearance). Featuring lighting design by Penny Davis ’26, the show’s finale’s lights transitioned from the dark blue glow of night illuminated only by the golden-lined glow of the fluffy clouds on either side of the stage to the warm brilliance of daybreak shining on all twenty members of AIKO.
“You can really feel the community on stage,” Dakhama said. “It’s also so impactful, we get to showcase so many different styles and so many different players.”
After all, Dakhama shared, “The people of AIKO are really the heart of the group,” a sentiment echoed by Paku when asked what she will miss the most about the group. If anything was clear during the performance, the warmth did not come from the yellow sun that lit up one corner of the stage, but the camaraderie that radiated from the stage as the sound of rhythmic drumming filled the air.
