Stir Cheat Sheet: 6 acts to catch at Powell Street Festival 2024

Diverse performances range from butoh dancing to taiko drumming to circus arts

By Gail Johnson

Kokoro Dance.

Powell Street Festival Society presents the Powell Street Festival on August 3 and 4 from 11:30 am to 7 pm in Oppenheimer Park and the surrounding area

POWELL STREET FESTIVAL will soon take over Paueru Gai, Vancouver’s historic Japanese-Canadian neighbourhood now known as the Downtown Eastside. Running August 3 and 4, the 48th-annual event features everything from butoh to sumo. Here’s a look at six of the fest’s artistic offerings.

#1

Kokoro Dance

August 3 from 5 pm to 5:30 pm at Oppenheimer Park

Formed in 1986 by Barbara Bourget and Jay Hirabayashi, Kokoro Dance has performed at Powell Street Festival 24 times to date. Kokoro Dance has also performed around the globe, including in Canada, the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, and Japan. This year, the founders will be joined by performer Allison Lang in a work called LSD, an acronym for love, sex, death, which is inspired by the couple’s 45 years of dancing together.

Hiroki Tanaka.

#2

Hiroki Tanaka

August 3 from 2:30 pm to 3 pm at the Firehall Arts Centre

Guitarist-singer-songwriter Hiroki Tanaka has been involved in music since he was a teenager. He toured the U.S. and Europe extensively playing for Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, earning a Polaris nomination for 2018’s Dirt LP. In 2020, he released his debut solo album Kaigo Kioku Kyoku, about his experience as a live-in caregiver for his grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease and uncle with terminal cancer. He describes the disc as a “sonic archive” that serves to preserve his family history, the release containing the sounds of objects collected from the house, voice recordings of his relatives, and songs taking inspiration from the structure of hymns and folk tunes.

Katari Taiko.

#3

Katari Taiko

August 4 from 12 pm to 12:30 pm at the Street Stage

Taking its name from the Japanese phrase meaning “talking drums”, Katari Taiko grew out of the 1979 Powell Street Festival and is Canada’s first taiko ensemble. Its performances celebrate Japanese-Canadian culture and community.

Fuga Circus.

#4

Fuga Circus

August 4 from 4 pm to 4:30 pm at the Firehall Arts Centre

This Vancouver-based collective was formed by Japanese-Canadian artists who merge a traditional style of acrobatics called kyokugei with contemporary circus arts. The group strives to explore Japan’s history and culture while pushing the boundaries of modern circus. A contortionist, juggler, taiko drummer, and handpan player all perform together in a genre-bending spectacle.

Tamami Maitland. Photo by Laura-Lee

#5

Tamami Maitland Trio

August 4 from 2 pm to 2:30 pm on the Street Stage

Tamami Maitland is a Vancouver-based singer-songwriter who draws  from her Japanese heritage in her music, a fusion of jazz and R&B. Thematically, Maitland’s art speaks to nature and love and is reminiscent of traditional Japanese poetry. She will perform a combination of released and unreleased original songs, with lyrics in both English and Japanese. Joining Maitland are Wynston Minckler on bass and vocals and Colin Lovell on drums. 

Miura Ryuho.

#6

Ryuho Shakuhachi Kai

August 4 from 3 pm to 3:30 pm at the Street Stage

Miura Ryuho is the head of the shakuhachi school Ryuho Kai. One of Japan’s leading shakuhachi makers, he was the main artisan for revered shakuhachi master Katsuya Yokoyama for more than three decades. For his Powell Street Festival performance, he’ll be joined by his wife, Yoshiya Shizuga, who is a master of the koto, a Japanese plucked zither, and one of his students, Alcvin Ryūzen Ramos.

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