SONOMA COUNTY TAIKO INSTRUCTORS
ARN SHIMIZU
Arn is a founding member of Sonoma County Taiko. He began his training in taiko with the group in 1995 with the workshop given by Tiffany Tamaribuchi and Sacramento Taiko Dan. In 1996 started attending classes at San Francisco Taiko Dojo with Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka. Over the years he has continued to learn from and become friends with taiko players from around the world. In 2008 he participated in the KASA-mix group tour to Japan and to Sado island to experience the apprentice lifestyle at KODO.
MIWA SMITH
Miwa has been playing taiko since 1997 and is currently learning from Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka as a member of San Francisco Taiko Dojo. She has performed in San Francisco / the Bay Area; Lowell, MA; Butte, Montana; and Qatar in the Middle East. Incorporating her background in music and world folk dancing (including Japanese folk dancing), she enjoys the wide variety of choreography in taiko. Born in Japan, she especially loves Japanese festivals accompanied with taiko and fue (bamboo flute). Miwa enjoys harmony and connectedness of mind, body and spirit with nature as well as sharing this experience among taiko players.
MEG MIZUTANI
Meg has been playing taiko since 2006. Her passion is to teach harmony and respect through the art of taiko and Japanese culture. She has taught little kids class, youth class, beginning adult classes, Taiko Basics workshops, and Santa Rosa Rec and Park workshop series at SCT. Meg has also organized and taught Sonoma County Taiko’s “Taiko & Japanese Culture Camp” program. She currently handles booking duties for Sonoma County Taiko. She enjoys connecting and working with community groups and individuals through performance bookings because she believes together we help “building a community of acceptance, harmony, and respect through our love of taiko” as in the organization’s mission statement.
ALEXA RINER
Alexa began playing taiko in 2003 in New Mexico. She has been to Japan twice to learn from professional taiko artist Art Lee, and has attended several workshops with other masters and professionals around the US. She has been playing with Sonoma County Taiko since 2010. Alexa taught taiko in New Mexico from 2005 to 2010 and began teaching with SCT in 2013. Her background in team building and project-based learning flavors her teaching style. She sees taiko as an art form with great potential to bring people together in collaborative community and hopes to figure out how to do that eventually.
