Joe Small

Joe Small is a professional taiko drum artist and Assistant Professor of Dance at Swarthmore College.

Joe’s passion for taiko drumming began in 2002 at Swarthmore College through his study of contemporary dance and theatre.  He received initial formal instruction under Kenny and Chizuko Endo, as well as through internships with Asian-American taiko groups San Jose Taiko (2004) and Portland Taiko (2005).

Following graduation from Swarthmore, Joe received a one-year Fulbright Fellowship to Japan to research taiko and matsuri at Osaka’s National Museum of Ethnology, which led to a two-year apprenticeship for the internationally-renowned professional taiko group KODO on Sado Island.  After graduating from the apprentice center in 2009, Joe returned to the USA and became a performer for taiko and shakuhachi artist Marco Lienhard’s NYC-based group Taikoza while commencing solo performance activities.

Since 2012 Joe has been a disciple of of pioneering taiko artist Eitetsu Hayashi and sole non-Japanese member of his professional ensemble, Eitetsu Fu-Un no Kai.  As part of Fu-Un no Kai, Joe has toured Japan, the Middle East, Canada, and the USA.

While based in Southern California from 2014-2017, Joe co-founded Small Mountain Studios with taiko artist Isaku Kageyama, instructed at LA Taiko Institute, and guest choreographed at Santa Monica College. Joe also performed in mixed-disciplinary works including Mishinnah Production’s Iphigenia and the Book of Change, Tetsu Production’s Batare, LA-based contemporary opera company The Industry’s Galileo.  In 2015, Joe debuted his first original full-length work, Spall Fragments, which toured Los Angeles and San Francisco the following year.

Joe has also been active in Sydney, Australia, with the professional taiko ensemble Taikoz, including guest appearances in 2015, as well as joining them for their 2017-2018 season.  Highlights included concerts at the Sydney Opera House (with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra), Angel Place, and Darling Quarter Theatre, as well as regional educational tours throughout New South Wales.

As a solo artist, Joe has performed and taught throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Spain, Switzerland, and Japan.

Past artistic collaborators have included dancer/choreographers from a wide range of styles and backgrounds, including Barry Brannum, Chey Chankethya, Ani Gavino, Orlando Hunter, Norihito Ishii (Butoh dance), and Laurel Jenkins, as well as tabla artist Lenny Seidman and shakuhachi flute artist Josh Smith.  Taiko artist collaborators have included Kris Bergstrom, Bruce Mui Ghent, Isaku Kageyama, Yeeman Manman Mui, Kristy Oshiro, and David Wells.

Joe is a 2005 graduate of Swarthmore College (BA, Dance) and a 2015 graduate of UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance (MFA, Dance).