Behind Tao’s physically pummelling concerts is a rigorous training schedule that includes waking before dawn, running, martial arts, drumming, and dance.

To be a member of Tao requires much more than the ability to pound relentlessly on skins, play a range of musical instruments, and perform synchronized moves. The greatest challenges for artists in the Japanese taiko-drum and dance company are mental and social.

“You have to keep really strong,” says Taro Harasaki, reached at Grandioso, the ensemble’s home in the mountains of Japan’s Oita province. “Even if you have lots of experience as a drummer before joining, that has nothing to do with staying or succeeding in Tao. We all live together, every day, every year, so it’s really tough to have private time. It’s very important to get used to that lifestyle.”

The daily schedule begins at 5 a.m. with a ritual performance to greet the sun. Then the entire Tao team sets off on a 20-kilometre run. A simple breakfast is followed by a couple of hours of muscle-building and martial-arts training. Then comes drum and dance practice until supper at 10 p.m.

Only the toughest survive.

Tao was created in 1993 by former marketing manager Ikuo Fujitaka. After a couple of years, the ensemble moved to its present location in the south of Kyushu, Japan’s third largest island. Fujitaka wanted members and trainees to live a quasi-monastic existence in order to build a team with strong bonds. According to Australian daily The Age, some 400 “novices” ran away in the first 10 years.

“In 2000 we built Grandioso,” says Harasaki, a former punk-rock drummer. “This huge place includes two training halls and one main building which has a restaurant, bar, kitchen, offices, and some rooms for the performers to live. We used to run it as a guest house for fans to come and stay, but now we’re too busy touring.”

The big breakthrough on the world stage came in 2004 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Tao had 25 sold-out shows. Since then, the company has travelled in Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

Though originally based on Japanese tradition, Tao’s performances now draw on other sources as well. Members of the ensemble have studied Korean dancing and drumming, the group’s instrumentation includes Indonesian bamboo marimba, and its touring show features a piece inspired by New Zealand’s Maori people.

Tao’s show at the Orpheum tonight (January 28) as part of the Cultural Olympiad is its Canadian premiere. Three immense drums will dominate the stage. “They are called o-daiko, and each is struck by one performer only, without any monitors or being able to look at each other. We also play several other types of taiko drums, as well as cymbals, gongs, shinobue flutes, and koto.”

Several Tao members compose music for the ensemble. “Right now we have four or five of them. The producer gives us some image for a new tune, then the composers write, and talk to the producer many times as they create. For the choreography there’s no specific person in charge; we make it during the training as a collective.”

Compared with other internationally touring taiko companies such as Kodo, which played Vancouver a year ago, Tao is “much more aggressive”, says Harasaki. “And we use a lot more lighting and stage props. We call our show entertainment—it’s not a typical Japanese drum concert because the aim of Tao is to have the show on Broadway or in Las Vegas or somewhere like that. It’s a very exciting spectacle.”