Album Notes

“There is a great and complex beauty to the drumming, sounds and silence and simple beats and intricate meshes of precisely articulated rhythms.

The concentration and focus of the swaying, bounding performers is impressive, as is the purity of their material at the start.”
--The New York Times, N.Y.

“A great and complex beauty to the drumming, sounds and silence…”
--The New York Times, N.Y.

“A performance of dance close to martial art”
--Liberation, Paris

“Their discipline is equally military, at the same time their virtuosity spectacular.”
--Le Figaro, Paris

“A synthesis of theatre, percussion, martial arts and meditation.”
--The Times, London

“A prolonged percussive tone poem…”
--Financial Times, London

Abour U-Theatre,

U-Theatre is a performing group that lives art. It strives for the understanding of art through studying and practicing traditional folk arts, martial arts, ceremonial rites and modern performing art. Zen and sitting meditation, which are also incorporated into its curriculum, help shape the group's performing style: they drum thunderously, but under a state of mind that is peaceful and serene, in the pursuit of oneness with nature. Founded in 1998, U-Theatre may be best described as philosophy in motion. For this company, performance is not an end in itself, but an aspect of a holistic way of life oriented in the Tao(the way). In its works, the relationship of the individual to the whole community – and by extension, of the group to its audiences worldwide – is portrayed without explicit narrative or the creation of imagined characters. U-Theatre’s rigorous aesthetic depend on disciplined training in various forms – acting, martial arts, drumming, Tai-Chi, dance, meditation – some drawn from the East, and some from the West. “