About the Artist
Carrie Alita Carter is an internationally acclaimed taiko (Japanese drum) artist and dancer. Her original compositions are known for their graceful dance-like choreography. Drawing from her experience living in Japan, her traditional ballet and tap dance background juxtaposed with the modern-style Japanese taiko results in a captivating blend of musicianship, tradition, and innovation.
The collaborative taiko/music performance Convergence (2011) in Hong Kong featured two of Carrie’s original compositions and was her first opportunity to work extensively with taiko artist ManMan Mui. Under the vision of Hong Kong’s premier taiko ensemble, O•Daiko, a group of women from 7 different countries collaborated to create a dynamic multi-cultural taiko production infused with unique experience brought by the performers. Carrie’s current project with Mui, Listening Into Silence is a multi-media exploration of their experiences growing up with the severe anxiety condition, Selective Mutism.
Committed to bringing the arts to youth communities, Carrie has taken her taiko program Community Building with Taiko for Kids to Washington, DC (Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Higher Achievement Program), Shoreline, WA (Evergreen School Artist-in-Residency), and Detroit, MI (Heritage Works). The program encourages consideration of alternate ways of communicating and connection through the arts as a form of non-verbal expression. Challenging the male-dominated hierarchy of taiko instruction in Japan, Carrie taught a group of powerful women in Nishinomiya, Japan for 4 years. With over 7 total years’ experience with taiko in Japan, Carrie is highly sought as a mentor for taiko ensembles around the world.
Carrie received her Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from the Music Department at the University of Hong Kong (2012) for the successful defense and publication of her thesis “Inventing Taiko,” and was honored to receive the Rayson Huang Fellowship for Excellence in Research. She was a featured panelist at the prestigious North American Taiko Conference (NATC) in 2007 and 2009, and was subsequently selected as the curator for the 2011 NATC Opening Session. More recently, Carrie was a consultant/contributor for the film, Taiko Film: Healing Beats (2019) and sensitivity editor for the novel Tokyo Ever After (May 2021).
