History
The Okinawan Taiko Drummers of Wisconsin started in February 1996 under the direction of Heidi Hastings, at Rollings Hill Elementary School in San Diego, California.
Heidi had learned Taiko drumming in the spring of 1995, when her family was living in Okinawa, Japan. After moving back to the States, she introduced the drumming to her son's 2nd grade class in San Diego. That summer she and her children moved back to her home town of Madison, Wisconsin.
She then began teaching Taiko drumming to the students in her younger two children's classes at Shorewood Elementary School in the spring of 1997. Some of these original members stayed in the group as it transitioned to a club at West High School in 2001.
Over the years there have been about 300 students in the group. Many of these students were from other countries, as both Shorewood Hills and West High have a large international population. The group has had hundreds of performances in the Madison area, and has also traveled to Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.