NATC 2025 Phoenix

Carrie Alita Carter is an internationally acclaimed taiko artist and dancer with extensive experience performing and teaching in countries such as Hong Kong, Morocco, Germany, Spain, China, and Japan. Drawing from over eight years of living in Japan and a background in traditional ballet and tap dance, Carrie’s style is a unique blend of musicianship, tradition, and innovation. Carrie’s original compositions are celebrated for their graceful, dance-like choreography, seamlessly integrating movement with the powerful rhythms of modern-style Japanese taiko.

A lifetime of unexplained injuries and lack of support from medical professionals led to Carrie spending 12 years developing a tried-and-true mobility program aimed at stabilizing the body and preventing injuries, particularly during taiko practice. Taiko JABS (Joint mobility Alignment Balance and Stability) has always been a core component of Carrie’s taiko teaching philosophy. At the request of students, Taiko JABS was expanded into a standalone class during the Covid pandemic.

Committed to bringing the arts to youth communities, Carrie has taken the 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). This program encourages consideration of alternative ways of communicating and connecting through the arts as non-verbal expression.

Carrie is co-creator of the interactive taiko show Listening into Silence with ManMan Mui, which strives to build an equitable landscape for the purpose of fostering creativity and connection. The show engages with audiences on topics of neurodiversity, language, race, gender, and communication.

Carrie received a Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from the Music Department at the University of Hong Kong (2012) for the successful defense and publication of the thesis “Inventing Taiko,” and was honored to receive the Rayson Huang Fellowship for Excellence in Research. Carrie was a featured panelist at NATC in 2007 and 2009, and was subsequently selected as Curator for the 2011 NATC Opening Session. Carrie currently resides in Tokyo, Japan.