Unit Souzou, a taiko company based in Portland, Oregon, will visit Homer next week as part of their tour across six Alaska cities, Homer Council on the Arts announced in a March 17 press release.

Founded in 2014, Unit Souzou creates sound “shaped and inspired by form and by movement,” blending taiko and Japanese folk dance to “forge new traditions for evolving communities.” In addition to creating groundbreaking professional theatrical works, according to the release, Unit Souzou works to honor the history and roots of the taiko art form and is “deeply committed” to sharing taiko through community performances and collaborations, public classes for adults and youth, and school-based education programs.

The group will present an outreach performance to Fireweed Academy students and a workshop to Homer’s Alaska Japanese Club on Tuesday, March 25. Unit Souzou will also conduct an outreach activity with South Peninsula Behavioral Health Services on Tuesday.

Following a short opening performance by the Alaska Japanese Club, Unit Souzou will perform “Constant State of Otherness” at the Homer High School Mariner Theatre on Wednesday, March 26 at 7 p.m.

According to the release, “Constant State of Otherness” is a multi-layered performance co-created and performed by Unit Souzou ensemble members Ian Berve, Michelle Fujii, Kristy Oshiro, Toru Watanabe, David Wells and Vicky Zhang, and explores the impacts of the universal experiences of othering and alienation. Through taiko, Japanese folk dance, song and personal story, six performers will guide the audience through a four-part journey inspired by experiences of isolation and displacement that come from not having an easy sense of home.

“Rooted in ancestral wisdom and survival, “Constant State of Otherness” resists simplistic translations of language, cultural ways and the complicated emotions that otherness evokes,” the release states. “By allowing their stories to fractally unfold through the resonance of drum, voice and movement, Unit Souzou offers an invitation to locate our shared longing to belong.”

Find more information about the group at unitsouzou.com. Learn more about Wednesday’s performance at the Mariner Theatre at homerart.org/event/unit-souzou/.