Philly Fringe 2026: Casual Fifth presents Here Come the Brides

Casual Fifth is a Philly-based ensemble that mixes Japanese Taiko drumming with American modern dance. This program, in three acts, presented vignettes about the ups and downs of relationships, but the most surprising relationship was between the dancers and the drums. In the opening procession, three Nagadō-daiko on low folding stands were set in a line across the front of the stage. Slowly the dancers entered, first one, then another, then another, each circling a drum as if it were a partner in the dance, then moving on, another dancer entering as one left the performance space.

Later in the performance the procession became more complex, with drummers playing as the dancers threaded around them, exchanging places as they moved through the space. Akira Di Sandro was breathtaking, her form sharp and playing intense, whether on the Nagadō-daiko or the big Ohira drum set on its tall stand.

The Lion Dance

Shishimai, the Lion Dance, was glorious fun. Di Sandro leapt onto the floor covered in a dark cloth with gingko leaves scattered on it and with the wooden head of a lion. Its clacking mouth snapped at the audience before settling down to snatch up an orange in its wooden teeth and spit out the peel. Yidan Zeng, wrapped in a light cloth with dark gingko leaves, joined Di Sandro for a duet of teeth-clacking glee, the beginning of a romance that would see them married in Act 3 by officiant Jim May, longtime company member and famed disciple of modern dance icon Anna Sokolow.

The ups and downs of life

The show promised the downs as well as the ups of relationships, and a mournful dance set to Nina Simone’s “Wild is the Wind” gave us tragedy and loss. We returned to the theme in a piece with choreography by Sokolow set to Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Moment Musical performed by John Howard on the piano. May led us through the story, moving slowly around the dancing while reciting excerpts from Edgar Allen Poe’s “Annabelle Lee”.

All that sorrow and death were fine, but we’d come for a wedding, and Act 3 gave us a glorious celebration, with Evans and Pfister performing to Dirty Dancing’s “Time of My Life”, complete with the company in the dance down the aisle and a huge lift (Evans in a long tulle wedding dress that he carried off with aplomb). Then they drummed on opposite sides of the big Ohira drum, laughing in delight. The drumming portion of the performance concluded with a tightly clustered grouping of all sorts of taiko drums; six or seven drummers switched places and rhythms in a joyfully complex interchange that had us at the edge of our seats.

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