File photo by Tyler Stauffer: Yamato will perform Gamushara! at the PAC on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 and 6 p.m.The most popular show in the center’s history is back for another performance on the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center (PAC) stage. Given many years of sold-out audiences, this is a show not to miss.

This year, the Taiko drummers of Japan are back with a new program. Gamushara! incorporates Yamato’s enthusiasm and cultural history, which is sure to engage the audience.

With the motto, “Go anywhere if invited and make the world a little more happy,” the group’s full, varied schedule is proof of its popularity.

With its beginnings at a festival at the Toichi shrine in Nara, Yamato has grown to become an acclaimed performing ensemble with more than 200 performances around the world each year.

Yamato is a full theatrical experience with stunning acrobatics alongside silent acting with enthusiasm and humor, all as part of an entertaining celebration of Japanese culture.

The group was created in 1993 by Masa Ogawa in Yamato-no-kuni, the present-day Nara Prefecture in Japan. The troupe’s headquarters are in the village Asuka in Nara, a community held as the birthplace of Japanese culture.

Originally the group consisted of only four members, but that has quickly grown to a troupe of 17 males and females. In addition to performing, Yamato is also involved in many educational activities with schools.

Performances center on Wadaiko drumming. The group thinks of the sound of the drums as the “heartbeat.” With the “heartbeat,” they attempt to create the energy of life to envelop the audience.

The group thinks of every concert as a “meeting,” where the energy exchanged between the performers and the audience creates new energy. It is this energy that gives the performers the drive to continue to express themselves.

Yamato will perform at the PAC on Sun., Nov. 6, at 2 and 6 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting the PAC box office or by calling 824-3000. Tickets are $15 for a Mercyhurst student with an ID.