A Day in the Life of…Rhythmworks Taiko delivering their Ice-Breaker Team Building Event at the NTT Data Conference in Tobacco Dock
Mark Alcock at Rhythmworks Taiko
offers spectacular teambuilding events. As one of the foremost Taiko Sensei in the UK, his company Rhythmworks introduces people not just to the awesome, powerful sound of Taiko but the exhilarating experience of performing.
Actually banging the drum!
Mark also runs Taiko Meantime, which makes him the real deal to lead your teambuilding experience. Taiko Meantime is pure performance.
With game and movie soundtracks, live stage performances, The Terminator live tour, CD recordings, traditional Japanese theatre, Glastonbury, and collaborators for opening the 2009 FA Cup Final under his belt, Mark Alcock has the stuff you want leading your teambuilding event.
Mark offers three packages for business teambuilding events, usually maxing out at 250 people for the Ice-Breaker, but on a hot day in June 2025, NTT Data was having a conference with 900 attendees. That’s right, Mark was asked to organise an Ice-Breaker event for 900 people coming in at 25 minutes due to a packed and tight schedule.
Deep Breath Moment.
The solution was to use the stage, get as many people up as possible on the drums and distribute paranku (hand-held drums) across the event attendees, going for audience participation. A plan formed and a sense of “900 people? Hold my pint”.
Which is where I came into the picture. Mark wanted photos and, talking to me, he signed up for my ‘A Day in the Life of’ photoshoot. This shoot package is always bespoke. It means different things to different people with different outcomes.
For Mark, it was about documenting the day, and I knew what I wanted in the narrative. A job like this has three chapters: Unpacking, Performance, and Packing Up. I do it on every headshot photoshoot: unpack, photoshoot, pack up.
I also had a sense that the visual narrative would start in Black & White, flow to Colour and revert to Black & White.
So I rode shotgun in Mark’s van and we weaved through the streets of London to Tobacco Dock, which is a fabulous venue, where we were met by Mark’s team for the day Aki and Dan.
This is when my day really started.
As Mark, Dan and Aki unloaded,
I kept out of the way but stayed with the action. I needed to be ever present but not involved, a fly on the wall so to speak. The message was to document what goes into presenting an Ice-Breaker, especially prepping for a 900-strong audience.
My instinct to head towards black & white was reinforced with the colourless palette of the loading bay and back corridors, but once inside, the move to colour was natural given the venue, the richness of Taiko drums and eventually the team’s bright red hapi coats.
It took about two hours to set up, and then the event was running 10 minutes late, so anticipation was building. Then the Taiko Trio hit the stage, and not to overstate it, but magic happened.
A Day in the Life Of is a photoshoot designed to showcase a typical or extroadinary day for your business.
It’s different to a branding shoot.
Although every shoot is bespoke the idea is to show behind the scenes as well as the front of house. It’s meant to offer authenticity to your process and your people but the degree of exposure is up to you. It can be warts and all, a soft pictoral documentary or a curated and planned PR walk through. We Talk. We Plan. We Shoot.
The content produced has wide usage as the whole narrative, sections for focus or individual photos
What a sound! It’s visceral. It hits deep, and immediately, you can feel the audience react. Except for one guy on his phone, but you know, there’s always one!
NTT Data had a comprehensive film and audio setup with great lighting and an impressive backdrop video screen. I do like to use fill flash even with lighting when shooting this type of event, but a gentle tap on the shoulder from the filming director put paid to that idea. My flashing was messing with their filming! I switched to non-flash and adapted, after all, I was in their house.
I had to work fast and move around a large space to gather as many photos of the action as I could in the time allowed. It would be colour for these photos, the performance chapter. My focus was to show Mark, Aki and Dan in their element. The participants did not disappoint, and I wondered how it all looked to anyone watching from outside, so to speak. What I can say is NTT Data looked like they were having a blast.
And as with all things, it ended.
But, being a tight schedule, there were only three minutes to clear the room, highlighted by how a video link with a speaker presumably elsewhere on the globe kicked into life immediately. It was time to go.
My work just carried on though, as mentally I slipped back to thinking black & white as the team hauled everything back to the van. For those not familiar with the ‘gig’ way of life, the unpacking and packing, setting up and breaking set, the fresh anticipation before performance and the euphoria of performance exhaustion, I suspect everyone would appreciate a crew of roadies!
I never got the final shot I had visualised earlier in the day. Mark, Aki and Dan, back in plain clothes, van packed as they lean against its side in the style of the Usual Suspects. Train times beckoned, and Aki and Dan were gone.
But, Hey Ho, I had plenty to showcase A Day in the Life Of…Rhythmworks Taiko.
(You’ve seen a snapshot from a delivered portfolio of around 500 photos)
If you want to discuss and ‘Day in the Life of’ for your business get in touch.