Click on an individual photo to tour the gallery.
Tonight in Hangzhou, the historic resort city on the West Lake, now a bastion of high-tech industry: the final performance of the three-week tour of Central China by Lula Washington Dance Theatre.
Mid-way through the itinerary, in the dusty back stairwell of a Henan province (Xinyang) theater, Keith Lommel, cultural attache at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, set up a home-spun portrait studio. One by one, dancers queued for a picture, posing as pleasantly as they did everything during a relatively grueling tour.
The photos above are Keith’s results, dancers first, musicians second, then management, tech crew, tourism assistance, and kids. Rounding out this terrific bus-load of creatives, a dance critic!
Traveling with this gang has been a joy and a pleasure. It is a privilege to know them, see them work, and pull it all off.
Congratulations, Lula Washington Dance Theatre, on a job immensely well done!
eisenstadt,
gered mankowitz, photog, 1967
“the red danube” (1949)
Nice job. Made me want to return to China again which is saying something considering the political stories we see daily in the media../ Phil.