Cuban National Ballet cruises L.A. in classic “Don Quixote” 2
Our Cuban brothers and sisters cruised into the Los Angeles Music Center last night driving their charmingly ramshackle “Don Quixote,” a vehicle purring on high-octane Russian ballet technique that’s been passed through generations — similar to the classic cars parading Havana’s island coastline. The ballet was choreographed in 1988 by Alicia Alonso, after Petipa’s original ...
René Blum and his Ballets Russes get another go-round in new book 1
Jun
21
2011
Blum’s female universe, bountiful & beautiful, en route to New York, 1938 (photo courtesy of the author, click for detail) “In October 1938, the company sailed to the United States with the new Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo under the artistic direction of [Léonide] Massine and [René] Blum, who was billed as founder … for a ...
Washingtonians wrap up China tour in Hangzhou 1
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 ...
Lula Washington kicks it in Xinyang City with Rennie Harris’s fabulous REIGN
Jun
11
2011
Hip-hop and house dance hit Henan Province hard last week. Lula Washington Dance Theatre kills in this blistering piece created for them by choreographer Rennie Harris. If you live in China where the government blocks youtube.com, view it here. video courtesy u.s. embassy in beijing, keith lommel, videographer, translator, china hand, sound mixer
Jiaxing party animals. Yes, *that* Party.
Arriving in Jiaxing, we remember our Chinese Communist Party (CCP) history. The party was founded under the guiding eye of Comintern agent, Grigori Voitinsky, in Shanghai’s French concession. It was July, 1921 — China’s summer of love. The first party congress had 53 attendees. Immediately feeling the heat from the Kuomintang authorities, the group transferred ...
Letter from Wuhan 1
Jun
9
2011
Greetings from Wuhan, one of China’s “four furnaces.” It’s a hot one today, blazingly sticky and humid; for every particle of air, an equivalent particle of dirt. The dancers already had class and rehearsal and are hanging out, resting, before tonight’s show. Wuhan is a big old-industry town in the heartland of China, a bastion ...
Micah Moch flies in Rennie Harris’s “Reign” in Luohe, P.R.C.
Jun
8
2011
Micah in the middle. Photo courtesy Keith Lommel, U.S. Embassy in Beijing
Where the heck are we in Henan Province? We’re in Xinyang. 3
Jun
5
2011
At the close of Day 18 of a 25-day performance tour through four provinces of China, we find ourselves in a netherworld of time and space. No one on the bus can remember what day of the week it is — or where we are. The daily drill goes like this: In the morning, after ...