[Leica] China Ballet 1976

[photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman)]

What horrible, macabre kitsch, but you photographed it well!

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
http://www.nathanfoto.com
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog

YNWA







On Apr 6, 2011, at 9:54 AM, H&ECummer wrote:

> HI Luggers,
> In addition to touring Russian inspired heavy industry factories while in 
> China in 1976 I was also invited, many times, to see revolutionary ballets 
> and operas, mostly the Red Lantern, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, and 
> the Red Detachment of Women. These works were overseen by Madame Mao and 
> they were the only public performances allowed. So we got to see them over 
> and over again until we were sick of them. The tickets you received 
> depended exactly on where you ranked in the VIP list. In this set of 
> photos, some taken in Shanghai and some in Guangzhou, I was quite lucky 
> because, although only middle ranking (a First Secretary) I managed to 
> score the second row - meaning there were few real VIPs in the theatre the 
> nights I was there. Having seen the dances so many times it was easier to 
> anticipate the action and no one minded me taking pictures with my Pentax 
> K2 and 85mm f1.8 lens on high speed (!) Exta 160. No flash, of course.
> So here are eight slides, some of them cropped because of the VIP head in 
> front of me. Please enjoy, look large and C& C always welcome.
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Howard+Cummer/1976ChinaBallet/
> 
> Howard.
> 
> PS: 35 years on there is a lot of nostalgia for these works and there have 
> been several revivals in recent years. The communist messages (class 
> struggle, etc) that was so important in each play originally has been 
> subsumed by the memories of the "good old days".
> 
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