Out and About in Ulaanbaatar
Sukhbaatar Square - the
centerpiece of Ulaanbaatar. The statue on the
left is of Sukhbaatar, who helped free
Mongolia from the Chinese but in the center of
the building is a huge impressive statue of
Chinggis Kahn, the hero of
Mongolia and the namesake of some excellent
beer.
Some traditional outfits worn by mostly older
Mongolians, I suspect the fellow in red is a monk
but I like the Burberry scarf (I think dancer
Connie - whose photos are mixed with mine -took
that shot)
Ger district in town and spreading up the distant
hillside and new high rises. You can see the
river bed with water flow that never fills the
bed even in springtime.
The folk dance
company we worked with were called Tumen Ekh and
we spent a lot of time at their studio/theater
space.
The top pic is the entrance with dancers Sarah,
Kelly and Dana and one of the many translators we
worked with. The red door inside (with Dana) is
just inside the building and through the door and
upstairs is an art gallery with this giant
traditional musical instrument called the horse
head fiddle. Later in the week we bought some of
the calligraphy works you see on the walls from
the fellow next to the fiddle.
To the right of the red door is the studio where
Dana, Sarah and Kelly taught and choreographed.
Dana choreographed a duet and a group piece in an
amazing short period of time. The duet was with
two very talented (and nice) male dancers (with
Dana in one of the pics). One was the only dancer
who spoke a small amount of english. Dana did not
have a translator for most of his choreography
sections so he was was a real help, but
demonstration was the language mostly used. There
are other pics of the dancers on the DTSB&Co blog
Near the studio is a Korean restaurant that
actually served great coffee and lots of
different Asian cuisine - the best Chinese food I
had in a long time. On the way to the restaurant
was this building with the English name
"Happiness Land". This building was photographed
by the group more than any other.
The first night we were there we were able to see
a performance of the Tumen Ekh dancers, singers
and musicians - very impressive. The female
singing was a similar to Chinese singing (like in
the movie Raise the Red Lantern). The males did
some throat singing. The dances were very
energetic. The costumes were gorgeous. The
contortionists were a bit odd. The bottom pic is
of the Tumen Ekh dancers, directors, the embassy
cultural attache (Marissa) and DTSB&Co group.
The two males in the fur hats are the males in
the duet.