This morning half of the group went on a hike while the other half snoozed.
We joined back up at about 9am to go to a Tibetan opera house, where
we stayed until about 4pm. To begin, the same director of education who
led us yesterday also introduced Tibetan opera to us. We had our first round of
tea and soon after the musicians played a few songs so that we could learn
about the instruments. Most common are the three stringed lute, the drums, a
Chinese string xylophone thing, and the flute. It is interesting that in the Circle
of Karma musical instruments aren't mentioned at all. Even though this was
secular music it still had religious overtones--with even a song dedicated to
the Dalai Lama. After the musicians, the dancing and singing commenced. There
were about eight teenage girls in the first dance, all done up in traditional
Tibetan wear and makeup. We were not expecting the sounds that they emitted. If
you have time to look up Tibetan opera, please do so. The tone is difficult to
describe. We eventually got used to it, although I still don't know much about
the technique with singing. The dancing was really fluid, with a lot of
movement from the wrists and hips. After a few dances, we took a break for
lunch (and also to go get pictures because the police station needed them due
to our imminent yak riding plans near the Chinese border).
After lunch, an old man spoke to us about his experience escaping Tibet and starting the opera house we were at. Then the men did a drum dance, which was pretty wicked. It was much more animated and active, and the drums were quite loud! They also had long braided wigs on, which they used to their full advantage (there was a lot of head swinging, sending the braid around in a figure eight or circling like a helicopter). The girls did two more dances, then someone performed an awesome Nepali song. Next was the most hilarious of the performances: two men in a snow lion costume. Constructed much like the Chinese dragon costumes, one controlled the mouth and the other was hunched over to provide the haunches. It went around crazily blinking its eyes and chomping at the air. They even coordinated it to roll over and scratch its ear! They then had a group performance and asked us to join them in a huge circle, where we learned a few steps and repeated them for about 10 minutes. It was a ton of fun, though, and to end it we all we danced to Boyfriend by J Biebs (after a rushed change from Wiggle). Sophie and I had gotten to speak with the girls for awhile after lunch, and that was a lot of fun :) we asked about their school and clothes and how long they had been in the opera. They all loved it there and planned on singing and dancing for years to come. It was a blast and I had a really great time!
After lunch, an old man spoke to us about his experience escaping Tibet and starting the opera house we were at. Then the men did a drum dance, which was pretty wicked. It was much more animated and active, and the drums were quite loud! They also had long braided wigs on, which they used to their full advantage (there was a lot of head swinging, sending the braid around in a figure eight or circling like a helicopter). The girls did two more dances, then someone performed an awesome Nepali song. Next was the most hilarious of the performances: two men in a snow lion costume. Constructed much like the Chinese dragon costumes, one controlled the mouth and the other was hunched over to provide the haunches. It went around crazily blinking its eyes and chomping at the air. They even coordinated it to roll over and scratch its ear! They then had a group performance and asked us to join them in a huge circle, where we learned a few steps and repeated them for about 10 minutes. It was a ton of fun, though, and to end it we all we danced to Boyfriend by J Biebs (after a rushed change from Wiggle). Sophie and I had gotten to speak with the girls for awhile after lunch, and that was a lot of fun :) we asked about their school and clothes and how long they had been in the opera. They all loved it there and planned on singing and dancing for years to come. It was a blast and I had a really great time!
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