Photos: RLCD Festival and Wat Lao Nashville

Royal Lao Classical Dancers Festival
Lao Buddhist Temple of Nashville New Year Celebration
May 25, 2008 | Antioch, TN

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With any dance performance you’d most likely want to capture it on video, but sadly the technology, even at HD resolutions, doesn’t have that same visual appeal to me that photographs have.  The above video is of the Kinnaree dance, assembled from my still photographs.  I also shot some DV, and some HD(!) with a little Kodak point and shoot, but I still prefer the frame by frame “movie,” in all it’s choppiness.  With video there’s just too much of an immediacy or liveness with the footage, from the noises in the audience or people walking in front of the camera.

Deme and Me 2 | 18×24″ | Pen and Ink/CG
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The biggest suprise of the day had to have been Jonny “Khaen” Olsen, a talented musician from California that plays the woodwind instrument, and speaks Lao, and oh yeah–sings traditional songs in Lao.

 

 

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