DTSBCo in Mongolia - Hitting the Ground Running

The 30 hour plus trip to UlaanBaatar, Mongolia was tiring but everything went smoothly. We had a 4 hour layover in Seoul, Korea so we took advantage of Korean Air's traveler's services. We enjoyed refreshments in their comfortable lounge and were able to take showers. And we could not pass up a nice foot massage.






We arrived in UlaanBaatar 10:30pm local time and were welcomed by Otgon Yondon, the Cultural Specialist and embassy intern Namuun from the American Embassy in Mongolia. She took us to the hotel where we checked in and had a short planning meeting in the lounge.



Tuesday morning Miyako and Connie headed to a local college to teach and Dana, Kelly and Sarah taught a master class for the Mongolian folklore dance group Tumen Ekh. In the afternoon Dana began rehearsal on a dance work that the members of Tumen Ekh will perform in a joint concert with DTSB&Co on Friday. The local dancers are quite talented and very interested in Western forms of contemporary dance. There have only been a handful of contemporary European and American dance companies to make it here in the last decade which makes their eagerness and sheer talent quite impressive. We ended the rehearsal with an impressive 6-1/2 minutes of choreography.

Photos from class:







After class we had a short break so we ventured out into the bitter cold to walk around and have a cup of coffee. We loved the sign on this nearby building.


When we returned to the studio we met the talented choreographer of Tumen Ekh.



Photos from rehearsal:



After rehearsal we met up with the Connie, Miyako, Otgon, Namuun and Marissa Maurer, Public Affairs Officer from the embassy, for a quick bite before attending a performance of the Tumen Ekh dancers and musicians.