Today I went to the National Mall for the Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival . This year the festival highlighted China and Kenya. I focused on the China portion of the festival. The first dance I saw was actually of a man dressed as a woman doing the traditional lantern dance; later in the program, he performed the male version of the dance with a female partner. The man is one of the foremost traditional dancers in China. Along with the lantern dance, performers also did dances that told the stories of flowers and trees. I also was lucky enough to see the end of the lion cart performance. The lion cart performance is dancing lion puppets controlled by a troop of 8 to 10 people. It was fun to watch, once I squeezed myself into the crowd. The Lions in the Lion Cart Since these performances were held in outdoor tents, it was a slightly difficult to meter through the camera for some photos. I mostly used either a 400 ISO...
Photography and Travel