Blog 1: Leaving Los Angeles

LAX is particularly humid and dense tonight. Denis is trying out his lapsed Chinese on a polylingual waif on her way to Minnesota. She happily pretends to comprehend. Eric, our camera crew is already a fish out of water…but that’s how he rolls. Boarding now, as we set foot on our red eye our adventure officially begins. I’ve got a busy day ahead of me. I elaborated on the lyrics from the Ancient Voices track and came up with some good contemporary lines that are the essence of the ancient Russian circle dance, “Hey Lolee Lolee.” Now I have to have those lyrics put into Mandarin in a way that makes sense culturally, historically, literally, and rhythmically.