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7341786
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Mrs. Ford's Visit to Peking Ballet School [Pool Report]
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1
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7341786
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document
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Mrs. Ford's Visit to Peking Ballet School [Pool Report]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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7341786
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1975-12-03
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12
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1975
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Digitized from Box 18 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
December 3, 1975
POOL REPORT - Mrs. Ford's Visit to Peking Ballet School
The highpoint of Mrs. Ford's visit to the Dance School of the Central May
Seventh College of Arts was when she threw off her shoes and joined a
group of rehearsing studenst.
She began with two practice run-throughs and then joined in a full dance
with eight girls, all about 13 years old, in blue knit warm-up suits.
Mrs. Ford's training with Martha Graham showed through and she was
able to ape the other dancers with a minimum of gaffes. After she
finished she courtsied to the group -- as she had to two other trainee
groups -- and then was told by Madame Wang Man Tien, a leading member
of the Culture Ministry, "You had some basic training. It's very quick for
you to learn.
"Just so they don't send it back to the United States, Mrs. Ford replied,
"it will ruin my reputation."
Mrs. Wang advised Mrs. Ford that if she should take the lead in teaching
dancing in the States. Mrs. George Bush, wife of the Chief of the U.S.
Liaison Office, Peking, interjected, "And there will be dancing in the
streets. 11 Mrs. Ford again said she hoped her performance would not be
seen in the States and added, "If Martha sees it, she'll throw me out."
As she left the school, Mrs. Wang solicited her criticism. Mrs. Ford
replied that she had none at all, "I think they do excellently.
Escorted by Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Hsiao Meng, the responsible member of
the school, Mrs. Ford visited six seperate rehearsal rooms and, sitting
before floor-to-ceiling mirrors, witnessed male and female students from
11 to 13 years old in folk, traditional and acrobatic dancing. In the rehearsal
rooms, there were no political overtones to the dancing. However, in a
formal presentation at the end, there was a sequence from the "Red
Detachment of Women, the revolutionary ballet that President Nixon
witnessed here in 1972. The high point of the formal performance was a
children's opera where an avaricious, old bear stole honey from a band of
diligent bees and was driven away by stings in his posterior.
There are 238 students in the school and more than 200 staff and teachers.
As she went down the hall, Mrs. Ford passed a wall display of student
enunciations of the book "The Water Margin," the current object of
discussion and analysis among the political cadres.
In explaining to Mrs. Ford the purposes of the school, Mrs. Hsiao cited a
number of sayings of Chairman Mao, such as, "Make the past serve the
present, " and then surprised some of the Americans present by saying,
"Let 100 flowers blossom," the slogan of Chairman Mao's short lived
1957 campaign to stimulate greater freedeom and expression among
intellectuals.
Bill Ringle Gannett