Thai dancers perform for Meadows Museum gala on Fri, March 8; supper and performance begin at 6 pm

Thai dancers, 1935, Jean Despujols, a photo by trudeau on Flickr.

French artist Jean Despujols captured graceful Thai dancers in Indochina during an odyssey undertaken, 1936 to 1938, to record a vanishing way of life. Happily, Thai people in a center for Asian immigrants, Des Moines, IA, are preserving the costumes and dances observed by Despujols.

This week a group of dancers, called The Vietnamese Black Tai Dancers, will make several appearances in Shreveport via Meadows Museum.

A gala at Meadows Museum on Fri, March 8, 6 to 9 pm, will offer an intimate view of the continuity of this segment of Asian culture.

With a gourmet supper catered by Lucky Palace the performance at the gala will celebrate the Asian side of Shreveport-Bossier.

Tickets are $60 and can be purchased at www.meadowsfriends.org. Info: 318 869 5040.

Two additional appearances of the Tai community dancers (free and open to the public) are Thurs, March 7, at 11 a.m. in Centenary College's Kilpatrick Auditorium, and Fri, March 8, 10 am, same location.

"The women are excited to travel to Shreveport to discuss our history and perform the dances that our mothers and grandmothers performed when they lived in Vietnam," said Som Baccam, the dance troupe leader.