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The audience at the Chaoyang Theater was restless at a recent performance. When the lights finally dimmed, there was a shriek of joy.
A new acrobatic show called Flying Acrobatics by the Deyang Acrobatics Troupe from Sichuan province, Southwest China, is something special. All 59 performers have graduated from the Acrobatic Training School, where students begin training at age 5. The troupe has won wide acclaim and has toured more than 40 countries and regions.
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Acrobatic performers from Sichuan province will stun Beijing audiences with their amazing skills. (Photo: China Daily) |
It's not often you can see a man balancing upside down on one hand atop a half-dozen chairs stacked frighteningly close to the edge of the stage, or watch a girl contorting her body into leg-splitting poses, holding candelabras on her hands and feet.
Directed by Li Longyin, with choreography and costumes by Shaga Ayi and Wen Ge, the one-hour show begins with a mysterious sacrificial ceremony. Birds symbolizing freedom hover in the sky and a tribal king walks slowly to the center of the stage. As the light catches the glint of pointed, gold-encased fingertips, the row of bodies is transformed into a wave.
The high-energy dances and acrobatics, enhanced with dramatic lighting and spectacular costumes, pay tribute to the history and culture of the Sichuan people. Folk melodies were played and a number of beautiful traditional handicrafts such as porcelain, dragons and lions were used as stage props.
"Sichuan is rich in natural and cultural legacies. Absorbing the spirits of the sun, the sky and the earth, the place is marvelous," says Li Longyin.
Li had planned to travel around Sichuan before producer Zhou Xiaoheng, who leads the Deyang Acrobatics Troupe, persuaded him to join the show.
Li says that the color gold, which features so prominently in the production, is a reference to Sanxingdui, a prehistoric site near Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.
In 1929, a farmer found a piece of jade while digging a ditch. That was the first clue leading to the discovery of an ancient kingdom, which once lasted some 1,500 years but disappeared mysteriously about 5,000 years ago.
Flying Acrobatics will be presented as a regular performance for the coming Olympic Games.
During the May Day holiday, another acrobatic show in the capital is also interesting. Featuring 20 Chinese and European acrobats for the Flying Dragon Circus, the production, called Night of Being Together, will debut on May 1 to 3 at the Century Theater.
For the Chinese part of the show, acrobats display amazing skills with simple props that were used by China's acrobatic performers 2,000 years ago: jugs, plates, drinking vessels, sticks, hoops and straps. The acrobats juggle these antiques while doing handstands, headstands, contortions, splits or riding a unicycle.
Mixing humor, magic and non-stop action, the show presents Shaolin Temple monks displaying astonishing feats of athleticism and strength interwoven with the grace and dexterity of the Chinese circus tradition.
This spectacle is complemented by breathtaking aerial skills from British artists including cloud swing and flying trapeze. Flying Dragon Circus will make its European premiere this July in England. |
