Chinese Acrobatics

Article by: Jeanette Scott, October 2006

At a hefty 150 yuan per ticket, the acrobatic spectacular at Shanghai's Centre Theatre was a show put on for tourists with money to spend. I found it hard to imagine that this skilful display began nearly 3000 years ago with a cluster of bored peasants.

Peasants would spin bowls on their feet and balance on a tower of chairs.

Today's performers, who jump through sparkly hoops in a whole host of breathtaking ways, are following in their ancestors' footsteps. Village farmers would take grain dividers (a large wooden hoop with mesh across the bottom to sift grain from leaves) remove the mesh, and use them in performance. Peasants would spin bowls on their feet and balance on a tower of chairs. Potters developed spinning, a natural act in pottery, and added juggling to impress the crowds. When the annual harvest was celebrated, the new acrobats would show off their skills. These acts still exist in modern acrobatics (with a twist, of course).

By the time of the Han Dynasty (221 BC - AD 220) these tricks were being passed on from one generation to the next, and had become known as the 'Hundred Plays'. However, these skills' association with the lower working classes meant it would be hundreds of years before acrobats would grace the stage of Chinese theatres. For me, it was worth the wait.

It made patting your head and simultaneously rubbing your tummy seem like a doddle.

As the performance began, the first sounds of shock and amazement fell from the mouths of the audience. The 'oohs' and 'aahs' during the 90-minute performance confirmed the Shanghai troupe's reputation as one of the best in the world.

The first act was a contortionist, a girl no older than 10, who twisted herself into an unbelievable range of positions. It was as if she had no bones in her body. Next, a group of female dancers strutted to an 80s soap opera theme tune. The climax involved a dancer sitting upside down on a chair while spinning a square piece of material on both feet and both hands in rhythmic synchronisation. It made patting your head and simultaneously rubbing your tummy seem like a doddle.

Next, a couple of acrobats played out a tragic love story with the aid of a bench and two long silk drapes, spinning and flying around the stage and above the first few rows of the audience. Ricky Martin's 'She Bangs' accompanied dancers using a see-saw to somersault high into the air. Silence would have been more pleasing to the ears.

Even to jump that high was impressive, let alone contorting an adult body with graceful precision through a hoop the size of a large cat flap.

The hoop divers saved the show. Silver hoops of differing sizes were piled two, three, even four high. The hoops seemed just about large enough to crawl through, slowly, but these extraordinarily flexible and bouncy men glided through the holes as if they were doorways. Some of the hoops were balanced at more than head height for the slight performers. Even to jump that high was impressive, let alone contorting an adult body with graceful precision through a hoop the size of a large cat flap.

So, despite the tourist price tag and the onerous feeling that the West was somehow spoiling this ancient Eastern tradition, it was well worth a visit and left me with a lasting memory of Shanghai.