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Taiwanese Acrobats show
Feb. 15th, 2005 11:52 pmRan for 2ish hours, and well worth the 19? 15? dollars I spent~ Here's the program, for the curious.
They opened with drums (which I helped move in. Biiiiiiiig drums), which was cool and what I think the Kodo Drums might be. Or not.
Then they did "Contortion with candlesticks", with three, very flexable girls onstage, two to put five candlesticks (more like candleholder things with lots of shiny dangly crystals) on the third girl, who was her her back. She held two balanced on her feet, two in her hands, and one on her forehead. Then she rolled over, while twisting her hands and feet and head so the candleholders didn't fall off. It wasn't that spectacular, 'cause I saw it over the Northwestern- they had invited Chinese acrobats to perform, and I dare say they were better.
Then they pulled out a small seasaw equivilant on a 4 feet circular table, and a girl proceeded to bounce bowls from the seasaw to the top of her head. (she kept two bowls up there), and she was standing slightly offcenter, but still straddling the seasaw.)
Mmmm, then there was a group of... 8? 10 guys who did general acrobatics, then moved on to jumping through a ring, no bigger than half my armspan, I think, which they piled up higher and higher, until it was higher than my head. They almost made it through the highest one... that was amazing.
Then there was some balancing of umbrellas (and spinning it) using feet (the girl was on her back in a funky looking chair like thing-'cept you'd have to move the arm rests closer in, so they support her shoulder and keep her from sliding off), as well as a desk. And then they placed three girls in a triangle, on their back, and put a rather heavy (I carried this in too) lotus flower cutout in wood, on their feet, thus forming a platform. On top of this, they put three more girls, and yet another platform, slightly smaller. Then on top of that, they put one girl. And she did things and stuff. Like look pretty. ::has forgotten::
Then there was a guy on a unicycle, and he proceeded to put bowls on his feet and tossing them by kicking, onto to the top of his head. Did 1+1+1+2, with an original 2-3 bowls on his head. Caught them all, all while remaining balanced on that unicycle.
Then intermission.
Then the main part/one that got the most applause: They took a 4 feet high platform, put four wine bottles on the platform, then put a chair on top of that, so each leg of the chair was on a bottle. Guy climbed onto the chair, was handed another chair, and he set that chair onto the first chair. Not seat to seat, mind you, but seat to seat-back. Like this:
Yeah, he did that for.... 10 or so chairs. Then did acrobatics on the top. Like standing on his hands. And there was no safety net, unless you count two guys at the bottom. That was the best.
Then there was Diabolo, aka Chinese Yo-yo. A horde of 15-20 girls got onstage and threw the yo-yo. To each other, around their body (akin to around the leg, but it goes around your back, then you toss to the other side of your body, and it goes around your back again, etc.), and throwing and doing jumpropes with the string... Nothing truely awesome. Still, they were syncronized, so I'll give them that. And some of the throws I couldn't have done, not that high and not doing three jumpropes before catching it.
Then there was much bicycle riding and shitloads (10?20) people on one bicycle.
The magic section was funny, but he wasn't skilled enough that we didn't see him pull the additional umbrellas out of his robe. The poor dove was much abused. (yes, they had a live dove. Usual stuff, pulling it out of things, and stuffing it here and there~). There was also a guillitine which chopped up carrots but not an audience member's head.
Finally, there were dragon- large poles as high as the loading dock's ceiling- this would be... 2-3 floors high. Maybe 2. They're not actually as heavy as they look, and they're very well balanced, but they had 6?7 guys who took these and balanced them on their foreheads, and passed them from one person to the next from forehead to forehead. Now, while I say they're not that heavy, balancing something like that on your forehead is still hard. And throwing it to someone behind you while it's on your forehead, without using your hands is even harder.
Images, not my own, but google-searched. (no flash photography, we were told. and I didn't bring my camara anyways.)
http://www.vancouverchildrensfestival.com/database/img_41ead7ea5f383.jpg
http://www2.yc.edu/content/communityevents/February/Images02/AcrobatsChairs.jpg (only 6 here, but he did 12, I think. I saw an article that said 12.)
http://www2.yc.edu/content/communityevents/February/Images02/AcrobatsPlates.jpg (those are spinning plates on metal sticks. Yes, someone dropped a few, but no, they didn't break. So yes, they are detachable and yes, they really were spinning.)
http://www2.yc.edu/content/communityevents/February/Images02/AcrobatsKneeling.jpg (See the person in the middle? That's the girl holding up the candlesticks)
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jan-21-Fri-2005/photos/taiwan.jpg (and other stuff like that)
They opened with drums (which I helped move in. Biiiiiiiig drums), which was cool and what I think the Kodo Drums might be. Or not.
Then they did "Contortion with candlesticks", with three, very flexable girls onstage, two to put five candlesticks (more like candleholder things with lots of shiny dangly crystals) on the third girl, who was her her back. She held two balanced on her feet, two in her hands, and one on her forehead. Then she rolled over, while twisting her hands and feet and head so the candleholders didn't fall off. It wasn't that spectacular, 'cause I saw it over the Northwestern- they had invited Chinese acrobats to perform, and I dare say they were better.
Then they pulled out a small seasaw equivilant on a 4 feet circular table, and a girl proceeded to bounce bowls from the seasaw to the top of her head. (she kept two bowls up there), and she was standing slightly offcenter, but still straddling the seasaw.)
Mmmm, then there was a group of... 8? 10 guys who did general acrobatics, then moved on to jumping through a ring, no bigger than half my armspan, I think, which they piled up higher and higher, until it was higher than my head. They almost made it through the highest one... that was amazing.
Then there was some balancing of umbrellas (and spinning it) using feet (the girl was on her back in a funky looking chair like thing-'cept you'd have to move the arm rests closer in, so they support her shoulder and keep her from sliding off), as well as a desk. And then they placed three girls in a triangle, on their back, and put a rather heavy (I carried this in too) lotus flower cutout in wood, on their feet, thus forming a platform. On top of this, they put three more girls, and yet another platform, slightly smaller. Then on top of that, they put one girl. And she did things and stuff. Like look pretty. ::has forgotten::
Then there was a guy on a unicycle, and he proceeded to put bowls on his feet and tossing them by kicking, onto to the top of his head. Did 1+1+1+2, with an original 2-3 bowls on his head. Caught them all, all while remaining balanced on that unicycle.
Then intermission.
Then the main part/one that got the most applause: They took a 4 feet high platform, put four wine bottles on the platform, then put a chair on top of that, so each leg of the chair was on a bottle. Guy climbed onto the chair, was handed another chair, and he set that chair onto the first chair. Not seat to seat, mind you, but seat to seat-back. Like this:
|__|
|__|
| |
where
|__
| |
was the first chair, and
|__|
|
was the second.
Yeah, he did that for.... 10 or so chairs. Then did acrobatics on the top. Like standing on his hands. And there was no safety net, unless you count two guys at the bottom. That was the best.
Then there was Diabolo, aka Chinese Yo-yo. A horde of 15-20 girls got onstage and threw the yo-yo. To each other, around their body (akin to around the leg, but it goes around your back, then you toss to the other side of your body, and it goes around your back again, etc.), and throwing and doing jumpropes with the string... Nothing truely awesome. Still, they were syncronized, so I'll give them that. And some of the throws I couldn't have done, not that high and not doing three jumpropes before catching it.
Then there was much bicycle riding and shitloads (10?20) people on one bicycle.
The magic section was funny, but he wasn't skilled enough that we didn't see him pull the additional umbrellas out of his robe. The poor dove was much abused. (yes, they had a live dove. Usual stuff, pulling it out of things, and stuffing it here and there~). There was also a guillitine which chopped up carrots but not an audience member's head.
Finally, there were dragon- large poles as high as the loading dock's ceiling- this would be... 2-3 floors high. Maybe 2. They're not actually as heavy as they look, and they're very well balanced, but they had 6?7 guys who took these and balanced them on their foreheads, and passed them from one person to the next from forehead to forehead. Now, while I say they're not that heavy, balancing something like that on your forehead is still hard. And throwing it to someone behind you while it's on your forehead, without using your hands is even harder.
Images, not my own, but google-searched. (no flash photography, we were told. and I didn't bring my camara anyways.)
http://www.vancouverchildrensfestival.com/database/img_41ead7ea5f383.jpg
http://www2.yc.edu/content/communityevents/February/Images02/AcrobatsChairs.jpg (only 6 here, but he did 12, I think. I saw an article that said 12.)
http://www2.yc.edu/content/communityevents/February/Images02/AcrobatsPlates.jpg (those are spinning plates on metal sticks. Yes, someone dropped a few, but no, they didn't break. So yes, they are detachable and yes, they really were spinning.)
http://www2.yc.edu/content/communityevents/February/Images02/AcrobatsKneeling.jpg (See the person in the middle? That's the girl holding up the candlesticks)
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jan-21-Fri-2005/photos/taiwan.jpg (and other stuff like that)
