Detail of the intro screen. We had tickets that read VIP, which I didn't think much of until I was only three rows back and center. Even without an incredible zoom, I was able to take advantage of the permission to take pictures rather well.
The opening had some dancers and one- and two-person Chinese dogs, two of which rolled this ball around and over a see-saw. They had a cable between them, but it was still very cool.
These two then came out, and just a moment after I had snapped this picture, she was standing on point atop his head as he rotated her around. Woof.
Out came the hoops, and through the hoops these guys jumped both feet- and head-first, flipped, and otherwise tumbled through both levels. These two rolled down the mat and then, as you can see, both rolled right through the hoops.
A short time later, they added a third hoop, and then a fourth. This guy flipped right through the top one, unassisted. Again, woof.
I have a good series of shots from this contortionist, but you'll just have to wait for those. This one, however, shows her holding these glass objects in her hands, feet, mouth, and forehead as she rotates from lying on her back to her stomach. She then basically grabbed her ankles and did a yoga bow pose, holding it for a good moment as a little turntable raised her up and spun her around a couple of times. Just to watch her controlling her breathing as she did any number of pretzel moves had me in a bit of awe. Oh, the ball and socket joints!
Out came the male actrobats again, this time with the older ones lying down to have the younger (lighter) ones sort of seat themselves on the legs and hands of the older ones, then do a series of flips and jumps and spins as the older ones tossed and caught them. This is an action shot of three going at once, before they started throwing and catching them to one another like they were beach balls. Crazy amazing.
Soon they formed a bit of a tower and started not only jumping off of it, as in this picture, but jumping up to it. Ah, woof.
The ladies then came out to hold onto these blooms of spinning plates--which they were really spinning, but with a little aid of I think an indentation in the bottom of the plate--while doing a number of dance moves, rolls, tumbles, flips, and then things like this, where they walked on each others' heads, then stood and did the splits, which in this shot they are recovering from.
Then there was this: head to head balancing (with the aid of a ring of hair) and then plates spinning on the feet. Oy.
I think this was the first act after the intermission, where the ladies did foot juggling. During this act, they formed their own tower, and proceeded to pass the balls up and down the three-person stack, not to mention passing balls to one another with precision while in this sort of formation.
This was the act that had me seriously geeking out. Two men, doing all sorts of strength and balance moves. They started by standing back to back and grabbing wrists, and then one fundamentally lifted himself up into a handstand supported by the other without any other aid then the arms. He then lowered himself to this position, neck to neck, where they rotated around. My jaw dropped.
After that came more balancing, such as this, and then one handed hopping up and down the pegs to the right, with the finale being one guy doing a one-handed handstand off the other guy's leg who was doing a two-handed handstand jump/walk down the pegs to the left. Indescribably amazing.
The big finale for the show was the big bike routine, where they did bike pyramids like this one, and one where all the ladies were on one bike circling the stage. Pretty darn fun.
Overall, truly crazy and really appealed to the dance/movement lover inside of me. While I could never do such feats nor really would I strive to, it's just a testament to the potential of our bodies and keeps that fire going inside of me to get back to the movement arts. Soon, very soon.
All is otherwise well. We had a good day of lectures (Motorola China, Trek China, and a very smart HR professional) at the hotel, and I had some fantastic duck for dinner. I do highly reccommend trying the Beijing roast duck if you come through Beijing, if you're into duck. Not quite gourmet duck breast, but very tasty in a different sort of way. Tomorrow I'm going shopping with some classmates at some different locales, and then maybe catching some Chinese opera here in the hotel. Shanghai looms large and busy, and while that signals the end of this fantastic trip, there is a part of me that is relieved by this. It's difficult to be simultaneously engaged, excited, tired, anxious, homesick, lost, found, and awed. Everything changes after this trip, and while I'm ready for it, it still weighs on me. Here's to it, though; to what is to come.
There is so much to come.
--if you let me--
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