The popularity of acrobatics in China dates back more than 2,000 years. During long winters off from farming, villagers began flipping, twisting, bending and balancing everyday objects such as chairs, plates, balls and jars. They performed these feats during harvest celebrations, and, according to Angela Chang, some started going from town to town performing to earn extra money.
"People started to realize you could earn more money than farming," she said.
Chang choreographs the Golden Dragon Acrobats, the troupe that will perform Feb. 19-20 at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center. Even today, the group uses many of those traditional props in their two-hour performance. Women spin and toss umbrellas with their feet. A woman does a headstand on another woman's head while both whirl eight plates on long, pencil-thin sticks. A man balances on top of a shaking ladder and holds another man up in a handstand above him. A "rolling balance" contortionist twists her body as she balances pyramids of glasses on her feet, hands and head.
The showstopper, Chang said, comes when one man climbs and perches on precarious stack of chairs. He adds even more at the prompting of the crowd until they reach 30 feet high, and he then pivots around on a one-handed handstand, all without a safety wire. "It's very exciting, but it's a little dangerous," Chang said. "For the past 30 years, every single show we have this act. Their personality has to be very calmed down. His balance must be very, very good. After watching 30 years, I'm still scared."
The tower of chairs is one of the reasons John Elbaum, executive director of the Burnsville Performing Arts Center, booked the act. "They go higher than you can even imagine. I've been up there in the theater at that height, and I just can't imagine doing that. It's really cool," he said. "They kind of take your breath away. You're kind of holding the arms of your seat because you can't believe what they're doing."
During an acrobatic ballet segment, a ballerina does an arabesque (balances on one leg) "en pointe" on the shoulder of another acrobat. A hoop-diving segment features young men leaping and flying over each other and through hoops. "It's very speedy," Chang said. "It shows every single different boy's skill. They are very fast and very powerful."
The 25-member troupe started touring the United States in 1978. The acrobats, who hail from China's Heibei and Henan provinces, generally start training at between ages 7 and 10. They spend the first three to five years working on concentration and training intensely -- tumbling, doing flips and practicing handstands until they can hold the pose for 15 minutes. "That's a really tough part for the acrobats," Chang said.
Touring is demanding, she said, as performers spend a couple hours a day practicing in addition to performing. However, she said, "We build up lots of good relationships from country to country. They are sharing their skills, their culture."
