Power. Agility. Perfection. The Face of the Chinese Acrobat, No Longer Welcome?

Whether scampering up and down poles, throwing up audacious human pyramids on rolling bicycles, or diving through stacked  hoops, they win us over.  Breathlessly.  Emphatically.   They are the essence of circus. The dazzling manifestation of its ancient roots giving rise to yet more ground-breaking wonder in the here and the now. But these days, the here and now may be leaving the lot.

It is, of course, a political question, given the rising tensions between the U.S. and China.  Anti-Asian currents rattling pockets of Asian communities into fear and retreat are said to be on the rise.  The tragic irony  here in the Bay Area is that the older Asians being attacked are among the most civil and law-abiding and productive citizens anywhere, their young hoodlum attackers, the very opposite.  The crippled agenda-driven media here in the state of insanity is too timid to clarify. 

But those currents are felt elsewhere, too, and the question becomes: How detrimental will these anti-Asian hostilities be to Asian circus acts?  Hardly an issue, really, considering  the demise of the two shows that could afford to routinely import from China and other Asian capitals: Ringling and Big Apple.

     Nixon’s Gift to the Big Top

When Richard Nixon went to China in 1972, he established a cultural exchange program, which opened the tent to the Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe the following December.  Chicago welcomed them with raving receptions. Dates in Indianapolis, New York and Washing, DC followed.  The ring had been set. 

China’s most profound impact on the American circus scene was produced 14 years later by  Kenneth Feld in 1986, when he ingeniously integrated the various acts of the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe into the program.  East and West merged in a spectacular three ring smorgasbord0. The public took note.  So did Paul Binder, who checked in two years later with his own The Big Apple Circus Meets The Monkey King. Any good circus producer, and Binder was one of the best,  soon learns that to get your best acts, you must go abroad.

 The British Validation

Over across the pond in the 1990s, Circus owners  Carol and Phillip Gandey were awestruck by a group of Chinese acrobats they saw at one of  Monte Carlo Festivals.  They could envision a rebounding road to robust ticket sales, and thus they smartly established The Great Chinese Circus.  The Brits responded with billfolds wide open.  In the land where circus was invented, how could they not spot the brilliance?  It has been written that for many years in the UK, Gandey’s Chinese unit drew the greatest patronage.

   Sky Bound, Too

Traditionally preoccupied with ground acrobats, in the last 20 years Asian acrobats everywhere have expended their repertoire, onto wires and swings.. One of the best multiple rigging  flying acts I have ever seen were the Shanghai Swingers, with UniverSoul some years back.   You may have seen footage of the North Koreans at Monte Carlo, of the young star flyer who executed five somersaults over a long arc.  YES, maybe not adhering to the traditional flying return set-up specs, but a hell of a trick on its own, and a longer lasting one to enjoy.

 Now A Harder Sell?

Over here, we may be seeing less of the Middle Kingdom, I currently fear.  On America’s Got Talent the other night, which I now and then scroll through, I was stopped by the sight of a group of  acrobats already in progress.  Of course, I was hoping to see Asian faces, for I knew the odds would favor something special.   Close up, the faces were not Asian.  The young men performed an ambitious routine of mediocre content, though a couple of the judges swooned, one of them conceding she loved a certain member's body. Somebody cracked that Simon had given them the buzzer. Simon knew best.

Does this mark the new normal?  I hope not.  Given the absence of Ringling and Big Apple, and worse yet, the ominous rumblings over Taiwan's precarious future (truly frightening), we may not have much of a chance in the years ahead to be thrilled by those fiercely driven wizards of wow-full invention.

But I do believe that American circus goers, who have long understood and appreciated the truly international nature of great circus, will respond as vividly as ever when offered the genius that comes our way from other lands, no matter the politics. 

Above: The mesmerizing Ty Tojo on Big Apple Circus, 2013

Relief from Boob Tube Banalities: TV's Many Other Windows I Am Now Just Opening: Thriving Vietnam Today Stirs Painful Memories of War; Old TV Shows Recall Simpler-Saner Times, Pre-Mass Shootings

And it's about time!

By accident, I discovered a number of channels I have with Comcast that I have overlooked  How rich and refreshing it is to look into the past, or across into Asia. Here are some captured photos from both disparate realms: 

Can you name the country where this game show takes place?  Read on ...

Theeeeres Johnny!  Before Tonight, Johnny Carson showed up on a great game show, To Tell the Truth.  Three people each introduce themselves by the same name.  The panelists, taking turns, ask them questions, trying to figure out who is the actual person.  So intriguing.  I'm surprised this show has never been revived in some format.

The country is Vietnam. The channel, Vietoday.  The game show is called Mot Phut De Chien Thang. This dancing MC is flashy good fun.  Contestants balance and manipulate objects in semi-juggling fashion.  A gas.

They try stacking objects into intricate formations.  They try blowing balls into  -- I don't know where there were intended to go..  And when they succeed, they victory-dance around the stage with the MC.

What a surprise!  I know all about TV Land, but I would  never have expected to find any early program from 1952 anywhere but, if lucky, at the Museum of TV and Radio in Beverly Hills or New York.  Okay, bash the fifties if you must.  What among many things did that despised decade lack?   Teenage infidelity as a spectator sport, for one.  Frighteningly frequent coverage of bloody mass shootings, for another.  Here, you see Miss Brooks and Mr Boynton, the eternal object of her pining for romance, played by Robert Rockwell, whose son, Jeffrey, played Al Ringling in my musical Those Ringlings when first presented in Los Angeles.

Advance by 65 years to our ambitious young Asians.

On a Vietnamese talent show, this kid made the four chairs turn for him, and brought one judge to his feet.

At least American influences are being put to non-violent means these days.

But not a single chair turned to face  this girl.  Two kind judges ran out to console her.  Touching moment.
.

 

These talent show are easy to watch, even without my understanding a word of the language.  On the other programs, I do my best trying to read body language. 

Superman!   Another rare discovery, from  1952 on MeTV. 

The fifties also gave us Lois Lane, fearless reporter, and a female no less, for the Daily Planet, day job employer of Clark Kent when he wasn't flying about in his famous cape.

And ... Lois revives this miner, near death in a collapsed mine shaft.   Just in time for Superman to swoop down to the rescue.

 

Asian kiddies:  I've seen many young tots, some hardly out of diapers, blasting out American pop and banging away on guitars for a shot at local stardom. I think this was off a major channel that broadcasts shows from Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Upside down goes the little girl!

Back to the fifties when we had live drama, when I first saw Death of a Salesman and Waiting for Godot on mainstream TV.  Both were outstanding.  Yes, bash the fifties for not bringing us more sophisticated programming, such as that offered today by Jerry Springer and  Maury Povich, among other icons of enlightenment.

 

Here's a scene from Studio One, 1958, presented LIVE.  I remember watching these dramatic  adaptations, more famously remembered from Playhouse 90,and sometimes glimpsing a camera at the edge of the screen.  Can you name the man at the center? Answer below.

 

Such a beautiful country.  And such real people. 

I discovered a series, nearing its end, set in a small Vietnamese village along the river, focusing on the everyday lives of families, work to recreation.  Humorous moments were whimsically scored by squeaky toots from a brass instrument.  Even their sense of humor is more subtle than ours.

In one episode, this boy went to a swimming competition with his village friends, and I think he won.  The bus ride to and from was charming.  Here, he has spotted an approaching tiger.

China's Giant New Circus Forum Promises Greater Global Attention to the Big Top

Now under construction in the Jimei District of Xiamen, in southeastern China, this new 10,000 seat arena, claimed to be the largest permanent circus forum in the world, will be ready to entertain at the 17th annual China International Fair & Trade show, in September.  Ground was broken only last September.  Things happen fast in the Middle Kingdom.

Sawdust aficionados of means and manners may wish to book air travel and hotel space soon.

To be known as  Xiamen Ling Ling International Circus,  the seaside hard top will supersede in size the Chimelong International Circus in Guangzhou, which itself handles 7.000 spectators. 

International is the operative word:  A news release promises that  "professional circus performers from 26 countries will stage magic shows, circus acts and acrobatic shows."

The Chinese are not only taking gloriously to the air to create inventive new flying acts, thus expanding their staid repertory of ground-bound acts that marked their stage shows for centuries, they are also apparently encouraging the importation of performing animals into their larger programs. 

While, historically, the famed acrobatic troupes of China have never followed the example of American three-ring showmanship, in recent years they have ingeniously adapted Cirque du Soleil modes of advanced presentation.  Thus are they breaking free of time-worn performance traditions to fashion their own exciting new productions, more creatively designed, paced, and directed.  For the full-course meal, tanbark tourists are encouraged to include Beijing and Shanghai in their Chinese portfolios.

Perhaps this new arena will serve as a refuge for a number of displaced ex-Cirque du Soleil artsts, out of work in the wake of Cirque's shutting down a parade of failed ventures around the world.

Look for international festivals in Xiamen.  And expect, increasingly a more diversified spread of sawdust action  from the redoubtable Chinese.  No longer just hoops, spinning plates, hat juggling exchanges, and pole climbing. 

Good news for the future of circus everywhere!

Snapshots from China: Shanghai New

Out of the Past: From November 21, 2010

I fell in love with the building on the right. It floats skyward. It feels transcendental

We're in the new section of the city across the Huangpu river



Boyi's angular photography intrigues me





Inside this store on Nanjing Road, I could not believe I was in China





Around People's Park near Nanjing Road in old Shanghai

Even the old town, here on the Nanjing Road pedestrian mall, feels refreshingly modern. A clean prosperous buzz in the air reminded me of Times Square NY -- minus a hundred million people just getting off of the train.





The Huangpu river separates old from new


My friend Boyi Yuan and I took these pictures last April [2010]. For the best documentary I've seen on modern China, try to locate the film, China Revealed, produced by Lion Television for the Discovery Channel, with James Spader narrating in English, Cassian Harrison producing, made around 2006 as the country was preparing for the Olympics. A searing film of promise, but also of deep and troubling honesty. Very sad in places, the country is so hopelessly overpopulated.

11.21.10

Chinese Double Decker Rolla Bolla Bowl Kicking from Beijing Flyin Acrobats Show

Such an act! The reason most of us go to the circus, for that rare experience, as John Ringling North would say, "something I haven't seen before."

This was my greatest thrill in China.

Sunday Morning from China: Food, Glorious Food!

More delight to the bite: Want your noodles less slinky and sticky? Here's how, says Chef Boyi, recalling this dish from Taishan: After regular boiling, drain to dry, then pour cold water over and shake a little. Place in a bowl, and pour soup over. In Boyi's own words, noodles become closer to "rubber bands," giving off "a better biting feeling."


Rice on the table, noodles on the run: A feast in Guangzhou, of the sort Boyi prefers, but thereafter, noodles noodles noodles. Round the clock. Convenient in a pinch. Some mornings, we heated up a round carton in our hotel room. And on the trains. Reliably safe and filling. What I missed the most? Fresh produce.

Here we are in a typical small eatery, in the charming HouHai district of old Beijing.




A gentleman proud of his country: We exchanged many smiles, in the spirit of each of us wanting to communicate with the other (learning a foreign language is not in my genes). Through Boyi, I asked him if he felt proud about China's progress. "I feel very proud" he answered, "and things are getting better every day."

How far I had traveled from dread to delight. Here's the back story:

From my boyhood in Santa Rosa's Twin Dragons Restaurant, where my mother took me, my sister Kathy and brother Dick on very special occasions, to the land where it all began. I grew up loving mandarin dishes. So why my dread and fear of the food over there? Can you spell D-I-A-R-R-H-E-A? You are warned in advance: Nothing raw. Nothing off the street. Nothing that isn't served piping hot. Nothing on the train. NO tap water, only bottled, even when brushing your teeth. Boyi daringly brushed his in tap water, not I. In fact, a couple of Boyi's friends, visiting the year before, had spent a few days in a Chinese hospital stricken with the Big D.

Upon entering that other world, I obsessed over the tiniest quiver in my paranoid stomach -- was that it? Nothing ever happened, and so I never asked Boyi, "Why don't we try some American places?"


Small town hospitality in the world's largest city: Only a few blocks from the Bund Hotel in Shanghai where we were staying, one morning we wandered into a small restaurant, thinking it was open, and took a table. A few moments later, in entered a lady (seen in the photo, above, first row far right) who sat down with us.

She and Boyi conversed fluently over various food options; she gave us such attention! Turned out, she was the mother of the owner, who himself was away on business in London town. And the place had not yet opened. A great "breakfast" we had, very Chinese -- fried rice, two different soups and bacon rolled around mushrooms.

Trendy soups down there: Looking below on a typical outdoor sit-down, in Taishan. Only once did I depart the Asian grills, just to try a restaurant I have never been to in my own country -- McDonalds. (OK, just a joke; I haven't been there for maybe ten years). Staff looked properly Americanized. I ordered a chicken burger and fries, very good facsimile.




Dining on dollars in high fashion: At the magnificent Taishan Gaoye Hotel, $46.00 a night landed us a lavishly spacious room looking down upon a suspiciously murky brown river. This classy restaurant in the hotel is an event to remember. Among perfect palate pleasures -- Bone Soup, so subtle. Fried rice of white, black and brown, so delicately textured. Steamed green beans. And we took our breakfast, mornings for free, in the Western Buffet, below. I've never enjoyed so richly endowed a smorgasbord encircling the entire room. Many items cooked for you on the spot. I'd like to move in the hotel for a week or two and spoil myself.


The differences between here and there: Chinese food in China seemed fresher and tastier (I suppose, plainer), at the same time less elaborately enhanced with the sauces and seasonings that can make it more like cotton candy, in the states, and less like bone soup. And SO generously inexpensive. A meal for two under ten to twelve dollars? Not a problem.


Desert, anybody? A most interesting concoction was this ice mountain covered with red beans. I sampled a sweet nibble or two; the main courses are so richly satisfying, who really needs a sugar payoff?

Showbiz David Goes Video! -- Not? Rolla Bolla From China's Flying Acrobats Show in Beijing, 2010 ...

Update: No, answering my own question down there, it can't be this easy. No luck trying to load other videos I have. One came up overly cropped beyond running. And besides, the picture quality is very fuzzy.

Very short video shot from my canon,and yes, not pro, but it was a test, and I'm too excited to hold it back, because ...

Could it really be this easy? Dabbling this evening, wondering if I could show some videos of Chinese acts Boyi and I saw last April, first I went to You Tube, thinking that would be the only way. But way too complicated and confusing.

And then, right here in my own blogger backyard -- the tools were there all the time!

Here's a clip of a great act, in my opinion, seen at the Flying Acrobats Show. You'll see more and somewhat better clips when I load them up ahead, one with great music composed by one of China's most famous modern pop composers. A new type of circus is opening up over there.

Can techno life really be this easy?

Enjoy this crude quickie premiere!

Here are two stills of the footage I was hoping to load: