On Thursday night, the Peking Acrobats came to the H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center and put on quite a show. The show was filled with numerous acts, featuring balancing acts, juggling and dexterity.
From the moment you walked into the theater you knew it was going to be a special night. The Peking Acrobats had a band playing traditional Chinese music before the show even began and the music really set the mood for the evening.
The show was a celebration of the group’s 30 years of existence and the performers surely did not disappoint in the celebration.
Throughout their 30 years, The Peking Acrobats have been featured in several TV specials including “The Wayne Brady Show,” ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” and “Ellen’s Really Big Show.”
The Peking Acrobats also hold the world record for the human chair stack. They balanced six people atop six chairs 21 feet up in the air.
They also have appeared in “Ocean’s Eleven,” and its two sequels. They were featured in the movies doing several tricks.
The audience was pulled in right from the beginning. Chinese “lions” danced through the theater and then made their way onto the stage for a crazy spectacle of acrobatic feats and humor.
The show was very fast-paced and the audience responded really well to every act. The act that made the biggest impression was in the first act, called Contortion by Candlelight. The act consisted of several contortionists bending their bodies in ways that should not have been humanly possible. At some points you could hear the audience gasp at the way the contortionists were bending their limbs. It was quite disturbing.
The candlelight part of it was due to the contortionists having candelabras balanced on their feet and arms.
The show also highlighted the group’s humor. Between acts, one of the group’s members came out and delighted the crowd with silly humor.
Different acts throughout the night had a live band playing along on stage during performances.
One of these acts was “Aerial Acrobats.” This act included three aerialists performing on silks. The audience was very enthralled by the performance.
Another one of the show’s acts, “Keep It Under Your Hat,” involved several members of the group tossing hats in the air and keeping them aloft.
The act involving the “Daring Diablos,” was a huge crowd favorite. The Peking Acrobats definitely brought the act into the 21st century by using a light-up diablo. A diablo can be best described as a Chinese yo-yo. The group also performed using a string the size of the stage. It made for a unique and very astonishing act.
The Peking Acrobats defied the usual Chinese carnival act. By using different set pieces and props it added a new element to a usually tired format. The use of humor also made the show different from the rest.
The audience in the theater really enjoyed the show, as the response after all of the acts was very positive.
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