As every Olympics over the past 25 years has demonstrated, small and compact bodies are virtually a prerequisite for top-flight gymnastics performers. That’s no great revelation in China, a nation steeped in acrobatic traditions whose diminutive stars regularly dominate international competitions.
Among the best in China are the performers with the Shanghai Acrobatic Theater, where almost 100 jugglers, tumblers, contortionists, bicycle trick artists and other athletes in residence stage regular shows year round for natives and tourists alike. Shanghai also has several smaller touring divisions, with one of the best — Stars of the Shanghai Acrobatic Theater — slated to settle into Glen Ellyn Friday for a performance at the College of DuPage.
The Shanghai lacks the grand scale of a three-ring circus, but its performers exhibit amazing skills and dexterity. There are 12 people balanced on a single bicycle. So-called hoop divers with the spring of high-jumpers in their legs leap through narrow rings positioned at nearly twice their own body heights.
All of these disciplines have been handed down through generations extending back to village harvest celebrations held in China in 700 B.C. More recently, the Communists have withdrawn much of their financial support, forcing troupes like the Shanghai Acrobatic Theater to begin touring commercially to support themselves.
Michael Wilson, a vice president of International Special Attractions in Berthoud, Colo., is the producer of the Shanghai group in the U.S.
Curiously, the acrobats now frequently draw bigger audiences in the States than they do back in their homeland as American movies and concerts become available in China, giving the acrobats more competition. “China is becoming Westernized,” Wilson observes. “American feature movies and cable TV and music concerts have all become available in China. The acrobats have a lot more competition there now.”
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The Stars of the Shanghai Acrobatic Theater perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage, 425 22nd St., Glen Ellyn. 630-942-4000.
