Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats wow Saddleback College
(Robert Shoemake)
Saddleback’s McKinney Theatre hosted a group of extremely talented and athletic performers last Sunday, November 18. The Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats performed their 2012 North American Fall Tour Program.
The Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats performed a variety of stunts ranging from balancing, acrobatics and flips. A wide array of props that were in line with the culture of China were showcased in the event.
The program read, “A truly oriental spectacular and a show for all ages, the grace, and precision of the acrobats are the triumph of years of dedication training and discipline but their art has been formed by centuries of tradition.”
Determinants of skill and precision indeed did shine throughout the performance where the feats of the performers were applauded constantly by the enthusiastic crowd. Each and every end of a daring performance was met with thunderous applause with each passing one with more appreciation from the audience than the previous one.
“For over 30 years, The Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats have taken audiences on an incredible journey, exploring the depth and breadth of human possibility with artful grace, style, and panache!”
This, of course, was not in any exaggeration to the level of difficulty these performers have to perform in. The truly spectacular feats of this performance cannot be fully expressed through words simply because it takes one’s breath away.
The truly daring feat was when a young male Chinese acrobat had to make and maintain his balance when making a tower of chairs that had to be at least 30 feet in length.
An air of uneasiness grasped the audience as they looked on to the most daring feat performed by one so young. There was a point when the tower was at its highest point when sounds of “Don’t fall” and “Please be careful” were heard all around the hall.
The whole experience was not without faults and the performance did suffer minor mistakes that were playfully played off.
Nevertheless it barely made a dent on the whole performance which was a very entertaining and cultural experience. Evidence of this was the standing ovation that the performers received after the finale as they gracefully took a bow.
This event is part of the “Professional Guest Artist Events at Saddleback College.” Upcoming events include “The Nutcracker,” ” An evening of comedy and magic,” the “Minneapolis guitar quartet” and the “Eisenhower Dance Ensemble.”
The whole list of upcoming events can be found on this website: