 Lesley Jackson visits the wushu wonderkids of the Chinese State Circus and enjoys a captivating show of tricks and kicks, tumbles and spins. Venue: Cambridge Corn Exchange
Date: 12th January 2007
Review
My local kungfu friend told me the Chinese State Circus was paying Cambridge a flying visit (I’m sure the pun was intentional) but my ears immediately picked up when he mentioned the Wushu Warriors and Shaolin kungfu. I wasn’t entirely sure how they were going to fit an entire circus into the place I’d been to many a beer soaked gig at but as my friend pointed out, he didn’t think the Chinese State Circus had any live elephants or lions on the agenda. So, after fighting off an persistent Chinese merchandiser, who insisted on shoving a paper dragon in my face, we took our seats not realising the visual treat that was in store for us.
The stage was set out with multi-coloured banners and we were introduced to the proceedings by a macabre looking yellow Chinese clown called the Monkey King, who played the comic host for the rest of the evening’s entertainment. There were several different performers taken from a variety of different fields including acrobatics, dancing and martial arts.
The male acrobatic team were themselves intensely strong athletes whose lithe tumbling would not have looked out of place in an Olympic gymnastic team. Their most impressive performance was the vertical pole whereby they balanced and held themselves out horizontally. The female dancers were colourful, graceful and extremely beautiful who performed various pieces. These included excerpts from the Peking Opera, which was spectacular and other-worldly and offered a snapshot of a very rich Chinese cultural heritage that was created for the Emperor in the Forbidden City.
Of course, what we came to see were the Wushu Warriors. These young men were the Shaolin display team who showed off their forms, weapons work and other stunts but my main question was, can these guys really, actually kick ass?
During the evening we were given several different displays where the Wushu Warriors their indisputably strong, flexible and acrobatics as they performed coordinated flying kicks and back flips. The men are not physically big, one didn’t expect them to be, but they were obviously quite young yet still highly skilled beyond anything I can imagine. One of the more bizarre feats they performed was the iron kungfu section where one Shaolin warrior (who looked to be no older than about 16) had slabs broken off his stomach by a sledgehammer and another with bricks broken on his head. What really made us put our hands over our eyes was when this young man placed the points of two long spears onto the base of this throat whilst also having slabs of concrete broken off of his back. This Shaolin warrior seemed impervious to the punishment dished out to him, even during the bed of nails-concrete slab breaking sandwich of which he was in the middle of.
What was equally impressive were the forms they performed with precision, grace and speed. The hard stage seemed to be made of springs as they leaped and kicked in the air and their flexible swords whipped around in a flurry of action. The pairs work was again a display of speed and technical fluidity but the part I was most looking forward to was the unarmed display sparring, which answered by previous questions as to whether these guys could kick real ass. Yes they certainly can as they performed a mock fight that was fast and exciting and made you wonder what it would be like if they were kicking and punching for real.
Other highlights included the stunning female dancer who was dressed in a traditional costume with very, very long sleeves. It wasn’t until after two daggers shot out and precisely burst the two balloons on either side of a girl’s head did I realise that the sleeves were not entirely ceremonial as they were used to conceal the weapons. Another non-martial performance that caught my attention as well as slightly freaking me out was the female contortionist dubbed ‘The Human Chandelier’ but I nicknamed ‘Bendy Girl in Blue.’ She twisted and turned herself into some alarming positions, while balancing candle-holders on each foot and hand and proved that it is possible to dangle your feet over your head and chew your own toe nails.
Finally, the audience were delighted to see the traditional lion dance along with the cute lion cubs, which I can assure you were not real! If you can get a chance to see these amazing performers, do go because you are in for a colourful and eye-popping treat. However, I really don’t recommend you try the plate spinning at home as I found out it is messy, noisy and much more difficult than it looks.
If you want to see the Chinese State Circus and Wushu Warriors visit http://www.chinesestatecircus.com/ for details.
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