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Brilliant fusion of East and West
Swan
Lake The
Guandong Acrobatic Troupe of China Birmingham
Hippodrome ***** FABULOUS, stunning, fantastic,
spectacular, amazing, breath-taking . . . you just start to run out of
superlatives. This is Barnum and Bailey meets ballet, circus with a
tutu. Acrobatics is popular entertainment in China and this troupe have merged all those skills and disciplines with one of the world's best loved, traditional ballets to produce a version of Swan Lake like no other. It is rare to leave a theatre completely amazed. Even rarer with this show will be finding anyone who leaves who isn't. There are acrobats, some performing on poles
balanced on shoulders of fellow performers, somersalts on stilts,
tumblers, jugglers, unicycles, giant wheels, frogs, monkeys and even an
elephant and a camel – told you it was different – and some nifty magic
all crammed into two hours. There was also plenty of enthusiasm and
comedy including a quartet of distinctly male cygnets. As a ballet I don’t think Birmingham Royal
Ballet next door will be looking too hard over their shoulder, but that
is not what this show is about. It is about fusing two cultures together
into a glorious piece of entertainment which even BRB could appreciate. The principals all have gymnastic and acrobatic
training with only one, Yu Wanqing, who plays the Black Swan, starting
in ballet and even she joined the Guangdong troupe at 14, eight years
ago.. The emphasis is on acrobatics rather than ballet
although the White Swan, Wu Zhengdan, not only looks the part of a
ballerina but danced her role well. WORLD TITLE She started eurhythmics at the age of six and as
an acrobatic gymnast for 10 years won three national and one world
title. One of the highlights was her en-point and an
extreme arabesque and pirouette on the head of her partner, in real life
as well as the show, Wei Baohua, who plays the Prince. That was just stunning and one of the many heart
in mouth moments when you could hear the audience gasp. He is apparently
about 12 stone and she about seven and earlier she had been en-pointe on
his arms and shoulder. We had a contortionist Tan Wanxia, who seems to
have joints where most of us just sport aches and pains, Chen Hua, a
juggler whose technique and skill was faultless. Because his didn’t
somersault himself from pole to pole, or defy death or injury, he
perhaps did not quite get the recognition his supreme skill deserved but
that was rectified when he produced a blur of balls on a sprung frame in
the finale. That is not to say it was all circus though. The
corps de ballet of 18 on roller skates was bizarrely beautiful
as they glided around the stage and that was reduced to 10 later all
en-pointe in one of the balletic moments. The show, set to Tchaikovsky’s music, kept much
to the story of Swan Lake and we even had a happy ending when the
Eagle King, played by Luo Hong, is taken out by an arrow from the prince
freeing the Swan Princess from her spell just in time for the rapturous
standing ovation at the end. It’s Swan Lake, Jim, but not as we know it as
Spock might have said , a show like nothing else on earth which at times
is a thing of beauty, and has unbelievable skills and abilities on
display along with superb costumes and clever scenery and lighting
making it an experience not to be missed. Perhaps if we all practised at home, for a long,
long time, we might just . . . no. Just go and see it. It is
awesome. Roger Clarke
SIMPLY sensational. The Guandong Acrobatic Troupe of China thrilled
large audiences at the Hippodrome with a stunning display of ballet and
breathtaking acrobatics that was almost beyond belief. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, in
its traditional form, is a magnificent ballet, but here the Chinese
stars, in conjunction with the Shanghai City Entertainment Group
Company, have taken it to a new level of extraordinary skill and daring. The result is a show that has
just about everything, frequently drawing bursts of cheering and
applause, with one man sitting just behind me in the stalls gasping:
"Unbelievable.....unbelievable".
One of many high spots came
with Wu Zhengdan, the Swan Princess, balancing on one point on the head
of Wei Baohua, the Prince, having earlier performed a similar act on her
partner's shoulders. Male members of the cast
darted up 25ft poles held by other dancers then leapt or somersaulted
from one to the other, we saw clever juggling with hats and balls,
amazing scenes with men speeding around stage in steel hoops, ballerinas
dancing on skates and just about every contortion the human body can
take. And for good measure there was
a dash of real humour from four 'drag' ballerinas. Oh, and the costumes were
magnificent too. The long and enthusiastic standing ovation at the close
said it all. Swan Lake as you have never
seen it before closes on Saturday night, August 27. Paul
Marston
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