East meets west in Solvang
A
small troupe of Chinese acrobats visited Solvang School and presented two
assemblies, one for the fifth through eighth grades and one for the children in
Kindergarten through fourth. Solvang School was chosen to be part of the
troupe’s tour through the western United States.
The
younger students climbed into the gym bleachers for the second assembly, not
quite sure what to expect. The three acrobats and their master of ceremonies
waited behind a portable screen.
Jin
Fu Chu, the emcee, came onto the gym floor with his portable microphone and
told the children in halting, but correct, English what they were about to see.
The
youngsters were polite, respectful and very quiet as the first acrobat came out
on the floor. She was Wang Xue, a petite young woman
in a sparkly green stretch leotard.
She
began with a few simple ballet moves and the children murmured a respectful
“oh.” She began to do backbends and a few basic contortions. The children laughed
and the “ohs” grew a little louder.
Then
there were positions on the floor, legs wrapped around her neck, arms around
her lower torso, and the children laughed and clapped loudly. As the
contortionist continued her increasingly elaborate routine, the kids lost their
inhibitions. By the time she took her bows, the boys and girls were unabashedly
clapping, laughing and cheering.
Next
up was Zhang Fenggang, juggler and balance artiste.
He juggled three golden clubs. One of the young women tossed him another and he
was juggling four. Then another, up to five clubs at a time.
Then six.
He
spun a basketball on one finger. He spun two basketballs on two fingers, one on
each hand. While the balls spun, he did a flip. He put a rod in his mouth and
spun a basketball there, too.
Zhang
next called three boys out of the bleachers. He lined them up next to him. He
showed them how to perform a brief ceremonial bow. Then he put a spinning
basketball on one boy’s upraised finger, then repeated the stunt with another
boy Then he had the third boy raise both hands, forefingers extended. He placed
spinning basketballs on both the boys’ fingers.
The
three youngsters were delighted. The kids in the bleachers, and the adults,
were clapping and laughing.
The
third performer, Feng Hongjuan,
was another pretty young thing in a fitted, spangled bodysuit,
white this time, Feng began twirling a golden hula
hoop around her torso. Then two, then three, six, too many to count, all
positioned around her torso, arms, legs and neck, spinning rapidly. Then she
started with a large stack of silver hula hoops, all spinning simultaneously on
her body, and began discarding them, one by one.
More
cheers from the youngsters, and the acrobats began their final act. Feng hopped up on a tall unicycle and Zhang rolled out a
balance board on a table and stood up on it, teetering gently to maintain his
balance. Feng sat on her unicycle, moving the pedals
slightly to keep her balance,
Each
performer had a small bowl on the top of the head and began to pitch other
small bowls into it, from the feet and legs.
This
segment concluded with Zhang tossing hula hoops on Feng’s
upright body as she stayed in one spot on her unicycle.
The
acrobats travel in an SUV on their tour through California, Arizona, New
Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state, according to their driver, Louise
Palmerton. Their tour is sponsored by the Bureau of Lectures and Concert
Artists, a company out of Lawrence, Kan.
Palmerton,
a cheerful Midwesterner, said she has lost more than 18 pounds since going on
the road with the performers. “They eat practically nothing but vegetables,”
Palmerton said. “I’ve lost two inches off my waist and gone down two pants
sizes.”
The
performers stay in motels while on the road, and will be in the Western U.S.
until June 11, when they will return to Beijing.
“Everybody loved it,” said Solvang school Principal Lisa
O’Neill, reflecting on the unusual visit by the acrobats. “And it was funded
through the PTO.”