This summer my family and I visited Branson Missouri, where we witnessed the Acrobats of China. Acrobatics have held a large presence in Chinese culture for centuries now. Several mythological and religious stories performed through acrobatic shows while managing to capture their past history, and still providing a jaw dropping experience.
“ We are going to see the Acrobats of China”. said my parents to my sibling and I. At first this did not sound interesting to me, but I went along with it. When I entered the theatre, the smell of the complimentary popcorn overwhelmed me, I heard people muttering rumours about the show. Scattered families filled the room trying to find the best seat. My mind filled with curiosity as the lights dimmed, signaling the beginning of the show. The acrobatics performed short stories of ancient China that stood out unique to me. Out of all the performances, the White Snake Act caught my attention.The act started with suspenseful music filling the silence of the theater. A female acrobat stood in the center of the stage, grasping onto a large wooden pole, accompanied by other smaller wooden sticks. The woman who represented the “snake” placed a small feather on the tip of the wooden stick. The
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feather balanced ever so gently. Whispers surrounded me, “ what is she doing?”, “what is exciting about a feather?”. Then the “snake” balanced metal rods on the same pole. Finally, with one breathtaking move, she lifted the feather off of the pole which resulted the whole structure to collapse! How is that even possible?”, said a woman still looking through her opera glasses. Whistles, claps, and comments echoed the theater, but I just sat there speechless. I felt happy to see one trending theme throughout the show, teamwork. Each acrobat relied on each other to create perfect illusions and stunts for the audience.This personally surprised me, because it proved that teamwork does not only benefit in school, but for real world situations as well. The Drum Ceremony Act was an example of teamwork. From one flexible performer to another, all on various height platforms, they juggled drums on the soles of their bare feet. Then they smoothly passed the drums with their feet! This required trust and pure accuracy. The music helped the mood of the performance.
Mysterious, fun, dramatic, and contemporary summarized the main genres of music played. Occasionally, pop music from China played, to put a modern twist on the performance. To me, the music resembled adding cherries to the cake, as it added theatrics to the show. I also liked the lighting component. This department used different colors that represented the emotions of the story. Such as (Blue: calm, Green/Yellow: Happiness, Red: War, White: Peace and freedom). This enhanced the background scenery of the stage as well as the props. I had undergone quite a few emotions during this performance. Such as fear for the performers safety, shock for the stunts, and even anger for the show being too
short. After the show, I got to meet the performers. Through the help of an interpreter, they told us that they practice six to eight hours every day. Close up, I could see the tired eyes behind their excited expression. Seeing this gave me more appreciation their hard work. The talent and agility they achieved can only come from perseverance, and believing in your abilities. My overall experience of the Acrobats of China felt breathtaking and insightful. I got to see unbelievable stunts, while seeing a glimpse of only half of China's culture.I appreciated the fact that they turned their history into a form of art. The performers did an extraordinary job of cultivating and preserving their culture, while sharing it with the world.
The setup of the stage was very simple. It was the living room of a home in the early 1980’s. It looked like a normal household, and it had small things such as crumpled up pieces of paper lying around the wastebasket. It also had a couch, circular class table and a recliner in the living room. The dining room was to the left side of the stage and only had the dining table and surrounding chairs. There was a door in the back of the set where characters entered and exited through. Beside the door was a table and stool where Willum presumably worked on his blueprints for the hotel. The lighting design was great; it put you into the atmosphere of the
The production had many elements which for the most part formed a coalition to further the plot. The characters, the three part scenery and costumes represented well the period of time these people were going through. As far as the performers entering and exiting the stage, it could have been more organized. There were a few times when the performers exited at the wrong times or it seemed so due to the echo of the music. At certain moments the music was slightly loud and drowned the performers. Many of the songs dragged on, so the pacing could have been more effectively executed. Though the music was off at times, the director's decision to have most of the songs performed center sage was a wise one. Also the implementation of actual white characters that were competent in their roles came as a great surprise to the audience and heightened the realism.
The Music Man made interesting use of the technical aspects of theatre. Sound was used appropriately, as music from the monitors did not overpower the voices of the actors. Lights, however, did not leave any sort of impression on me. Hardly any lights were utilized to enhance the mood were present. This caused for less emphasization on spectacle than what would be expected of such a dramatic play. Although, intricate costumes and set made up for the dull lighting techniques.
...entertainment but exceptional for teaching people about ancient China and the ways of thinking during that time period.
Every face had excellent expressions, presenting their characters perfectly. Also, each actor added their own twist on the characters, anywhere from a slight accent to body language, adding more depth to the entire musical. Furthermore, every actor changed their voice in a way that depicted their character’s emotions and attitude at that particular moment. Also, the color of the lights changes according to each scene and the mood for that particular scene.
Between 1644 and 1911 China was in a new dynasty called the Qing Dynasty, during the Qing Dynasty many new foreigners migrated into China, to trade their merchandise with the chinese. This had great influence on the chinese people and culture, which lead to a number of events occurring during this period. For so long China was isolated, and that was because: in the East; laid the vast Pacific ocean, South; lay mountain ranges and dense jungles, North; laid the cold yet piercing sun of the Gobi desert, and in the West; the rough and jagged mountains of the Tibetan Plateau. Having this isolation was a benefit to the chinese people, it gave them more arable land and resources, along with new materials and more population growth expansion (R darlington,
The components can be broken down into the following: dance and movement, character portrayal, masks/puppetry, music, costume design and idealistic process. Each component will be analysed in detail in an attempt to portray how this effectiveness has added to the overall musical vision.
American musicals just weren’t proving successful- as they were focusing on the previous century’s trend of “substance over spectacle”. However, ‘Brit Hits’ became overwhelmingly successful by breaking away from the previous ideal and creating a theme of ‘bigger and better!’, focusing primarily on creating sights over substance. With casts and creative teams of the shows being larger than ever, as well as the aid of technology advancements- it proved to be the way to go! Larger sets and bigger special effects were introduced, including helicopters flying onto stage and chandeliers crashing on stage. Due to higher budgets and musical theatre reaching its peak, shows like Cats changed the way theatre published and promoted. In the past, shows had only souvenir programs or shirts, but Cats’ signature pair of yellow eyes, plastered the show’s logo, across coffee cups, jackets, ornaments, key chains, pins etc.- anything that could be thought of, changing the course of advertising. These “Brit Hits” showed a promising future for musical theatre, bringing in tens of thousands of new fans and showcasing a real ‘WOW’ factor through the ideal of big budgets, big effects, big orchestration, big casts and overall, big
... "Indigenous or Foreign?: A Look at the Origins of the Monkey Hero Sun Wukong,"Sino-Platonic Papers, 81 (September 1998)
Through its various uses of themes, morals, and religious concepts, Chinese mythology serves as a guideline for the daily actions of many. Chinese mythology incorporates a vast number of folk stories, poems, and other pieces of literature that originated from China. Usually, these works share several thoughts and ideas, allowing one to make generalizations about aspects that relate to most Chinese myths. These aspects include theme, religion, and morality, which together provide a basic standard that numerous people follow as a norm of society. In accordance with this, mythology was used to reflect lessons and important ideas found in Chinese culture throughout history.
In the Indian culture, the Abhinaya dance is a mime dance that is performed by combining dancing and acting. The Abhinaya dance is part of the full performance of the Natya Shastra. There are four types of Abhinaya in the Indian culture; Angika, Vachika, Aharya, and Sattwika. Angika means the use of the body to express meaning. For example, the Angika uses the major limbs in your body to perform the Abhinaya dance. Vachika means use of speech to show expression. An example of that is, the Abhinaya dancer can sing along to the person that is conducting the music or poetry so as he or she is dancing they can follow along with the words that are being said. Aharya means use of costume to show expression. For example, the Abhinaya dancer wears
In Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan’s 2013 production, “Rice”, choreographer Lin Hwai-min narrated a life story regarding a beloved subject of his. During the length of seventy minutes, twenty-four dancers interpret the cycle of rice from the growth as seedlings, the intimacy of pollination, the severance of harvest, the endurance of the blaze, and the rebirth in nature. In this report, discussed is “Soil” and “Wind,” the first two of an eight sections in the performance. Melting traditional martial art and contemporary dance movements, “Rice” drew its audience into the world of the staple grain of Asia in the setting of rice paddy videography and folklore vocals; with subtext of historical challenges, perseverance, and ultimate
In the musical, the actors guide the audience through a story of tragedy and defeat, angst and despondency, liberation and acceptance. Everything appears fairly normal during the opening
The reflection of any culture defines the practicality of traditions, passed down from one generation to the next. These customs, which varies, interprets the central connection of the culture itself. Evidently, stories involving legendary figures, commonly known as myths, spreads throughout the civilization and not only captivate the attention of those who believes in these myths, but also provide a belief or a sense of dignity and honor of those representing their particular culture. Chinese mythology is evidential to this pattern. Although many records were not recorded in a systematic way, it is still a hefty amount of evidence of the myths collected by the Chinese. The legends ranged from characters such as dragons to gods who controlled different functions in China. Chinese mythology is further examined by exploring the nature of their deities and the effect on their religion. Chinese are known for their deep interpretation of the living and the mythical. In a philosophical manner, it balanced their way of viewing everyday life events and understanding the harmony between Mother Nature and humanity.
Peking Opera is over 200 years old (Wertz).It started in approximately “1790, when four opera troupes from the province of Anhui came to Beijing to perform on the occasion of the 80th birthday of the emperor, Qianlong” (HISTORY, Xu). It was originally performed in “open air, teahouses or temple courtyards” (Wertz). Peking Opera is a blend of “singing, reading, acting, fighting, and dancing” (ebeijing).”Today as in the past century, performers are first trained in acrobatics, followed by singing and acting” (Wertz).