Up in the air

Last month, the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe won the Golden Clown - the top award at the 36th International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo in Monaco.

Since it was first set up in 1974 by the principality's regent, Prince Rainier, the annual International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo has become the largest and most prestigious circus event in the world. It is often referred to as the "Olympic Games" of the circus world and the Golden Clown is the equivalent of the Oscars.

Team first

"It is the 13th Golden Clown won by a Chinese acrobatic team, although this is first for the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe," said Yu Yigang, general director of the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe said.

Yu told the Global Times that this was also only the second time for the troupe to take part in the event, the first time being in 1984.

"On that occasion, we just won a special prize."

In this year's festival, there were 29 acts from 17 countries and regions around the world. The troupe gave two performances: a group effort featuring more than 20 performers called Teng Yue (Curvet) and a solo show by team member Cai Yong, in which he performed an acrobatic balancing act with elements of Chinese tai chi.

According to Zhang Xundao, the artistic director of the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe, Teng Yue is a re-creation of a traditional springboard acrobatic act with additional new props, including perch poles, stilts, and some new breathtakingly difficult moves including "double somersaults," and "four portrait somersaults linked with five landscape somersaults." These moves are considered to be at the very cutting edge of acrobatic skills.

"Springboard is a traditional speciality in Russia and Eastern European countries," said Zhang. "And since the establishment of the troupe in the 1950s, we have had a springboard show and our performers over several generations have always explored create ways to continuously innovate our craft," Zhang said.

As well as the springboard, the troupe's show also features a teeterboard (an acrobatic apparatus that resembles a playground seesaw), the use of which involves acrobats being launched onto trapeze style catcher who is often stood perch poles.

Xu Mile, a senior acrobat who has been with the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe since 1995, said that despite suffering a minor injury prior to traveling to Monaco, he was still determined to take part. "After all, it was a rare opportunity for all of us," said Xu.

The solo show by Cai Yong was performed on an outsize drum. Dressed in traditional Chinese kung fu white silk suit, his slow, purposeful movements were suggestive of postures from tai chi. Moving naturally from a handstand to planche and back three times, he ends the performance by spinning on a pedestal that telescopes up from the drum. Zhang added that for this act, the troupe hired the services of a professional choreographer from Beijing and also used multimedia installments to create a dramatic and artistic backdrop.

Zhang also said that he believed that the main reason the troupe won on this occasion was because of this effective combination of artistry and cutting-edge technology.

Highly technical

After the festival, a review in the Stage, a UK-based newspaper that covers Britain's performing arts said: "The Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe has pulled out all the stops with a huge and highly technical production number …" However, when the report commented on the springboard part of the show, the writer noted: "There are amazing somersaults … but the military precision of their marching, discordant music and the general jumble of equipment and people spoil the effect."

When comparing the differences between Chinese acrobatic theater and more traditional circuses, Circopedia, the free encyclopedia of the international circus said: "The Chinese acrobatic theater have been always purely acrobatic … until very recently, the Chinese acrobatic theater didn't include aerial acts either … And the circus has been traditionally performed in the round (thus its name), while the Chinese acrobatic theater is traditionally performed on stage."

In 2004, the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe, together with the Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and the China Performing Arts Agency, created ERA: Intersection of Time, a gala-like acrobatic show. It was premiered in 2005 and is still running today at Shanghai Circus World in Zhabei district. The show includes a creative team led by Erick Villeneuve, some members of which have worked alongside Canada's legendary Cirque du Soleil.

As well as the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe, many other Chinese acrobatic troupes, including the Flag Troupe (an army troupe from Kunming in Yunnan Province), the Guangdong Troupe (an army troupe based in Guangzhou), the Dalian Troupe (from Liaoning Province), and the China Acrobatic Troupe from Beijing, all present lavish spectacles on a regular basis. Most of their acrobatic feature imagery that is similar to Cirque du Soleil's but with the added skills of traditional Chinese acrobatics.

These acrobatic troupes are regular winners of prizes at various international circus festivals and competitions. However, most of the troupes admit that it is difficult to nurture a stable, commercial market among domestic audiences.

"The culture of this performing art in China suffers from a lack of imagination, despite being technically impressive," said Yu.

"In other countries, there is a tradition of watching and attending circuses at Christmas, for example, but we simply don't have that history here."