Fredericksburg.com

ACROBATIC ARTS

Kids flip over acrobatic troupe

By KELLY HANNON
Date published: 9/21/2004

There’s no better way to get 1,300 children to sit still than to hire
acrobats to do everything kids are not supposed to do: wave sticks, run
indoors, tumble and play with swords.

The Henan Provincial Children’s Art Troupe from China bounded into the
University of Mary Washington’s Dodd Auditorium yesterday, thrilling
students with gravity-defying stunts and synchronized Kung Fu fighting.

Students sat in awe as children close to their age walked out precariously
onto the stage, spinning plates on top of sticks.

The local students may not have even realized they were soaking up history
lessons, culture and Standards of Learning material.

The troupe’s tumblers, who range from 10 to 19 in age, were limbered up
after performances this weekend in Washington and Fairfax. They’re used to
it–they spend six hours a day rehearsing before and after school in China,
said member Liu Mu Qing, 16.

The training is necessary to learn the complicated routines, which include
spinning multiple plates while tumbling and performing cheerleaderlike
pyramids.

The female tumblers performed mostly acrobatic moves, while the males did
coordinated fight scenes, banging sticks on the floor in a rhythmic beat. At
times, it looked as if a video game had come to life as the boys kicked,
twisted and churned through the air with their limbs.

In the audience, children roared when a performer executed a particularly
complicated flip, or recovered after a minor bobble.

Third-grader Gabby Pullen from Smith Station Elementary in Spotsylvania
said, “I liked everything. They did their best not to do anything wrong.”

Her teacher, Allison Gerber, said the performance was an excellent
opportunity to review the history of ancient China with her students, who
will be tested on it on their Standards of Learning exams.

The only problem, she said, would be preventing students from attempting to
perform some of the moves on the bus ride home.

To that end, Xavier Richardson, president of the Festival’s board of
directors, told students, “Please do not go home and try any of this,” he
said.

The show was sponsored by the Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts, which
brings a foreign group to Fredericksburg every year to perform for area
schoolchildren. Past groups have traveled from Russia, South Korea, Sweden,
Armenia and Mexico.

“Through the program we feel as if we’re doing our small part to help keep
alive the cultural diversity that keeps the world so interesting,” said
Susan Mullane, the Festival’s executive director.

Mullane counted on part of the program’s appeal being the age of the troupe
members.

“I think it adds excitement to see performers who are their age perform
these amazing feats,” Mullane said.

Some students tried to communicate with the troupe members, albeit in the
wrong language.

“Hola! Hola!” the group shouted repeatedly, waving and smiling. Finally, a
classmate explained why they weren’t getting a response: “That’s Spanish.”

The cost to attend the program was minimal for students, and the Festival
paid for anyone who couldn’t afford to attend.

Marilyn Butters, principal of Rockhill Elementary, said she’s brought her
students to the Festival’s shows for several years.

“They get to see a live performance, which is something most of them
probably don’t get to do that often,” Butters said.

But Mullane and the rest of the Festival organizers hope yesterday was the
beginning of a lifelong love of culture and the arts among students.

“We hope it opens their minds to things that are different to them,” she
said.

To reach KELLY HANNON: 540/374-5436 khannon@freelancestar.com

Date published: 9/21/2004