Dear Jessica Brennan,
Last Monday night I went to see the Shanghai Acrobats with my friend Isobel. It was so cool that when we left Budweiser Gardens I told Isobel that I finally know what I want to be when I grow up. This may be an unexpected career path to choose at my age, but it is an exciting one. Remember in yoga the teacher said that when you come to a fork in the road, you should take the one that isn’t comfortable? She’s right!
As I look back on a spectacular night many thoughts come to mind.
The contortionist was quite impressive. She could put her leg up in the air, hold a candelabra on the bottom of her foot and spin her body around and around without the candelabra ever turning. I’m not going to lie, it made me feel a bit sick to my stomach watching that. I’m no contortionist but I would be willing to take the job of strapping her to the patio umbrella pole and unwinding her at the end of the night.
The ladies standing on the fifteen-foot stilts in long-lit gowns made of white feathers were beautiful. They were also each spinning ten plates while they wandered around. No one dropped a plate which is very impressive given that I can’t even do the supper dishes without breaking a couple of mugs. I wondered as I sat there, what might happen if they got an itch on their nose. That would suck.
There were about eighteen performers at one point walking in circles throwing hats in the air, grabbing the hat off their partner’s head, tossing it up in the air, grabbing another hat that was falling from the sky and putting it back on someone’s head. All the while, their hat was being pulled off with a new one being dropped on. That would get pretty annoying I suspect – having someone steal your hat non-stop for about ten minutes. They didn’t look mad though.
There were men who were riding in circles on what sort of looked like massive metal backyard laundry trees. They were running and jumping on this thing and spinning like crazy. It looked really fun. I used to get in trouble for that from my Aunt Gertie when we lived next to her on Dalkeith Crescent. So watching this made me feel a little bit nervous.
There was a guy who did bird calls, but I’m not talking about budgies. I mean sophisticated multi-warblers. He could also make thunder with his voice. As you pointed out though Dear Jessica, do you really want to have someone teetering on the tip of a pole, thirty feet in the air, when this bird-guy shouts “caw-caw-caw”? Health and safety infraction I suspect.
The most nerve-racking segment of the night came when a man stood on a chair, and added an upside-down chair, then stood on that. He smiled, then added another chair and another until he had climbed up into the rafters, sweating profusely from the heat of the lights. He added one more chair on an angle and was posing on one arm in a handstand.
Isobel whispered, “Oh no, look at the third chair up, that doesn’t look good! He’s going to fall!”.
I think Isobel may have been part of the show because when she said that my heart leapt up into my throat and I couldn’t look at him again. All I could think of was Mrs. Martin in grade two saying, “Louie Frangakis, nobody likes a show-off, now get down before you get hurt!” But I never saw Louie do anything like that.
I guess given that I’m always looking in the wrong direction in yoga class, being an acrobat may not really work for me. Also, the problem I have, apart from being terrified of heights (a tiny, insignificant problem) is that at first glance this doesn’t seem like a really practical vocation, and I like practical things. This fancy I took to the whole thing may, I admit, end up a bit like when I saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and kept trying to climb the kitchen wall. (Karate scream! Thud!)
It was well worth the money to see this extravaganza of opera, ballet, acrobats, contortion, tumbling, yoga and of course warbling. If you get a chance to see it, just go, but maybe not with Isobel because she really freaked me out.
Love Mum
xo
