Golden Dragon Acrobats

Saturday afternoon, Texas State will host the Golden Dragons at Evens Auditorium. The performance is part of Texas State Fine Arts’ Encore Series. The Dragons are visiting as a part of their 2008-09 Cirque D’Or tour. The tour will commemorate the 30th year of continuous touring in the US. According to Art Fegan, their booking agent from Fegan Entertainment inc. says “They are the only Chinese Acrobats touring year round in the states.” The group has received two prestigious nominations from the New York Drama Desk, the first for unique theatrical experience and the other for best choreography. Fegan says on his web site “The citizens of China continue to present their acrobatic art for the world today, as it portrays the hard working nature of their people.”

The Chinese art of acrobatic dance, began as far back as possibly 4000 years ago. According to Jessie Chang, the group’s manger, “It truly became an art when they started using it as entertainment for the emperor, about 2500 years ago.” The art form incorporates props from everyday life in ancient china such as tridents and wicker rings from farm life and tables, plates, bowls and chairs from in the home. Chang says how the most “most dangerous stunt is defiantly the chair stunt.” The stunt involves stacking up to six chairs on top of one another while two performers dance from the tip of this teetering tower of terror. “The Golden Dragons are a family business,” says Chang. “Danny Chang (no relation) inherited it from his father and did the first American tour thirty years ago.” Performers that come along with the Dragons will do a one and a half to two year tour and then take time off back to their homes of Hebei, China. “This way the experience changes, new people join in. This is what has allowed them to be the only year round [Chinese] touring group in the states.”

Lei Zhang is one of the performers that will be here on Saturday and the only English speaking member. He has been practicing acrobatic dance for almost twenty years. “I think the thing I like most [about it] is the movements and the jumping and stunts,” says Zhang. He said how, as a small boy, he really liked kung fu but found that he was not that aggressive so instead found the Golden Dragons and has performed with them. “My favorite is the hoop part,” says Zhang. To get an idea of the hoop imagine five men whirling one hula hoop without any of them touching the ground.

Saturday’s performances are priced at fifteen dollars general and five dollars for students. Texas State’s Fine Arts department event coordinator Elizabeth McDonald says “There are still lots of tickets available for both the 2:00 and 7:30 performances.” These performers have filled almost every major performance to date. The performance should be one to remember. Tickets are available online at www.encoreseries.txstate.edu.