The term ‘circus’ is used in the ballet world with disparaging intentions to criticise any excessive display of technical bravura.
The term ‘circus’ is used in the ballet world with disparaging intentions to criticise any excessive display of technical bravura. Yet in the appropriate context, dazzling acrobatics can be high art, as the Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe of China demonstrated last week. I would never have thought that I would have raved about a version of the immortal Swan Lake in which the ballerina swivels on point while balancing either on her partner’s bicep or on his head. But there I was, gasping with surprise like a six-year-old.
The Guangdong’s is a very free take on Tchaikovsky’s ballet, the narrative of which is manipulated to accommodate the constant outpouring of phenomenal stunts performed by jugglers, acrobats, contortionists and dancers.
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