There was, as mentioned earlier, the Confucius programme for example, homage to this great philosopher, by the circus. In preparing for this programme in China, we visited the tomb of Confucius with all the artists. Costumes were especially designed in the style of Confucius (551-479 BC), who had left his mark on Chinese civilization for over twenty-five centuries, and now inspired us to produce this Confucius circus programme with the Shandong Group.
Without prejudice to the historical value of the existing 2000 year old history of the Chinese Circus, a nice balance between old forms and current techniques was also established for this programme. The artistic views, where the excellent performances were embedded in the design, caused the Confucius programme to be even more theatrical, to take us back in time and in the spirit of Confucius. We were often in China for weeks with our own creative team, such as Costume Designer Jan Aarntzen and a Theatre Director, for example Frank van Laecke, to discuss and guide a new thematic programme with the groups.
We appreciated so much the artistic directors and managers of the Chinese Circus, who were always open to new artistic impulses, very eager to learn and were very cooperative. We think this was also because our respect for the Chinese value norms and culture was always of paramount importance to us. They could feel, I believe, that we had the same passion and love for the Chinese Circus and culture as they had. Therefore numerous beautiful theme acts emerged.
The ancient tradition of an act, stop, another act, stop, and so on was now forever broken and belonged to the past!
A Chinese Circus programme must demonstrate that it is a symphony of suspense, beauty and emotion; a dream, in which the audience participates in another world, for two hours. A fairy tale as well. This was very literally the case for our Hans Christian Andersen programme, to commemorate his two hundredth birthday in 2005! One could describe the ring as a magic circle in this show. Andersen’s most famous fairy tales were depicted in brilliant acts; from The Ugly Duckling to The Little Match Girl, The Emperor’s New Clothes and, of course, the Chinese Nightingale, etc.
For this show we worked with another great innovator in the Chinese Circus, the energetic creative Li Xining. She, like Ning Genfu, is one of the first artistic leaders to have given the Chinese Circus a new face. She resided in Kunming where she had a fantastic training and studio complex, but besides the daily training, she also gave the artists English lessons. Li Xining wrote circus history with us with about the 200 years of Hans Christian Andersen, in a similar way to the creative ideas she contributed for a number years when she became purveyor for Cirque de Soleil. We have good memories of this passionate woman who had her own very important vision for the development of the Chinese Circus.
This also applies to the Wuhan group with whom we produced the Pirates Pirates programme – that became a large, spectacular circus adventure, which had the European public in ecstasy, with acts such as the Dead Pirates, Red contra Black, The Flying Eagles, The Seven Faces, etc. There was a large, old pirate ship in the background and the artists in pirate costumes were entirely cinematic. The opening, in The Royal Theatre Carré, was quite spectacular: the pirates descended on ropes from twenty metres high, from the ridge down to the ring. The adventure, the battle could begin.
More themed programmes followed, in which acrobatics was elevated to an art, as it had been the wish of Ms. Xia Juhua twenty five years ago. For instance, the Zensation program where we connect the spiritual to the circus, which is not as strange as it seems.
In order to accomplish this world performance in the ring, not only does this act pertain to the properties of the power of the body, but most assuredly also to those of the mind. Meditation plays a big role in this.
The best example of the combination of culture and circus, I think, is our Asiana programme in which we unite the top artists from China with the circus stars from North Korea and Inner Mongolia. We opened this programme very impressively by allowing the images of the legendary Xian soldiers rise again in the ring. It was very impressive and an excellent representation of Chinese culture. These Xian Soldiers also marched in their authentic costumes outside the theatre, surrounded by dozens of photographers and cameras, in Munich, Antwerp, Amsterdam and other cities. This was clearly also symbolic of the entry of the new Chinese Circus, in which culture is paramount.
It is not the end of the journey but what is certain is that the Chinese Circus has developed its own culture in recent years. We have been supported by CPAA on that journey with dedicated forces, such as Zhang Liqing, who has been our left and right hand for years, on many of our tours, and also our bond with Chinese norms and values. She has become a good friend. Thanks also to Mr. Han Ning and Mr. Zhang Yu of CPAA, with whom we still work well. Many steps have been set on the long journey, but the journey is luckily not at an end. The long journey has become a world journey for the Chinese circus.
By H. Th. Van der Meijden, President of the Stardust Circus International BV
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