Peking to the PAEC, the Peking Acrobats' Profound Performance

Seeing The Peking Acrobats at the Federal Way Performing Arts and Event Center (PAEC) was a thrilling, one-of-a-kind experience, although there were some hiccups. The Peking Acrobats are a Chinese acrobatics performing group that has been touring across the world for over 30 years and have been featured on many news channels. I went on the only night they were performing at the PAEC, or Washington at all for that matter, so I was quite excited to have the opportunity. 

Going in, the PAEC felt more like a movie theater than anything else. There was a small crowd outside, and even a counter selling popcorn and drinks. I first noticed the troupe when I saw two acrobats, a man and a woman, standing at a table near the wall, selling pamphlets. The woman was wearing a Cheongsam, and the man and Tang suit–a traditional Chinese high collared jacket fastened with knots. Most of the acrobats would wear effectively the same costumes throughout the show, with some changes in color. 

There were two acts to the performance, separated by an intermission. Each act consisted of several circus-like skits centered around different acts, with most to all of the actors leaving the stage between skits. 

As the curtains opened, it was impossible not to wonder what the row of blue and white umbrellas on stage was for. The auditorium was massive, easily fitting the small crowd waiting outside. But I stopped focusing on that as the first act began quite dramatically, when two pairs of yellow-costumed lion dancers rushed onto the stage through two aisles. I was shocked at the performers' speed when they moved past my seat. After they got on stage, the lions play-fought with each other for a bit before leaving the stage for the next skit. The performance’s energetic start left me eager for more. In China, the lion dance is only performed at New Years and other important holidays, so performing one at the beginning of the performance also created a bit of a celebratory atmosphere. In one of the following acts, a large man wearing a bright multicolored Tang suit and red baseball cap made the first of his many appearances. His costume seemed inspired by that of a jester, but with a Chinese twist. And like a jester, his skits usually had a comedic quality. In one of his most memorable skits, he and another cast member threw a large blue balloon into the audience. The audience would hit it back to the stage, and they would pretend to accidentally hit it into the audience again. This skit was shorter than I would have liked, but it was effective at involving the audience. Everyone laughed at the jester’s reaction to the balloon popping, and there was clapping and cheering after the skit. The jester’s costume wasn’t the only part of the performance that had a western influence. In another skit, a man and a woman, dressed in ballet-like clothes, danced across the stage for a few minutes. It wasn’t as high energy as some of the other skits, and I frankly found it a bit boring, but it was interesting to see how the Peking Acrobats fused Chinese and Western elements into their work. After some more skits, the first act was over before I knew it. I was surprised to see there wasn’t any live music, which had been mentioned in the description of the program. 

The first skit was a classic circus act: a hoop was set up in center stage, and the acrobats lined up to jump through it. With each jump, the hoop got progressively higher and tighter. There was a funny moment near the end, where an acrobat humorously acted too scared to jump through and instead made another go in his place, which earned some laughs from the audience. To me, this skit was unexpected. It felt like the ballet skit since they both drew heavily from a western inspiration, but I enjoyed this one a lot more because they added their own twist to it. Later, the jester made another appearance, this time with a performer that had a basket of eggs over his heat. He cracked one into a glass, showing the audience the yolk, before the man fell over and threw the eggs into the audience. Don’t worry, no one was hurt – the eggs were connected to the basket by a coil! For me, this was one of their best skits. The skit was really short, so I thought up to the end that the eggs were real. A few people in the front rows actually screamed! The promised live music finally came in the second act, as a horn player stepped on stage and gave a short solo. It was disappointing that the live music was just this. 

The first act being a traditional Chinese performance and one of the last being a typical circus performance demonstrates how strongly the Peking Acrobats integrated Chinese and Western elements into their art. It took me a few moments to realize the show was ending when the dancers got on stage to bow as the bows were done so elegantly. 

After the performance, I was fortunate to have the chance to talk with the director of the show. I learned that the skits of the show change every year and that they only perform for about four months a year. He shared that travel issues had stopped some musicians from traveling with the acrobats this season; explaining why there was less live music than promised.

The structure of the performance reminded me of a modern Chinese tradition many participate in, including my own family: the CCTV New Year’s gala. Each year, the Chinese television station puts on an hours long gala to celebrate Chinese New Year, and billions of people put the station on in the background while celebrating. The Gala is made up of many short acts, like the acrobat’s performance, and a lot of those performances are comedic as well. However, that same multi-part structure fell flat in this live setting with strong and smooth transitions being noticeably absent; making the performance feel disconnected. Peking Acrobat’s performance created a circus-like atmosphere. The speed at which the skits went by made the performance feel informal and fast paced like a circus. The jester character and his antics added to this feeling.The individual skits went by quickly, contributing to the performance's rapid pace, but this wasn’t always effective.  Despite its pace, the show’s lack of a background caused the attention to be drawn exclusively to the performers who stayed in effectively the same plasticky costumes the whole performance. The lack of visual stimulation made it a bit easy to get bored when not much is going on in the performance. Another issue was that the timing of the music was also sometimes a few seconds off. I often didn’t notice the music in the background, until it crescendoed a few seconds before or after the performance did; subtracting from the awe factor of the performance. 

I particularly enjoyed how the performance incorporated western influences into their performances, with the jester and the ballet performers. I was particularly a fan of the jester. His skits were genuinely funny, and the presence of a recurring character tied different skits together in a nice way. The hoops skit also defied my expectations, and I loved their unique interpretation of it. Even their costumes had some hints of western influence: the Cheongsam the female performers wore was invented in 1910s Peking based on western dresses, and the tang suit has only been popular since the 2000s. Seeing this performance reminded me that cultures are never unchanging monoliths but constantly exist in interaction with each other.

Lead photo courtesy of Federal Way Performing Arts and Event Center.

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