Program - National Acrobats of Taiwan, R.O.C. (Thursday, March 3, 2005 - 7:30 p.m.)
Contents
Introduction
National Acrobats of Taiwan, R.O.C.
- Lo Jih-Hung, Artistic Director
- Chang Chiao-Yu
- Chang Ching-Lan
- Chao Pei-Chun
- Chen Chao-Ju
- Chen Chun-Hong
- Chen Lai-Te
- Chen Lan-Ling
- Chen Shih-Ting
- Chen Yi-Miao
- Chen Yun-Mei
- Cheng Chao-Yuan
- Cheng Chia-Ling
- Chiang Yao-Lung
- Hsiao Yi-Chung
- Jen Chieh
- Ku Su-Ling
- Liao Hao-Yin
- Lin Szu-I
- Lo Fei-Hsiung
- Lu Shao-Shuai
- Pai Chih-Huang
- Shih Wan-Chi
- Sung Hui-Chin
- Tsai Dai-Hua
- Tseng Chia-Lin
- Tsai Shyuan
- Tung Hsiu-Chen
- Wang His-Chung
- Wang Hsiang-Wu
- Wang Pei-Jung
- Wang Tung-Yuan
- Wu Sheng-Fu
- Wu Tsui-Fen
- Yang Ju-Cheiu
- Yang Yi-Chuan
Staff
- Marya Glur, Company Manager
- Elizabeth McLendon, Production Stage Manager
Columbia Artists Management, Inc.
Producer: Andrew S. Grossman
Associates: W. Seton Ijams and Robert Berretta165 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
Tonight's Program
Program subject to change without notice.
The Chinese Blossom
Across Time and Space
The sun, the moon, water, fire and earth make the up the essence of the great Chinese culture. Delicacy, innocence and the iridescent spirit of life, like a seed basking in the sunshine, develop and grow like the Chinese Blossom across time and space. It is the blossom of red silk, golden drums, pink lotus, bamboo, the high chair, beautiful limbs and the wonderful traditional instruments of Chinese music, which help to celebrate the mysteries of that great land, China.
1. Heroic Drums
Great martial arts and drumming. Drumming in rhythm, drumming the earth the brave heroes somersault like wind.River deep, mountain high, they are as strong as the Great Wall.
2. The Blooming Spring
Contortion with candlesticks. "April rain brings May flowers." The tender and flexible bodies are just like spring blooms, and the beautiful shadows will certainly catch your eyes!
3. A Ceremony on the Steep Cliff
Hand acrobatics. Taiwanese aboriginal people dance with fire and sing together, praying for peace and a good harvest.
4. Thunder Fire
Fire and knife ring. Like the wind, like the moon, brave men jump over the silver flashing light, free as dolphins, strong as steel.
5. Sprouting Spirit
Leather wire and modern dance. In the primeval universe, the initial life is sprouting, growing to be ripe. The dancers are imitating singing mavises and blooming flowers, as the leather cord symbolizes the umbilical cord from the motherland.
6. The Lotus Blooms
Dancing with floral plates. In summer times, lotuses bloom all over the vast lake. Look at the pretty petals and verdant leaves; the water and the sky are one hue. What a vivid water-color image!
INTERMISSION
7. Moonlight Harmony
Foot juggling. Dancing in the moon light. In harmony with a bamboo flute Who is it? So fairy and delicate!
8. Up to the Wind
High chair and hand standing. Smacking like the wind, my sense. Crowning like the wind, my figure. The wind is calling me onto the air. Up and up, get to the top . . .
9. The Bamboo Story
Diabolo spinning. Spin! to take a jasmine bright. Swing! to catch the moon and sky. The river singing on the fields Starry starry night . . .
10. A Rosy Dream
Silk wire. The rosy wire, the pretty dreamer, crossing the river, draft to some other world. Dream maker, heart breaker, to leave or to linger? . . .
11. The Mirror Image
Magic. Where is it on earth? Such a mystery! Truth or fake, fictitious or not? Just follow the master to the joyful wonderland!
12. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
High lantern streamer and martial arts. The flags and streamers fly in the air, which symbolizes strong wind and rough situations. You will find real Chinese spirit in it - see how Chinese sons and daughters jump, hop, flip and somersault with ease, showing that we never fear any danger.
About the Artists
National Acrobats of Taiwan, R.O.C.
The Fu Hsing Chinese Acrobatics Troupe was founded July 1, 1980, as approved by the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (the highest administrative organ of the state). With the merger of the National Fu Hsing Dramatic Arts Academy and the National Kuo Kuang Academy of Arts, the troupe's name was changed to the National Acrobats of Taiwan, Republic of China.
Since the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 240 A.D.), dramatic folk arts and variety shows have blended with the deepest roots of Chinese civilization. The skillful performers often use objects of daily life, such as chairs, tables, poles, ladders, bowls, plates, bottles and jars as stage properties. Their perfect movements and flexible showmanship have provided entertainment and relaxation to people from all walks of life for centuries. The masters of the Fu Hsing Academy have preserved the systematic teaching methods of ancient China to cultivate performers of folk dramatic arts, in order to preserve this traditional art form, and to pass it to future generations, who are now growing up in a rapidly changing society.
The graduates of the Academy, masters themselves, have toured the world as the Republic of China's National acrobatic troupe. The National Acrobats are generally considered the foremost company from all of China. They have also toured Europe, North and South America, as well as South East Asia, and will continue their dedication to promoting the Chinese acrobatic art in the future throughout the world. Through endless creativity and reform, they have dramatized variety shows and choreographed acrobatics. The aim of the Acrobats is to make traditional folk acrobatic arts versatile, and to open a new era of art in addition to continuing their performances of traditional acrobatics.
The National Fu Hsing Dramatic Arts Academy was originally founded as a private school by Mr. Zhenzu Wang in Taipei in 1957. It became a "National" Academy in 1968. Its purpose is to train actors and actresses for the traditional Chinese and Taiwanese Performing Arts.
The Chinese Acrobatics Troupe's members include graduates of the school's Acrobatics and Dance Department, as well as performers from the Republic of China Folk Art Training Center and Li Tang-Hwa Acrobatic Troupe. Currently, the troupe is made up of over 40 young performers, who have received, on average, eight years of strict training. The troupe's current leader, Lo Jih-Hung (also known by his Western name Dante Law), is well known in Taiwan and overseas for his abilities as magician.
The Chinese Acrobatics Troupe's performances are fun to watch and are enjoyed by people of all ages. Not only have they performed in various locales around Taiwan and the outlying islands, the troupe has also been invited by the government to travel abroad as well. Their performances have spread Chinese culture, promoted folk arts, established cultural exchanges with other countries, and saluted overseas Chinese.
In autumn 1998, the National Acrobats completed a highly-acclaimed three-month coast-to-coast tour of the United States and Canada. In the winter of 2002 the National Acrobats returned to the United States and Canada for a second successful tour. In January 2005 the company returns to the United States and Canada for its third tour.
Lo Jih-Hung
Lo Jih-Hung (Artistic Director) was born in 1949 and was educated at the Peng-xiang County Acrobatic Institute in Jiang-xi Province, mainland China. After performing as a magician throughout Southeast Asia in the early 1970s, Mr. Lo was hired as a magician/comedian for the "Tonight" television show in Hong Kong. He then went on to host numerous television shows in Asia, including the variety magic show "Ha Ha and Little Sweet" in 1976.
From 1984 to 1990 Mr. Lo served as co-director of the Golden Dragon Acrobats which toured throughout the United States and Canada, most notably at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
From 1988 to 1991 Mr. Lo performed in the Diamond Stage Show on CTS-TV in Taipei, and he continues to organize television productions of acrobatics and magic.
In 1991 Lo Jih-Hung joined staff of the Fu Hsing Dramatic Arts Academy as a performer and director, and in 1995 he managed the "Clown Magic Show" at the Fu Hsing Academy. He was named director of the Fu Hsing Acrobatic Troupe in August 1998, which is now the National Acrobats of Taiwan, R.O.C.
Mr. Lo again toured North America and Europe as part of the Han Kuang Goodwill Mission, and was featured as a guest artist of the Shanghai Magic Festival in 1997. He also toured Central and South America in that same year with the Acrobatic Troupe of the Republic of China in a tour sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taipei. He was also honored as a judge in the National Magic Contest in Guei-lin Province, mainland China. In 1998 he was the magician in the Han Kuang Goodwill Mission and in the Formosa World Magic Conference.
Lo Jih-Hung is a Commission Member of the Taipei Craft and Dancing Art Guild, and has received the Public Welfare Award in Taipei (1991), Outstanding Performance Award from the Taiwan Provincial Government (1996), and the Mayor's Award (1998). He was also named outstanding performing celebrity in mainland China in 1995.
Coming Soon to Hancher
Cookin'
Four zany Korean chefs have a wedding feast to prepare! Join them in the kitchen for a food fight crossed with a percussion festival. Cookin' is coming to Hancher on Friday, April 15 at 7:30 pm.
Performed to the fast-paced rhythms of traditional Korean drumming - with a pinch of jazz and rock thrown in for flavor - Cookin' is a fabulous family show full of laughs and action. Martial arts, drumming and dancing are all stirred into the recipe.
"Take equal parts of Jackie Chan, the Marx Brothers and Stomp - and blend," raves "CBS Sunday Morning." The food will be flying while the chefs pound out the beat and cook up a tasty finale.
For tickets, call the Hancher Box Office at 335-1160 or 1-800-HANCHER, or purchase online at www.hancher.uiowa.edu.
Cookin' is supported by Everybody's Whole Foods and the Sheraton Iowa City Hotel with media support from KDAT-FM.
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The University of Iowa Center for Macular Degeneration
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