Taiwan's acrobats impress with agility, grace

Penn got a taste of the exotic last night when Taiwanese acrobats held a show that featured handstands on chairs stacked 30 feet high and a man on a unicycle flipping and balancing bowls on his head.

Other feats by the National Acrobats of Taiwan included a man juggling eight balls while walking up and down steps, a human jumping-rope and women balancing spinning plates on rods.

The acrobats are known for their use of ordinary household objects, such as tables, chairs, poles, ladders, bowls, plates and bottles as part of their performances.

Associated with the Fu Hsing Dramatic Arts Academy of Taipei, the 35-member National Acrobats of Taiwan upholds an old tradition of acrobatic and dramatic folk arts.

Since the Han Dynasty, which ended in A.D. 220, dramatic folk arts and variety shows have reflected the deepest roots of Chinese civilization.

Each stunt has its own foundation in Chinese culture.

In one stunt, a man used a rope representing the "umbilical cord from the motherland" to rip a newspaper in two and then into smaller and smaller pieces.

A volunteer from the audience, Annie Huang, was asked to help hold the newspaper.

"It was an amazing experience sitting in the front row and then being part of the action," said Huang, a 2004 Wharton and College alumna.

After a man on a unicycle kicked four bowls into the air to land on his head, more than 10 acrobats rode a single bicycle.

One of the last feats was a series of magic tricks -- such as making a bird appear, disappear and then reappear.

The acrobats also performed the trademark magician's trick of placing a person's head inside a machine and creating the illusion of cutting it off.

Another volunteer from the audience, Alex Chang, was used for this trick.

"It was interesting, but I was a little nervous that the machine might break," said Chang, a Temple University senior.

Last night's performance took place at the Zellerbach Theatre in front of a sellout audience of almost 1,000 people that spent most of the night cheering on the acrobats.

"I really liked it, and I almost could not believe some of the physical feats that they accomplished," said College freshman Maria Belenky.

The group has toured the world as the Republic of China's national acrobatic troupe and is considered to be China's foremost acrobatic company. It presents more than 500 performances each year.

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