For example, at the finale of a show, even if the public gave standing ovations for a few minutes, the artists often looked straight ahead as if they were not enjoying this success themselves. Fortunately, we have now also contributed the their capacity to show joy and they radiate with pleasure at such applause and in that area, imitating western artists, they dare to be a bit more extraverted and display a more human emotional reaction; luckily we had the opportunity to play an important role in this. This has already manifested itself in our Yin Yang programme, which we presented with the Guandong group, and with the passionate and creative Ning Genfu as leader; just like Ms. Xia, one of the big names in the Chinese circus world. Ning Genfu was a pioneer in the birth of the new Chinese circus. He also agreed to our proposal to give the programme a theme. The Yin Yang programme therefore arose, followed by numerous other themed shows that we presented subsequently. In addition to the often superhuman performances, much more attention was paid to theatrical appearance.
The magnificent acts were brilliantly enhanced and gained an extra dimension due to the Yin Yang custom costumes and the mesmerizing choreography and lighting. Of course the performance was most important, but to be able to address the public with Yin Yang, there was a good balance between the physical element, the suspense, the beauty and emotion that some acts could also evoke. One example was the Pas de Deux in the air. A boy and a girl conducted excellent acrobatic acts in the air but it was more akin to gymnastics since there was also absolutely no chemistry between the boy and the girl. We came up with the name ‘dream flight’ for these acts and made better costumes.
For instance, for such a dream flight, fluttering dresses, preferably red, chosen for the girl and romantic composed music was especially chosen, in consultation with Ning Genfu. However, what we found very important was that there should be more contact between the flying pair. We suggested: why don’t they kiss each other in the air? The act must have the appearance of a love story in the air. Kiss each other? That has never happened in 2 000 years of Chinese Circus, they said. It seemed as if we had touched a taboo that should not be meddled with.
I said, “but, heavy kissing and loving also happen in your films and soap operas on television!” After a few days and after a few kiss-meetings, they agreed. They would try it! The result was that the Pas de Deux in the air, the dream flight, throughout China, now had the radiance and the emotion, which we had suggested. There are now hundreds of performances with intimate kissing in the air. It was, yet again, an important step on that long journey.
We told Ning Genfu that the Chinese Circus must evoke the same feeling in certain acts that were seen in the Bolshoi Ballet’s Swan Lake (which we actually presented at that time).
Ning Genfu, credit where credit is due, felt exactly what we meant. Our many years of touring with the Guandong Group in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and Denmark were a triumph, which we fondly think back to sometimes also with some melancholy.
We admire Ning Genfu, who went even further in the long journey of the Chinese Circus, by actually making a total theatre of the ancient circus. He did this by producing a complete acrobatic Swan Lake, with the stars of the Pas de Deux, Wei Baohua and Wu Zhengdan, who were applauded at every performance on our tour. It was, and still is, one of the best circus acts of the past 2000 years; circus and classical ballet are united here. This act deservedly won the Golden Clown (the Oscar of the circus world) in Monte Carlo in 2002.
Swan Lake did not come until later, after we introduced numerous thematic programmes with other groups, such as the Shandong Group, the Dalian Group, the Liaoning Group and the Wuhan Group.
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