Shenzhen, with its wet weather and relentless quest for cash, can grind us down. Sometimes we just want to pick up and escape. Happily, the circus is in town. Let’s run away.
No lions or tigers prowl the stage of Cirque de Soleil; this modern circus is more like an aerial ballet. But with clowns.
Like the circus of old, the big top lets us escape into a world where different rules apply — people soar above our heads, amaze us with what their bodies can perform or make us laugh with silly, physical humor.
Kooza, in its first Chinese tour, brought that riveting distraction to Beijing and Shanghai; now it's coming to Shenzhen and soon, Hong Kong. And perhaps none are happier than Bo, the man on the high, high chairs.
“For me, this is very exciting to come to China after 10 years with Kooza. It’s very exciting, I’m very happy to be performing in my home country,” the native of Anhui Province tells That’s Shenzhen. “I Iike the Shenzhen audience — they’re really happy, they’re screaming, their reaction is bigger.”
Bo was jumping and flipping from at least 6, with formal acrobatics training starting at 11. “I was very focused, for my profession,” he tells us. “Just training every day.” He was competing and winning, he tells us, but reached his Chinese pinnacle in 2002. That year he was part of CCTV’s over-the-top Spring Festival special, earning the love of an audience who named him “best performer.”
The next year he was off to the States. “I found a contract ... it was with a different company. In 2007, Kooza was just beginning. One of the performers did the same chair act [as me] — we were partners before. So when he hurt his arm, he called me and I had the chance and an audition in the big top. Then I had a job!”
Chinese audiences might not be familiar with Montreal’s world-renowned Cirque de Soleil, or its 33-year history of beautiful, gravity-defying stories. But Bo understood the importance of the offer.
“It’s a very big deal for the acrobat — it’s my dream, it’s the dream stage! You just follow what [the trainers] said, you never know what will happen. Everything is a couple years, five more years... You never know.” He shakes his head with a grin. “Step by step.”
For anyone ready to step out of the everyday grind, Kooza gives the old-school circus experience – without the animal acts, but with more story and more heart. We follow the child-like Fool as a powerful Magician shares his reality-warping powers, summoning Death and a dazzling array of acrobatic performers to amaze and educate the youth. In the end, he’s crowned and wiser as the wonders disappear into the night.
Between the scenes, clowns entertain – they really do. Their interactive, physical humor pierces our self-importance, jumbles our expectations and simply makes us laugh. It’s good for us, even if it’s not what audiences typically expect.
“[Chinese audiences are] probably surprised by the big top: it’s not that fancy. But we’re very fancy, like a moving theater. You can feel the art inside. You can feel the high quality,” Bo beams.
With a staff of 120 and 70 shipping crates, the big top of Kooza is a little village all its own, set just outside the Longgang Broadcasting Station. For most in Shenzhen, it’s a trek. But when you make the journey, you’ll discover a world of wonder, beautiful and bold enough to sweep us away with the spectacle. Sometimes that’s just what we want and all that we need.
Preview the show below (VPN off):
Tue-Sun, through Mar 31. Shenzhen Media Group (SZMG). See event listing.
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