Defying Gravity

The day after we got back from Inner Mongolia was not as restful as I thought it was going to be, but I'm not complaining. HBA had organized an excursion for us to go see the famed Chinese acrobats at Chaoyang Theater. It was a great chance to catch up with the rest of our 同学们 tongxuemen (fellow students), as this was the first chance we had to discuss our experiences together. Through talking with my friends I learned that HBA students had the opportunity to do all of the following:

• Learn 功夫 gongfu (KENG FU!!) from actual 功夫师傅 gongfu shifu (keng fu masters) at Shaolin Monastary.
• Watch Russians practice their mindreading skills at said Monastary, which consisted of them staring at each other all day.
• Get VIP trips through the USA Pavilion and the Russia Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
• Hang out at Nanjing Road, Shanghai's version of Times Square, almost every night, and see Shanghai's skyline from the deck of a cruise boat.
• Develop connections with some of Beijing's most wealthy and successful businessmen.
• Meet the locals of a small Chinese village and live their lives for a few days.
• Attend school with the local children of said village, learn that Chinese children must attend morality class.
• ... and then there's my seven-blogs' worth of stuff in Inner Mongolia :)

But I digress. This entry is all about the acrobats.
Now I say that the experience was not very restful because I spent the vast majority of the performance on the edge of my seat as the acrobats did gravity-defying tricks. It was so engaging. The performance overall was like a crazy mash-up of Seussical the Musical, the Lion King, and the Ringling Bros. Circus. Besides the stunning feats of daring, I think the costumes might have been my favorite part:

And here are a few of the acts 

I managed to catch on my little digital camera:

Somersaulting

Somersaulting on Stilts + into a Suspended Chair

Crazy Flexibility

Super Crazy Balancing

Actually Defying Gravity

Blindfolded Hamster Run

Plate Balancing