ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: The visiting Chinese Jiangxi acrobatic troupe entertained a sizable crowd with an exciting performance in the federal capital at the Liaquat Gymnasium on Monday evening.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the federal minister for information and broadcasting, was the guest of honour, who spoke briefly and watched the performance for the few minutes.
The 30-member Jiangxi acrobatic troupe, established in 1961, comprised 14 female and 9 male performers besides seven officials including the head of the troupe Feng Xiaochu, the director, department of culture of the Jiangxi province Xiao Xiandong, two deputy directors of the provincial department of culture and the national department of foreign cultural exchanges, Cao Guoqing and Shi Yongjing, the project manager Jia Xiuling and the chief stage supervisor Wan Jianhua.
The youngest among the performers was hardly 12-year-old girl Ms Wang Ting, born on September 9, 1992 and Ms Wang Jiaxin, born on January 21, 1991 while the eldest among the performers was Ding Lingying, born on April 16, 1959.
The performance included 'Lion Dancing', 'Propping Feat', 'Double Bars', 'Stand on Single Hand', 'Whirling Dishes', 'Pattern Jar', Springboard', 'Rolling Lights', 'Magic Performance', 'Couple Feat', 'Buffoonery', 'Flight to Heave', 'One-wheel Bicycle Feat' and 'Mounting the People'.
The audience thoroughly enjoyed each and every moment of the performance but the performance by the two youngest members of the team was simply breathtaking. Their acts of balance on beams as well as in company of the elder members of their team almost made people gasp for breath and stand on their seats to appreciate them.
There was an almost incessant round of applause echoing in the vast gymnasium with small pauses between the performances only some times. Though there was a lot of space available in the gymnasium but as the entry to the performance was through invitation extended by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) and the cultural department of the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, some seats remained empty.
Monday's performance by the visiting Chinese acrobatic was the first of the two, scheduled to give in the federal capital. The second performance will take place today at the same venue and again the entry to the Liaquat Gymnasium will be through invitation.
The troupe earlier arrived in Lahore on January 22 and staged two performances in the provincial capital at Al-Hamra Hall on January 23 and 24 before travelling to Islamabad on January 25. On arrival in the federal capital, the members of the Chinese troupe made stage settings and other orgnaizational arrangements on Sunday and held a pre-show brief rehearsal a couple of hours before opening of the performance.
After Tuesday's performance the members of the troupe will spent a free day in Islamabad and are scheduled to visit Taxila museum and archaeological sites on Thursday before leaving for Karachi on Thursday. They will give two performances in Karachi in open air at the National Arts Council of Pakistan on Friday and Saturday.