(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- Amazing athletes defy the laws of gravity when the New Shanghai Circus comes to Mayo Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 17 at 3:00pm and 7:00pm. Tickets range from $19-39.
The Chinese acrobatic tradition dates back to 700 B.C.; that's over 2,000 years of tumbling, balancing and juggling. Ancient stone carvings, earthen pottery and early written work trace the ancestry of today's spectacular acts. Relics tell the tales of famous acrobats like Confucius' father, who is believed to have lifted a pair of 1,000-pound city gates to let an army storm through.
The art of Chinese acrobatics developed out of the Lunar New Year harvest celebrations, where the village's peasants and craftsmen would hold a kind of Chinese Thanksgiving. Acrobats would use household tools and common items found around the farm and workshop as part of their exciting feats. Performers passed their skills down from generation to generation and great acrobatic families of China entertained everyone from city rulers to village people, performing at ceremonial carnivals and public theaters across the country.
Over the years, as China plunged into economic and social upheaval, many fine arts were lost and acrobats found themselves on the verge of extinction. Since the Revolution in 1949, the government has made great efforts to foster and develop traditional arts and culture in China, and acrobatics has enjoyed a new life.
Today, only a few descendants of the old and famous acrobatics families remain. These individuals have organized China's traditional entertainers into professional acrobatic troupes with formal academies for training young, promising entertainers and internationally renowned companies. Modern-day Chinese acrobatics reflect the industry, resourcefulness and courage of the Chinese people. At present, there are over 120 professional acrobatic troupes across China, and more than 12,000 performers.
Founded in 1951 as the Shanghai Acrobatic Theatre, The New Shanghai Circus has won more Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals in domestic and international circus competitions to date than any other Chinese acrobatic company. Breathtaking and polished to perfection, the singular skills performed by The New Shanghai Circus have their roots in everyday lives of the village peasants, farmers and craftsman of the Han Dynasty.
Mayo Performing Arts Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, presents a wide range of programs that entertain, enrich, and educate the diverse population of the region and enhance the economic vitality of Northern New Jersey. The 2017-2018 season is made possible, in part, by a grant the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as support received from the F.M. Kirby Foundation and numerous corporations, foundations and individuals. The Mayo Performing Arts Center has been designated a Major Presenting Organization by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Mayo Performing Arts Center was named 2016 Outstanding Historic Theatre by the League of Historic American Theatres, and is ranked in the top 50 mid-sized performing arts centers by Pollstar Magazine.
(BRANCHBURG, NJ) -- In commemoration of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), the Institute of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Raritan Valley Community College will present "Meaningful Moments and Holocaust Remembrance with Maud Dahme and NJEA teachers Tamara Beatty and Lisa Hann," on Thursday, May 2, 2024 from 7:00pm-8:00pm. The event is free of charge and open to the public.
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