october 30, 2009
Nov. 1st, 2009 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kip_w.
We had supper at King Buffet, a family favorite. It was Sarah's turn to choose. We headed first for the stuffed clams, but they weren't out. I think I may have managed to eat more lightly this time. Near the end, the stuffed clams showed up after all, and Sarah and I each had a couple. Then it was time for the main event of the evening, the Shaolin Warriors, live on stage at Nazareth College.
Cameras of any sort were expressly prohibited during the high-energy precision show. The eighteen men and two boys of the troupe all seemed to be able to do standing flips and were amazingly limber. It looked dangerous as anything. Partway in, they went into the audience and started recruiting kids to go up on stage, including Sarah. They stood them in two lines, and the grownup started making moves for them to imitate, then would pass among them correcting their position and stance. I wished I could have taken a picture, but even if I'd turned off the flash, the camera would have made a noise, and I would have gotten a blurry picture and been ejected.
They also brought some adults up to the stage later. I didn't volunteer.
At one point, they did the impressive stunt of having a man lie on four swords with a board full of nails on top (nails sticking out both ways) and another man on top of that. Then a cement block was broken on top of the top man. That was the only thing they did where I knew how it's done (the points distribute the impact; the breaking cement absorbs the blow), but I imagine it required a lot of control to lie on the swords without squirming. You wouldn't catch me doing it.
They also included some bits of comedy here and there. Every now and then there was a knockabout moment with one person cuffing another. They performed a drunken number, with pretended guzzling from gigantic pots and much weaving and passing out along with the impressive weapon work and tumbling.
They did precision fan work (of much interest to me, as I had done precision fan work as a chorus member of CNU's "Mikado" in 2000), spear work, sword work (The swords they wielded at each other seemed very flimsy, but I don't mind that. The ones they broke over their heads seemed solid enough.), knife work (One man held heads of lettuce or cabbage to his stomach and shredded them at lightning speed. The boys, as always, cleaned up anything that landed on the stage.), and cudgels. The whip displays were impressive and loud.
Perhaps my favorite stunt was with short lengths of rope. Sitting on the ground with the legs out, a performer (or perhaps I should say a monk) could whirl the rope in circles on the ground, and jump it. Sitting on his ass, he could jump rope, hopping up an inch or so each time the rope went around in order to clear it.
It all took place in the new theater at the college, which looked spiffy. My daughter has now performed on it before I had a chance to. The only technical aspect I felt like criticizing was at the end of music cues -- instead of a smooth cutoff, it sounded like a cassette tape being paused. The music got strangled about half the time. Sounded very clear while it was playing, though.
It was solidly entertaining. All of us, including Sarah, were enthralled.
.
We had supper at King Buffet, a family favorite. It was Sarah's turn to choose. We headed first for the stuffed clams, but they weren't out. I think I may have managed to eat more lightly this time. Near the end, the stuffed clams showed up after all, and Sarah and I each had a couple. Then it was time for the main event of the evening, the Shaolin Warriors, live on stage at Nazareth College.
Cameras of any sort were expressly prohibited during the high-energy precision show. The eighteen men and two boys of the troupe all seemed to be able to do standing flips and were amazingly limber. It looked dangerous as anything. Partway in, they went into the audience and started recruiting kids to go up on stage, including Sarah. They stood them in two lines, and the grownup started making moves for them to imitate, then would pass among them correcting their position and stance. I wished I could have taken a picture, but even if I'd turned off the flash, the camera would have made a noise, and I would have gotten a blurry picture and been ejected.
They also brought some adults up to the stage later. I didn't volunteer.
At one point, they did the impressive stunt of having a man lie on four swords with a board full of nails on top (nails sticking out both ways) and another man on top of that. Then a cement block was broken on top of the top man. That was the only thing they did where I knew how it's done (the points distribute the impact; the breaking cement absorbs the blow), but I imagine it required a lot of control to lie on the swords without squirming. You wouldn't catch me doing it.
They also included some bits of comedy here and there. Every now and then there was a knockabout moment with one person cuffing another. They performed a drunken number, with pretended guzzling from gigantic pots and much weaving and passing out along with the impressive weapon work and tumbling.
They did precision fan work (of much interest to me, as I had done precision fan work as a chorus member of CNU's "Mikado" in 2000), spear work, sword work (The swords they wielded at each other seemed very flimsy, but I don't mind that. The ones they broke over their heads seemed solid enough.), knife work (One man held heads of lettuce or cabbage to his stomach and shredded them at lightning speed. The boys, as always, cleaned up anything that landed on the stage.), and cudgels. The whip displays were impressive and loud.
Perhaps my favorite stunt was with short lengths of rope. Sitting on the ground with the legs out, a performer (or perhaps I should say a monk) could whirl the rope in circles on the ground, and jump it. Sitting on his ass, he could jump rope, hopping up an inch or so each time the rope went around in order to clear it.
It all took place in the new theater at the college, which looked spiffy. My daughter has now performed on it before I had a chance to. The only technical aspect I felt like criticizing was at the end of music cues -- instead of a smooth cutoff, it sounded like a cassette tape being paused. The music got strangled about half the time. Sounded very clear while it was playing, though.
It was solidly entertaining. All of us, including Sarah, were enthralled.
.
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-02 05:16 am (UTC)