Oh no! Don't do that....it's dangerous!
Trip Start
Aug 27, 2011
1
7
10
Trip End
Aug 31, 2012
Where I stayed
2266 Gonghe Xin Lu， near Guangzhong Lu
What I did
ERA-Shanghai Circus World
Zhabei, Shanghai Shi, China
Thursday, April 5, 2012
This Epcot Center-styled arena was completely refurbished in 2005 to prepare for ERA: Intersection in Time, the multi-million dollar acrobat/circus show that runs daily. Fetchingly modern, Shanghai Circus World boasts a revolving stage, computer controlled lighting, mirrored cage and digital water curtain.
http://www.era-shanghai.com/
Our Adventure
While Andrea's parents were here we wanted to explore part of Shanghai that we hadn't before while staying close enough that it wouldn't take forever in a taxi or cost an extreme amount of money. On Thursday night we went to the Shanghai Circus World to see ERA, the Intersection of Time. The Chinese Circus! I took the shuttle bus with our secretary, Ms. Pong, to Line 2 to get to Andrea's parents hotel. She was worried after we got on the metro that I wouldn't know where to get off. So this big, burly Chinese guy who was lost in his world of technology was to alert me when we were two stops away. It's funny how much you can get across with such limited English. Ms. Pong is the sweetest woman in the world and will do anything to help even though her English is limited to "thank you" and "you're welcome" most of the time. I felt bad since he looked very perturbed that his music was interrupted to follow through on a simple request of helping the "laowei" or foreigner. By the time I got off the metro, I realized one of the bags I was carrying had a hole in the bottom. So I stopped once I got up the never ending stairs from the metro to condense bags. Anita's scrapbook had to be done by the end of the week so I was hoping to get some things done at school but I didn't in the hour after we are allowed to stay since I had to teach the English class. Jacob decided not to come into school also so I had to teach it by myself. Luckily, Wynneth was willing to help but we are getting a little tired of having to make up for someone else's lack of work ethic. Anyways...so I was carrying the bag like a baby so that this one wouldn't break since I spent all week making this extravagant scrapbook for her family to take with them to Singapore. I got a lot of looks for one being white and more because I was walking fast carrying a huge bag. Whew! I finally made it to the hotel and Andrea and her parents were waiting for me with pizza. I ate in a flash and we were out the door. We were supposed to go on Wednesday night but the concierge messed up the tickets.
When we arrived the building looked between a gigantic golf ball and the shape of a hamburger. So we were joking that the circus was inside the big hamburger since the ticket looked like a Big Whopper coupon. Our seats were practically in the nose-bleed sectino but we could still see. Andrea and I went to go get popcorn and a pop. I forgot that in China they love kettle corn and I was totally expecting buttery popcorn. I guess that's one more thing to put on the list of things to get once I'm back home. Along with our circus snack, we got a free Chinese snack that looked like nuts. When Andrea opened it to see what it was the horrific smell of them drove us to gingerly place them under our seat to leave. (Andrea's mom is such a sweetheart that she picked them up at the end to throw away). It's one of those that the look on someone's face is enough for you to realize that you shouldn't smell it but you just do and wonder why you decided to do that after knowing that it would be awful.
Here is what we saw at the circus:
In a big circle that emerged from the floor were people in long robes that had really long sleeves. Once they came out from the floor, they walked very mechanically to their place in a gigantic enclosed circle. It was creepy looking but intriguing. Before that a girl rose like a flower out of other people lying on the ground and then was elevated on a platform. She did some amazing tricks balancing on her hands back and forth. It was amazing to watch someone with such control for their body and extreme upper body strength while looking so graceful.
One of the next few things we saw was a boat that come through a mist of fog. A girl and a guy were on it. They were coming out looking like they were navigating through a swamp. The guy stood up and leaned back and forth on the edge of the boat. Out of nowhere he took a cylinder and a platform and started to balance back and forth rolling left and right. That was impressive enough to see him keep his balance and not fall but the next part was enough to blow your mind. The girl in the boat kept tossing new things his way. He kept adding boards that were balancing on glasses. Once he was rocking back and forth on three or four levels, he put a cup on the area between his foot and ankle and kicked it, while balancing on one leg, to the top of his head. By the end he had several bowls and even a fork that he kicked up into the cup on his head. This was one of the moments where I thought..."Oh no! Don't do that...it's dangerous!"
One of the next few were guys who did jumps through loops. The loops were as tall as about 7-8 feet in the air. Right before that a guy who rode a bike with a drum on the back had 4 contortionists that crawled out onto their hands out of it. This guy was the one that was the leader of the guys who were jumping through loops and the ones right before that who would jump on a beam that would fly other Chinese acrobats through the air. Later in the show, as I clasped my hands over my mouth, they did this with stilts on. Amazing to see them land but more relieved than anything that the stilts didn't end up through someone's eye or breaking the legs of the person flipping in air and landing on a small drum.
The ceramic pot guy was next. This guy had amazing stage presence. He was the type of person that you are like...yes, I want to be his friend and hang out. He was "the bike guy" and he took a ceramic pot and would toss it in the air and catch it. He also would throw it up and bend down to catch it on he back of his neck. He also balanced the ceramic pot on its edge on his head while jumping to make it switch edges. I kept waiting for it to crash down on him and knock him out.
There were contortionists that would climb all over each other in odd ways to make a beautiful design. There were also daredevils on a big, metal spinning wheel who would climb it as it spinned, juggled fire and do tricks while almost plummeting to the floor.
Towards the end of the show were the motorcycle racers zooming around in the gigantic circle cage.I saw this before when I went to Plant City, Florida for my Alternative Spring Break but this was different because they kept adding more. There were up to 8 motorcyles in there at one point. The show was incredible and I have never seen anything like it before.
I left there amazed but feeling very graceful after watching all of it...then I tripped on the stairs! So funny!
