Peking Acrobats to Perform at Meany Hall

The Peking Acrobats, a troupe of China's most gifted tumblers, contortionists, jugglers, cyclists, and gymnasts, accompanied by live musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments, will bring their 2,000-year-old tradition of acrobatics to Meany Hall as part of an extensive tour of North America that celebrates the troupe's 30th Anniversary and the Year of the Monkey. The Peking Acrobats will appear at Meany Hall in two performances as part of the UW World Series on Saturday, January 23 at 3:00pm and 7:30pm.

The renowned troupe have played to sold-out houses and earned rave reviews during their previous twenty-nine headline tours from 1986 through 2015. For their 30th Anniversary Tour, the company is pulling out all the stops and marking this milestone with exciting new acts and innovative twists on old favorites. The Peking Acrobats show will feature daring maneuvers; trick cycling; powerful precision tumbling, somersaulting, and gymnastics; amazing displays of contortion, flexibility and control; astonishing foot juggling dexterity; incredible balancing feats showcasing tremendous skill and ability; live musicians and high-tech special effects.

The Peking Acrobats have been the featured performers on numerous television shows and celebrity-studded TV specials, including appearances on The Wayne Brady Show, as well as NBC's Ring in the New Year Holiday Special, NICKELODEON'S Unfabulous, and Ellen's Really Big Show, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The Peking Acrobats set the world record for the Human Chair Stack on Fox's Guinness Book Primetime where they astounded television audiences with their bravery and dexterity as they balanced six people precariously atop six chairs, 21 feet up in the air, without safety lines. The Peking Acrobats have also made their mark in Hollywood and were featured in director Steven Soderbergh's hit film Ocean's 11, performing alongside Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Qin Shaobo, an alumnus of The Peking Acrobats, appeared in that film's two blockbuster sequels, Ocean's 12, and Ocean's 13.

The acrobatic traditions of The Peking Acrobats are rooted in centuries of Chinese history and folk art. Records of acrobatic acts can be found as early as the Ch'in Dynasty (221 B.C. - 207 B.C.). By the Han Dynasty (207 B.C. - 220 A.D.) acrobatics flourished and were incorporated into court entertainments. This wide variety of juggling, tumbling and magic acts came to be known as the "Hundred Entertainments." The Peking Acrobats performance gives audience members the opportunity to view the epitome of a rich and ancient folk art tradition, in addition to the pageantry and spectacle of the modern Chinese theatrical circus.

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