These Dragons More Flare Than Fire

           Just as ABC are the most memorable letters of the alphabet; Acrobats, Bicycle, and Chairs were some of the  most memorable moments during the Golden Dragon performance at Blinn College Sunday April 10 at the McDonald Performing Arts Center.

The troupe’s performance included eveything from flips to spins, and hoops to balancing acts. The theatre technicians had to completly transform the Performing Arts Center to  prepare for the special performance.

            "We had maybe two or three days of preperation for them to come in, so it's all different lighting that was in there than before," said Kevin Patrick, Blinn Techniqual Theatre Arts Director. "The stage had to be completly clear because some of them were barefoot.”

            The performers are either from Hunan or Hebei, China, and are currently traveling the U.S. on visas. Reasons members of the group became acrobats varies from person to person, but they all share the same passion for what they are doing.

            "For some, their family have been in acrobatics and some families chose for them to go,”  said Greg Kouvolo, techniqual advisor for the Dragons for the past six years. “They start acrobat school between five and seven years old."

            While attending acrobat school, the students learned the basics, then specialized in certain areas. For instance, Xian Feng, who worked  for Cirque De Soulie three years ago, began acrobatics in 1994, trained as a dancer for five years and starred in the Golden Dragons personal ballet segment with a female coworker.

            "We acrobats are very different," said Lei Zheng, a tumbler who is married to a fellow acrobat. "We eat a lot of meat and vegatables."

            Unlike the other acrobats, Zheng speaks some English. According to Zheng, the others in the company did not have time to go to school to formally learn how to speak the language, but he has been in America more than a few times and had the opportunity to pick it up. Also unlike the others his diet slightly varies from the rest.

            "We don't like to eat to much cheese; the taste isn't very good. We eat hamburgers, not cheeseburgers," said Zheng.