If you think your life is a juggling act, check out the performers coming to the Admiral Theater Jan. 13.
The Peking Acrobats are the reigning masters of juggling, people-on-chair stacking, wire walking and other gravity-defying feats, all done without a net.
The group of acrobats are young, most are just teens, but they are practicing an art that goes back more than 2,000 years. And it keeps getting more difficult. Chinese tradition demands that each successive generation of acrobats add their own embellishments; three more chairs to balance, six more plates to spin, four more bodies on the human pyramid.
The result is a display of contortions, flexibility and control you won’t see anywhere else.
They hold the Guinness Book world record for Human Chair Stack, with six people balanced atop six chairs 21 feet in the air. They set the record while performing the feat on live TV.
While today’s show is flashy, with a live orchestra, colorful costumes and dazzling visual special effects, ancient myth and religion also play a part.
For example, the Lion Dance is Buddhist in origin, based on the Buddhist idea that the lion is a reincarnation of a woman, and can be teased into revealing its true identity.
The tireless troupe tours constantly and has played to sold out houses at the Hollywood
Bowl, on Broadway and around the world. Performing with symphonies has become something of a speciality for the group. After performing to the music of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the group has performed with the San Diego Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and others.
Members have also appeared on the big screen, in the movie “Ocean’s 11†and the sequel “Ocean’s 12.â€
The acrobatic performance is suitable for audiences of all ages.
The Peking Acrobats perform 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Admiral Theatre, 515 Pacific Ave., Bremerton.
Tickets are $22 main floor and loge, $16 balcony, all seats reserved. Tickets available at the box office 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or by phone at (360) 373-6743.
