A tale of redemption
Acrobats, monks show off energy of Chinese culture
By JEFF HEINRICH, The Gazette September 29, 2011
Sometimes it helps to have a story.
The Chinese had the martial arts. All they needed was a tale to hang them on - and for that, they needed an expert in some good, oldfashioned storytelling. That's where Guy Caron came in.
A former director of the Cirque du Soleil and founder of the National Circus School, Caron was drafted by Chinese émigré circus artist Yan Yan Zhao to develop a narrative for a show by kungfu fighting monks.
Well, not real monks, exactly, but graduates of the famed Shaolin Monastery's school of martial arts, in northcentral Henan province - professional performers who tour the world spreading the Buddhist message of peace through strength. The result is Chi of Shaolin: Tale of the Dragon, a 90-minute show now touring North America. On Tuesday, it began a 10-night run at the TOHU circus centre in Montreal's north-end St. Michel district.
The 13 performers - eight fighting monks and five members of the Imperial Acrobats of China - engage in a variety of impressive routines. Besides practising kung fu, they duel with sabres, balance on canes with their hands, juggle with their feet, do contortions with chandeliers, and wield the Chinese diabolo.
Anyone who saw the Shaolin monks and the Imperial acrobats in their last performance together here, four years ago at the TOHU for a show called Jungua, knows what to expect in terms of spectacle. What they may be surprised to discover is a linear story linking the various routines.
"It's never really interesting to put on one number after the other without some kind of thematic line that links them, whether that be in the form of costumes or stories or what have you," said Caron, the show's artistic director, who previously staged the Cirque's Dralion (1999) and Kŕ (2004).
Caron, who now divides his time between his homes in Majorca and Quebec and goes on frequent trips to China to produce other shows, remembers first seeing the Shaolin monks perform at the old Forum in 1986. They've come a long way since then, he said. "Usually, what they do is demonstrate their skills, that's all. Here, with Chi of Shaolin, we're putting on a real show."
The tale is a coming-of-age story about a young man who finds redemption through martial arts. We first see him as a village burglar, trying to make off with precious works of art from a rich man's house. He's caught, beaten and left in the street, where a passing monk finds him and takes him under his wing. They pass through a forest to a remote monastery, where the young man learns to defend himself, transformed by the monks' teachings and their positive energy, otherwise known as chi.
On his way back to the village, the young man uses his new skills against a gang of bandits. There's a party for him in the village, and he returns to the rich man's house to ask forgiveness.
"I think audiences will come away with a real sense of the energy of Chinese culture and of how martial arts can be put to positive use," said Caron, who spent two months in China putting the show together with Zhao, a circus superstar in her homeland. He's known her since the mid-1980s, when she toured with Cirque du Soleil as a bicycle acrobat for the troupe's first North American tour. Now a U.S. citizen based in Reno, Nev., Zhao runs a theatrical company called MPY International, which produces the Imperial acrobats and Shaolin monks abroad. Chi of Shaolin was first staged in Beijing in 2010.
Exporting Chinese arts and culture is a far cry from the old days, when Chinese artists travelled abroad only under strict conditions, always accompanied by minders who doubled as government spies, Caron said. "There's none of that anymore." Instead, China has woken up to the fact that international tours are a great way to raise revenue, he explained.
"The socialists have become almost like capitalists. They hand out passports to the artists and say, 'Send us the money.' "
Chi of Shaolin: Tale of the Dragon runs through Oct. 8 at the TOHU, 2345 Jarry St. E. You can meet the performers after Thursday night's show. Tickets are $45 (adults) or $31.50 (children ages 12 and under). For more information, to view a video clip or to reserve a seat, go to tohu.ca. The producer's site is at mpyinternational.com.
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