lt’s a tradition stretching back more than 3,000 years, a secret passed from master to disciple across the ages. Nowis battling for attention against an emerging global entertainment culture. On the west side of Shanghai, 89 students and a visionary Leader are keeping the faith.Luo Xu sometimes compares herself to a bird. lt is not because she is tiny and graceful, rather like a sparrow. And it is not because she can fly .
If you cannot believe your eyes at first, that is to be expected. There is a lot going on here, a lot to take in. There are boys marching by on their hands so nonchalantly they almost seem to swagger. There is Yi Cong Cao, the unicyclist, turning tightly wound circles as his partner, Pan Xu, her arms akimbo, stands tall upon his shoulders. There is Ja Wei, being juggled like a beach ball by a boy on his back with legs like pistons.
As with all child prodigies, the kids in this pink cube have made gigantic sacrifices for their art. Many of them are still too young to understand what they are giving up, and what they may expect in return. For seven full years of their young lives , starting as early as six, the students of the Shanghai Circus School will spend their days almost totally confined to their urban campus – a small plot of land, much of it asphalt, with a patch of grass and three pink-tiled buildings.
Seen from the floor, Luo’s flight happens so fast it is nothing but a blur. But for Luo, it is not happening fast at all. Nor is it happening slowly. It is happening at precisely the speed of a double backward somersault. She knows where she is and what she is doing every step of the way. As she emerges from the second flip, her arms unfold again and she assumes a backward diving position. Her feet swing over, her head rolls under, and looking forward , she sees Zhen Liu approaching rapidly.
Luo catches hold of Zhen’s wrists. Zhen catches hold of Luo’s wrists. One does not catch the other – they both catch each other. To an untrained observer, the precision with which they meet, hurtling towards each other at such speeds, from such unlikely angles, so high above the ground, is unfathomable. To their coaches, though, it is not such a great connect at all. For one thing, their faces almost smack. It is only Zhen’s strong arms that hold off a collision.
lt is hard to overstate the revolutionary nature of Principal Cheng’s programme. Acrobatic results are his mandate, and he is delivering them . What is revolutionary is the way he delivers them not by turning his charges in to acrobatic robots but by giving them an education. The Shanghai Circus School is a certified middle school; completion of its seven-year programme results in a basic academic degree.