Shao Ping the Acrobat (1981)

in [Music] my name is sha ping and I'm 16 years years old I'm a member of the Shanghai acrobatic team number three and for the next few months we are preparing new routines for a tour of [Music] Japan I live in China the largest country in East Asia with a population of almost 1 billion people my city Shanghai is very very beautiful and is one of the centers of our 2,000 yearold Chinese acrobatic tradition [Music] [Music] there are 47 performers 10 teachers and 14 musicians in our troop my best friend is sh who is 17 and a superb acrobat on [Music] I'd like you to meet some of our team Mrs zoo is our teacher and an excellent acrobat Dian say he's happy to meet you [Music] too and this is Lun who's very surefooted and our teacher Mr Wong who is one of China's Master acrobats and you've already met my friend sh [Music] my friends gu Ying cha and we Yang are four of the juggling wizards of our troop and shoy Yang and dangu are amazing foot jugglers where we are not performing we practice 5 hours a day our team has been together for 7 years years working to develop our own skills and the trust in each other needed to perform dangerous routines this morning Mr Zoo one of the leaders of our tro has called a meeting to make a special announcement he says that Shanghai television has invited our whole troop to do a special program next week to be telecast all over China we are very excited it's a great honor to entertain our people and he says now we must try to perfect our new routines even though time is so [Music] short sh and I are especially excited because we've never been on television [Music] you nothing nothing [Music] Mrs zo always says that no matter how fast we fly through the air we must keep a calm clear image in our minds of what our bodies must do hands [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah ah you this afternoon we are off and Sheng and I are learning to swim tomorrow I'll see my family and tell them all about our television show [Music] [Applause] [Music] be [Music] [Music] speee [Music] [Music] during the week about half our troop lives in the residence the rest stay with their families that live close by my parents live an hour away and Sunday is always a family day for us [Music] our apartment is in a complex at the edge of Shanghai and today my sister and brother-in-law will be coming for [Music] lunch my mother Yin ma is 48 and works in an electrical Factory and she's also a terrific cook in fact it was my mother who first noticed my interest and encouraged me in gymnastics I started when I was 5 years old and when I was nine the people from the Shanghai acrobatic troop asked me and other young gymnasts in our area to form a new acrobatic team team number three since then we've done our schooling together and practice [Music] together now we've graduated and we're all working as full-time acrobats and we've become very good friends [Music] my father youa is 58 years old and works in a machine factory the whole family is very excited about my being on television although we don't have a television set and my parents might not be able to see the show which would be very sad [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello foreign spee spee speech spee [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] this morning Shen is working on her traes routine though she doesn't think it will be ready for the show and teacher s wants her to be very careful because she hasn't worked on the traes for some time [Music] [Music] spee forign speech spee spee [Music] can I make you just that [Music] this morning my aunt Lee called to say there is a movie on today with Shan's favorite star Aunt Lee is a projectionist at the cinema and if we hurry we can catch the 3:00 show [Music] [Music] the movie is about the Long March how chairman Mau led the pioneers of our Revolution on a 6,000m March a very brave and dangerous step in the revolution that won freedom for our people e [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] tomorrow evening is our television show and this afternoon there will be a meeting to decide which new AXS are ready [Music] [Applause] [Music] spee [Music] Mrs Zoo wants us to do a free form routine I really love acrobatics our bodies have to be very Supple and elegant and it feels wonderful Mrs zo says that to be a master acrobat every move and every tiny detail must be perfect and second nature it's very hard work and sometimes it hurts [Music] teacher Wong wants to know which of us are ready with new Acts teacher Chow says the Mongolian Lon dance is ready they now want to know about our springboard routine I hope Mrs do thinks we're ready she says we've worked hard but there are still some rough moments and wants to know what our opinion is sh says we can do anything but of course we both know our new routine isn't perfected yet teacher Wong agrees and suggests Shan Fon does the whip routine and lion dance and that I do the spinning plates and tumbling with new [Music] Jun last night my parents called to say they've arranged to see our television special on a neighbor set I'm very happy that they will be watching and a little nervous [Music] together [Music] [Applause] pressure [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] h oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you [Applause] [Music] [Music] H yeah oh [Music] n [Music] now okay [Music] that's e [Music]