The Peking Acrobats

Since their founding in 1986, The Peking Acrobats have been featured on numerous television shows and celebrity-studded TV specials, including Nickelodeon’s Unfabulous, Ellen’s Really Big Show (hosted by Ellen DeGeneres), The Wayne Brady Show, That’s Incredible, ABC’s Wide World of Sports, and NBC’s Ring In The New Year Holiday Special. They have also appeared on HDNet TV’s In Focusseries, and have appeared regularly in 3D on NBC/Comcast’s new 3D Channel. The Peking Acrobats set the world record for the Human Chair Stack on FOX Network’s Guinness Book Primetime television show in 1999: they balanced six people precariously atop six chairs twenty-one feet up in the air without safety lines, astounding audiences with their bravery and dexterity. The group has also made its way onto the silver screen – company members were featured in Steven Soderbergh’s hit film Ocean’s Eleven, playing alongside Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Peking Acrobat alumnus Shaobo Qin also appeared in that film’s two sequels, Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen.

The Peking Acrobats achieved another milestone in the fall of 2003, when they made their orchestral debut at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA. They performed as part of the Hollywood Bowl’s Fireworks Season Finale, where the company blended their unique brand of acrobatics with the majestic sound of the 100-piece Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted by John Mauceri. Since their Hollywood Bowl debut, they have performed with many of the most prestigious Symphony Orchestras in North America today. These include the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, featuring members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; the San Diego Symphony Orchestra; the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra; the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The Peking Acrobats return often to the Hollywood Bowl, where they perform with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra as special guest artists.

The Peking Acrobats are part of a time-honored Chinese tradition, rooted in centuries of Chinese history and folk art. Tradition demands that each generation of acrobats add its own improvements and embellishments; because of this, high honor is conferred upon those skilled enough to become acrobats. The group seeks to uphold this rich and ancient folk art tradition, bringing it to new technical heights while integrating twenty-first century technology. In the words of Clive Davis of the New York Post, “THE PEKING ACROBATS [are] pushing the envelope of human possibility,” combining agility and grace in remarkable feats of “pure artistry.”