More News

When the winter storms canceled their scheduled performances at local schools, a group of acrobats from Beijing set up their own impromptu show for snowed-in Takoma Park residents last week.

Supported by the Silver Spring-based Class Acts Arts nonprofit, the group was staying with a Takoma Park host family when the winter storms buried the region in more than 30 inches of snow. The acrobats, who were to perform at 14 different middle schools in the area, quickly chafed at being stuck indoors before Class Acts Arts officials and residents came up with the idea of using the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church to put on a series of performances for the cooped-up neighborhood.

Close to 500 residents showed up to the first performance Feb. 9, filling the church gym only a few hours after the first e-mail announcing the show was sent out on community listservs.

"Because it was so successful and there was this buzz created in the neighborhood from people saying ‘Oh gee, I couldn't make it,' or ‘I had conflicts,' or whatever, there seemed to be enough momentum to stage another," said Joan Burns, the Executive Director of Class Acts Arts.

A repeat performance was quickly set up for Friday, drawing another hundred or more residents to the church to marvel at the acrobats' creative juggling antics and extraordinary balance and strength.

More than a few residents who had seen the first show returned for a second helping, including 7-year-old Johnny Flack, who attended the first show with his father and the second with his mother, Anne Fothergill, of Takoma Park.

"They have these, like, metal rods and they would throw these plates up on them and spin them around," Flack said as the two waited for the show to start.

Minutes later two of the acrobats, Han Kangle and Su Bo, were running back and forth before the delighted audience, their hands full keeping a row of plates spinning atop three-foot rods. Wang Wenjuan was up next, lying on her back to juggle first an elegant jar and next a sturdy coffee table using her feet.

By the time Kangle reappeared riding a unicycle and Xiao Limeng finished his balance bar routine, the applause from the crowd of mostly children and their parents had reached a crescendo.

Within minutes of the grand finale — a hilarious juggling performance by Limeng, Bo and Kangle — hosts of children scampered around the gym, snatching up hats, scarves, gloves and other small items to try their hand at juggling. Brigit Viksnins of Colesville watched her children with a smile as her friend, Nancye Bonomo of Kensington, began juggling her gloves.

"It's all about the mirror cells in their brains," she said. "They're watching it and they convince themselves they can do it, too."

Meanwhile Burns and fellow Class Acts employee Laura diCurcio hung out by the door, thanking people for coming and for their donations.

While the performance was technically free, a $5 donation per person was kindly accepted if offered. Thanks to the donations, the nonprofit was able to not only pay the acrobats, but also regain at least $2,000 toward the $10,000 they lost when the school shows were snowed out, Burns said.

"The intent was to make it a fun activity for folks that they could walk to," she said. "It was a very much grass-roots initiative to meet the needs of the community and give a chance for the artists to keep limber and in shape, and Class Acts was able to recoup some of the money we lost."

DiCurcio mentioned another benefit of the performances: the apprehensive looks that had melted from the faces of her neighbors once the acrobats kicked off their amusing, light-hearted routine.

"There's a playful quality to the snow, but there's also a lot of anxiety because of it," she explained. "So to come here and see all of your neighbors, have fun and relax and know that you're safe? I just feel really lucky to live here."