Celebrate Chinese New Year With Beijing Acrobats, Jugglers at Grand Indonesia
Jakarta. The Chinese New Year has a long, illustrious history in Indonesia. Between 1968 and 1999, public celebrations of the holiday were banned by presidential decree. It was only in 2000 that the decree was revoked and the occasion declared again as a public holiday.
This decision has rekindled enthusiasm among Chinese-Indonesians to get in touch with their ancestral roots and celebrate the major holiday with fervor. Chinese communities across the country now celebrate the Lunar New Year with all kinds of festivities.
Shopping malls are quick to join in on this euphoria by decking their halls with bamboo, cherry blossoms and red lanterns to mimic actual celebrations taking place in China. Malls also host a rich variety of traditional and contemporary dance and art performances.
Grand Indonesia is hosting the Exhilarating Acrobatic Umbrella & Jar Jugglers Show from China for Lunar New Year celebrations in 2017.
The mall's fountain atrium has been decorated to resemble a Chinese garden with a carved moon gate, a Chinese pavilion and pink cherry blossom trees. Gentle Oriental melodies playing in the background transport the audience to another time and place.
The Brilliant Art Acrobatic Troupe has also flown from Beijing especially for the occasion.
"The troupe is legendary," Shinta Sutiani, director of event organizers Vietarra Group Entertainment, said after a preview performance on Wednesday (25/01).
According to Shinta, the troupe was formed in Beijing in 1996.
"They now run a Shaolin-like academy that trains hundreds of boys and girls from as young as six years old to do acrobatics," she said.
The preview show began with two young men dressed in white kung fu uniforms juggling earthen jars with their hands, heads and feet. They started with palm-sized jars before escalating to much bigger items. Many in the audience actually ducked when the performers tossed and turned jars as big as their torso on their heads and necks.
In the second part of the show, six young girls dressed in white cheongsams and green culottes danced with their wide-brimmed umbrellas onstage. Then, lying on their backs, they tossed and twirled their umbrellas with their stockinged feet.
The show culminated with the girls making a human pyramid while swirling their multi-colored umbrellas. From a distance, it appeared as if they were a lotus blooming on a lake.
The audience broke into rapturous applause at the end of the show.
"It's a very beautiful and artistic show," Yeffi Rachmawati, one of the mall's visitors, said afterwards.
"It's a rare opportunity for us [in Indonesia] to see this acrobatic show," Shinta said. "[The troupe] usually performs these shows in special theaters in Beijing. The ticket price is around $100 [per person]."
The troupe will perform their acrobatic shows free of charge at Grand Indonesia at 7 pm on Fridays and at 5 pm and 7 pm on Saturdays and Sundays until Feb. 5.
And if you want to take home a special holiday souvenir and do some good at the same time, you can partake in the mall's corporate social responsibility program called "Pick and Donate."
For Rp 75,000 ($6), you can purchase a cute rooster doll at the concierge desks, with proceeds being sent to the Wisma Mulia nursing home in Grogol, West Jakarta.
"Many who live in the nursing home are Indonesians of Chinese descent," Annisa Hazarini, public relations coordinator of Grand Indonesia, said. "We also want to share some happiness with them during this Chinese New Year."
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