Lessons Learned From the Chinese Acrobats

Golden Dragon Chinese Acrobats
BYU
February 8, 2014

1.  Any outfit can be enhanced by glow-in-the-dark neon.

2.  Never let them see you prep.

3.  When teaching modesty lessons always include a lesson on tolerance and/or common courtesy so you don't hear your 5 year old's voice ring out in the silence with "Is that ALL they're going to wear???"

4.  When you don't pack your bag with things to quietly entertain children one will, without precedent, fail to be engaged by the glittering, neon-clad group of people doing amazing things right before their very eyes.

5.  Windsprints during intermission can help with #4.

6.  Sometimes having the big guys standing there ready to catch you makes the trick look extra dangerous but mostly it just takes away from the coolness of the thing you are doing.

7.  Don't point right if the people are coming in from the left.

8.  Don't ask the audience if they want one more if you didn't mean one more chair on the giant chair stack.*

9.  Always rock the exit.  Keep your head and arms held high!**

10. No matter how amazing you are, people will always find something to gripe about.

*We had just spent an inordinate amount of time watching him add just one more chair when it seemed impossible to add another chair so when he asked, "Do you want one more?" I thought it was a natural assumption that he meant one more chair.  He coaxed more and more applause out of the audience in support of "one more" and then....no chair!  Later I realized he must have meant one more balancing pose.  I'm going to blame this on the language barrier.

**Am I the only one who stops watching where they are directing your attention and sees if the ones we aren't focusing on have dropped their focus?  I loved how these guys never dropped their arms in view of the audience.  Way to commit to the exit!