Chinese culture has produced a wide variety of arts and performances, many of which can be seen on China Light’s events. One of the more spectacular Chinese shows one can gawk at, is the art of hoop diving. A troupe of acrobat uses hoops of various sizes to – as the name suggests – dive through and perform all sorts of acrobatic feats.
When we think of hoop acrobatics in the West, the most common image we see is that of hula-hooping – twirling a hoop around the waist, arms, legs or neck. And while this cheerful art is certainly impressive, Chinese culture has produced a different acrobatic performance featuring hoops: the art of hoop diving. It is a very popular discipline for many traditional circus troupes in China.
Hoop diving
Hoop diving is typically performed by a troupe of artists, who use wood hoops of various sizes, which are held in place by magnets. The artists not only dive through the hoop, but also perform many other feats, such as somersaults and other acrobatic displays. One of the artists’ greatest challenges is to gain the height they need. During one part of the performance, the artist has to jump a stunning seven feet (more than 2 metres) into the air, to dive through the fifth ring.
The hoop diving acrobats
Artist who practise the art commonly refer to hoop diving as “the art of gravity challenge”. Sometimes they perform this traditional discipline with the help of a small trampoline, but often the performers use nothing more than a thin mat. The rest comes from muscular strength and many years of rigorous training.
Performances of China Light
China Light also features other kinds of performances to enrichen its events, many of which are quite popular in the US. These two videos show examples of the kind of performances you can expect from us: