On the Ninth China Wuqiao International Circus Festival, acrobats from 14 countries treated local audiences to dozens of thrilling programmes.

To have more spectators watch these programmes in amazement as the acrobats excite the crowd with thrilling somersaults and seemingly impossible balances, a gala show featuring some award-winning performances in the festival will tour Beijing and Shanghai.

They will first perform at Shanghai Circus World from November 13 to 15 and then move to Beijing's Workers' Gymnasium on November 21.

It is said that the essence of any circus is juggling, tumbling, wire-walking, trapeze and clowns. In this gala show of award-winning programmes, you can watch the acrobats perform all of these with an extraordinary level of control, strength and power.

The 11 programmes are performed by acrobats from Russia, the United States, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, France, Argentina, Ukraine, Mongolia and China.

The prestigious Russian State Circus will present springboard performances and some clowning.

In January 2003, the springboard programme directed by V. Puzanov won the main prize at the International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo, one of the most prestigious contests of circus art. The performers catapult each other off springboards, and swing from the lighting rig with their toes. They also make breathtaking somersaults and incredible balance on the springboards.

"Circus has a long history and is popular in Russia," said Mustislav Zapashny with the company as well as member of the jury. "And the Russian State Circus Company enjoys popularity throughout the world."

He said that since 1950, the Russian circus began to make a name for itself on the world stage. Over the last few years, they have visited more than 100 countries in Europe, Asia, America and Australia. Each year, around 1,500 artists give various performances in 30 countries all over the world.

The clowns will also invite the spectators to get involved.

Elena Panova will perform The Swinging Trapeze produced by the Arthur Duchek International Entertainment from the United States. A graduate of the Moscow Circus School, Panova won the gold award at the Circus of Tomorrow in Paris in 1987 and first prize at the national circus in Russia in 1998. Her swinging trapeze which features a combination of acrobatic, gymnastics and ballet has been performed in Russia, Denmark, the United States and Australia to great acclaim.

Acrobats from the State Circus of Colombia will perform the tightrope walking, jumping, tumbling and showing their skills on top of human pyramids.

Hot, hard and fast are the three words that describe the Ukraine Circus' highly skilled mini-parallel bars acts. Combining dances and gymnastics on the parallel bar, the programme won the gold medal at the 1998 Budapest International Circus Festival and 2000 Virona (Italy) Circus Festival.

Meanwhile, a clown from Colombia's Hillel Circus performs various somersaults on balloons, winning him the title "Mr Balloon Man."

And two Vietnam-born performers from the Sharllon Circus of France combine superb skills and perfect timing with powerful elegance and sensuality to bring the audience an original dramatic hand-balancing adagio. The programme gained the third prize at the 2001 Circus of Tomorrow Festival in Paris.

In the aerial flying skills performed by the Peony Peak Acrobatic Troupe of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the performers propel themselves through the air tumbling, somersaulting, flying and trampolining with amazing strength, timing, power and control.

The State Circus of Mongolia brings contortion, the art of bending one's body to make shapes. The three contortionists carve graceful arcs through the air with lithe bodies that seem to freeze mid flight before plummeting to the mat. They can bend in any direction and they do - in mid-air, at speed, with unrivalled acrobatic skills.

The last programme stars Chinese acrobats from the Southern Acrobatics Troupe from South China's Guangdong Province. They perform the wheel skills on wires in the air. Also called the "Dying Wheel," the programme has the acrobats whirl you through heart-stopping feats of balance and physical control while riding on the wheel on the wire in the air.

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