[Click here for related photos.]

For decades I have enjoyed the Peking Acrobats, and on Sunday I was delighted to enjoy their performance again at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara.

As some of you know, I do a bit of circus arts myself and I can appreciate the skill, time, effort and practice that go into even a single performance piece. And most performers expect the audience to indulge us if we make a mistake and let us try again.

Not the Peking Acrobats. It seems that they won’t do an act unless they can get it right each time.

These performers put in nearly two hours of such extraordinary performance pieces in this show. And quite a range of acts: balancing, contortion, martial arts, gymnastics, feats of strength as well as truly death-defying stunts. One of the final acts involved gymnastics performances atop a tall stack of chairs (balanced atop four wine bottles!) that could come down at any time.

Some of the acts were performed with humor, yet were still skillful challenges. One such act involved juggling hats while the performers balanced in a pyramid. And all of the acts were executed with grace and beauty.

I was pleased to share the event with my friend Danielle, who is an acrobat, gymnast, unicyclist and juggler far beyond my own abilities. You may recognize her from our Solstice performance this past year.

One of the Peking acrobats was kind enough to pose in the final photo with us!

— Robert Bernstein is a local photographer and frequent Noozhawk contributor. The opinions expressed are his own.