At 10:30 there is a short break, followed by an hour-long session in which all students practice ballet or tumbling together. There are no exceptions;   everyone dances and tumbles. At 2 p.m. each performer works on specialties for two more hours. At 6:30 in the evening students have an unsupervised hour to exercise with props of their own choice. Classes are held six days a week.

 

One young juggling student currently studying with the Shaanxi Acrobatic­Troupe is Jiao Xiao Li. She is 14-years­old and has been at the school for two years. She does variations with three and four balls, including continuous behind the back throws with both hands. She also cascades five and staggers six balls. She does three clubs, including behind the back throws and chops, and four and five rings. Besides these juggles, she does a variety of balancing tricks with sticks on her forehead or chin and on a stick held in her mouth.

 

Jiao Yang is another 14-year-old juggling student who has been studying in the school for three years. She is capable of doing many variations with three and four balls, and cascades and showers five balls. She can also do six in a staggered pattern. Additionally, she manipulates up to five badminton rackets, and can can do all of these tricks while riding on a unicycle!

 

These two developing jugglers still have three more years of schooling before they will graduate and become professional performers.

 

What does a young performer have to look forward to after graduation? Applause? Respect? Fame? Well, hopefully all of that and more - a chance to travel throughout his or her region, country and the world. But Chinese performers soon learn that a Chinese audience doesn't always respond warmly to even superhuman performances. The Chinese are simply not a people who express their feelings in public. And even though Chinese acrobats have the respect of their audience, they usually do not become famous.

 

A performer in China must also face theaters in the winter that have little or no heat; and in the summer must perform under conditions that are torturously hot. Like all performing artists, the Chinese juggler must continue the unending tuning of his or her body.

 

But no matter how much effort he or she puts into training and performance, or what satisfaction or recognition is gained, every Chinese juggler knows that he or she is part of a long tradition of a universally practiced art form that brings together people for the purpose of simple enjoyment and provides the nations of the world with a piece of common ground.

 

When two young Shaanxi acrobatic students who bore a remarkable resemblance to each other were asked if they were brothers, one answered for both by saying, "Yes, we're brothers. We're both acrobats!"