CELEBRITY SERIES OF BOSTON PRESENTS
GOLDEN DRAGON ACROBATS
IN THEIR BOSTON DEBUT SUNDAY, JANUARY 13
AT SYMPHONY HALL

(BOSTON)—Celebrity Series of Boston, Martha H. Jones, President and Executive Director, presents the Boston debut of the Golden Dragon Acrobats on Sunday, January 13 at 3:00 p.m. at Symphony Hall,
301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. The engagement is sponsored by Tufts Health Plan.

The 20-member troupe will perform feats including Umbrella Juggling, Table Hoop, Dancing Plates, Tower of Chairs, Spinning Wheel, Contortion, and Swaying Board Balancing. Full program information is to be announced.

Since the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – 240 A.D.), dramatic folk arts and variety shows have become a deeply rooted part of Chinese civilization. These traditional performances have entertained people from all walks of life for centuries. The skillful performers of these shows often use objects including chairs, tables, poles, ladders, bowls, plates, bottles, and jars as props. Building on the traditional performances, today's artists have added new techniques and spectacular stunts.

The Golden Dragon Acrobats hail from Cangzhou, Hebei province in the People’s Republic of China, and have toured the United States continuously since 1978. Its 20 members are athletes, actors, and artists who have studied and trained in acrobatics since early childhood. The troupe has performed in over 65 countries on five continents, and its reputation is solidly routed in a commitment to artistic detail. The company’s producer and director, Danny Chang and choreographer Angela Chang bring award winning acrobatics, traditional dance, spectacular costumes, ancient and contemporary music, and theatrical techniques together in performances of skill and beauty.

Over its long and rich history the ancient art of Chinese Acrobatics has developed as one of the most popular art forms among the Chinese people. While many historical records provide evidence for the development of Chinese Acrobatics as far back as the Xia Dynasty (4000 years ago), it is most commonly held that the art form did not become widely popular until approximately 2,500 years ago when it began to capture the attention of the country’s powerful emperors.

Chinese acrobatic skills have been passed down from generation to generation eventually developing into the feats of strength, balance, and grace that comprise this unique tradition today. Few descendants of the famous old acrobatic families are alive today. These acrobats have organized China’s traditional entertainments into professional troupes with formal academies for training promising young entertainers for a place in internationally recognized companies.

Program Information
GOLDEN DRAGON ACROBATS
Sunday, January 13 at 3:00 p.m.
Symphony Hall
301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston

Sponsored by Tufts Health Plan

Ticketing Information
Tickets, priced at $58, $52, $47, $37, and $32 , are available by calling CelebrityCharge at (617) 482-6661 (Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.), online at www.celebrityseries.org, or at the Symphony Hall box office, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Monday-Saturday 10:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m.

About Celebrity Series of Boston
Celebrity Series of Boston is New England's leading presenter of music, dance, and the performing arts from around the world. Founded in 1938, the Series incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in 1989. Each year, the Celebrity Series brings to Boston's major concert halls performances by instrumental and vocal soloists, symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, dance companies, jazz and popular music performers, folk and ethnic performance groups, and other performing artists. The Celebrity Series' Arts, Education and Community program was initiated in 1984. The program reaches thousands of students annually in Boston area schools and communities. The program includes the award-winning AileyCamp Boston, a six-week summer dance program for Boston middle school students, and ACT 2, an after-school initiative for former participants of AileyCamp Boston. For more information on Celebrity Series of Boston, call (617) 482-2595 or visit us online at www.celebrityseries.org.

The Celebrity Series receives major annual support from two anonymous donors; The Little Family Foundation; The Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation; Bank of America; The Linde Family Foundation; Tufts Health Plan; Talbots Charitable Foundation; Foley & Lardner LLP; Charlesbank Capital Partners; Comcast; Morgan Stanley; BDO Seidman; PTC; Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Foundation; Steven and Joan Belkin Foundation; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; The Consolate General of Canada; The Collings Foundation; The Esther B. Kahn Charitable Foundation; The Red Sox Foundation; Massachusetts Cultural Council; National Endowment for the Arts; New England Foundation for the Arts; Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser Foundation; The Harris A. Berman and Ruth E. Nemzoff Family Foundation; Amy and Joshua Boger; DeMoulas Foundation; Margaret Eagle and Eli Rapaport; Kathleen and Steven Haley; Cerise and Charles Jacobs; Paul L. King; Jann E. Leeming and Arthur D. Little; Paul F. and Barbara A. Levy; Frank and Eleanor Pao; Spring Sirkin and Arthur Frank; Dorothy and Stephen Weber; Nancy Richmond Winsten and Dr. Joseph Winsten; Charles O. Wood, III and Miriam M. Wood; Ellen and Arnold Zetcher.

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