Nanjing Projects

The two training programmes run in Albury-Wodonga with members of the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe in the mid-1980s were signal events in the history of Australian circus. Their influence on Circus Oz was profound.

Through this cross-cultural exchange, the company gained a new level of technical proficiency and an expanded trick repertoire, as well as access to a new generation of highly skilled performers.

The unprecedented exchange can also be seen as part of a broader geopolitical trend, as China – recovering from the domestic turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s – ramped up its cultural engagement with the world.

Poster advertising the Nanjing Project. Theatre and Dance Platform.

2017

01/01/2017

Circus Oz tours China

Circus Oz tours China for the first time. Completing the circle, the company heads to the Xuzhou Olympic Sports Stadium in Jiangsu province for a large-scale concert performance.

1993

01/01/1993

Lu Guangrong joins Circus Oz

Lu Guang Rong, one of the instructors who participated in both Nanjing Project I and II stayed on to take up a role as instructor at FFFC. In 1993 he toured with Circus Oz, before returning to FFFC as head trainer. He later joined the National Institute of Circus Arts.

1986

06/01/1986

Show: Madam Mao

The Playbox Theatre creates a new hybrid theatre work called Madame Mao, a show about Jiang Qing, widow of Mao Zedong and active figure in the Cultural Revolution. The show features members of the Circus Oz ensemble performing tricks influenced by Chinese acrobatics.

01/01/1986

Show: Circus of Tomorrow

Nanjing II finishes with another group presentation, this time called the Circus of Tomorrow. Rosemary Farrell notes that the acts in this show are more blended than Great Leap Forward, featuring a hybrid of local and Chinese circus styles.

1985

02/06/1985

Nanjing II: Training methods

Whereas the emphasis in Nanjing I was the acquisition of new tricks – and a more rigorous commitment to the basics of acrobatics – Nanjing II also focuses on training methods and how circus is taught. There are also languages classes.

06/01/1985

Nanjing II: The trainers return

Following the success of the Nanjing I, a second team of Chinese instructors from the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe is invited to Albury-Wodonga. There are six trainers, four of whom were involved in Nanjing I. This time the training lasts eight months.

01/01/1985

Leapers Join Circus Oz

The Leapers – Gael Coulton, Scott Grayland, Matthew Hughes, Therese Cashew and Teresa Blake – are invited to join Cirucs Oz. This shifts the demographic profile of the company. They immediately head off with the company for the Los Angeles Olympics Arts Festival.

1984

01/01/1984

Show: Great Leap Forward

Nanjing I finishes with a public concert, The Great Leap Forward, where project participants show off their new skills. The Chinese trainers also perform in the show, with Chinese and Australian acts performed side-by-side.

1983

02/06/1983

Nanjing I: Acrobats flock to Albury

Nearly 100 participants registered for the programme. Participants included the young students of the FFFC, a group of young-adult FFFC graduates known as the Leapers, adult performers from Circus Oz and a small group of adult participants with other affiliations.

01/06/1983

Nanjing I: Trainers arrive

Seven members of the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe arrive in Australia in November to train performers in Chinese acrobatics at the FFFC in Albury-Wodonga. The programme, initiated by Robert Perrier, runs for three months over the summer, finishing in early 1984.

01/01/1983

Peking Opera tour

Playking, with the Elizabethan Theatre Trust and Playbox Theatre, presents a sell-out national tour of the Nanjing-based Jiangsu Peking Opera Theatre Company. The mixed program features many spectacular circus acts.

1980

01/01/1980

The Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe tours Australia

The Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe tours Australia for the first time. The tour is promoted and managed by Carrillo Gantner and Clifford Hocking’s Playking Productions. At the Palais Theatre in St Kilda, students from the FFFC meet with acrobats backstage.

1979

01/01/1979

Flying Fruit Fly Circus founded

The Flying Fruit Fly Circus (FFFC) is established in Albury Wodonga, on the border between New South Wales and Victoria. Beginning as a school holiday program, it develops into Australia’s only full-time circus school for children.

1978

01/01/1978

Circus oz founded

Circus Oz is founded with the merger of Soapbox Circus from Melbourne's storied Pram Factory Theatre and the New Circus Ensemble from Adelaide. They begin performing at the Last Laugh in Collingwood.

1850

01/01/1850

Chinese acrobats in Australia

Entertainers describing themselves as Chinese acrobats have been present in Australia since at least the mid-nineteenth century. Historian Rosemary Farrell has suggested that there may have been skill-sharing between Chinese and non-Chinese performers as early as the 1850s.