Immortal Chi is coming to Oxford's New Theatre

Immortal Chi is a massively impressive sounding show.

Direct from China, and created by the team behind Shaolin Warriors, it has been conceived by the Cirque du Soleil creative team and weaves an exciting story around a Tai Chi Master and his ultimate challenge to regain his secret inner energy.

Fusing some jaw dropping Chinese Martial Arts, amazing multi-media images, fabulous costumes and an original musical score with traditional Chinese Wushu techniques, acrobatics, traditional weaponry, authentic Chinese musical instruments and stunning Chinese drum girls, it’s a show that makes you sit back in awe.

But where do you start with a show like this?

Erick Villeneuve the director was the man to ask. How does he know Immortal Chi will work in the West? “I have always believed that quality shows, no matter from where, can do as well in the West as the East. What I need to do is to make a good selection of the right elements of Chinese traditional culture and philosophy by which I have been so much amazed. I assume nowadays that, like me, many people in the West share a curiosity to know the cultures of the East.”

So what were the guidelines? “I was approached to co-operate and produce a new show based on the Tai Chi philosophy that puts emphasis on the harmony between human beings, men and nature, and the physical and mental balance of people of this modern world. I think all of us may learn a lot from Tai Chi philosophy to face the challenges of our fast changing environment.”

Was it hard to find the right performers? “One of the highlights of this show is that we bring together the Warriors’ Kung Fu and girls’ Percussion. This is something new in China, although both Kung Fu and Percussion are independently popular there, and they have done a great job of casting because all of the artists are multi-talented which is exactly what I was looking for.”

What of the performers themselves? Presumably this is their first visit to the UK? Zhu Ting, one of the eight Drum girls, is from the Shandong Province in Northern China and already excited about the tour. The 26-year-old sais: “It’s my first visit to the UK, and I am so excited to do a tour of Oxford, a city that is so famous in China. The UK is one of the performing arts centres of the world and home country of Shakespeare so I am very excited.”

How have the audience reacted to the show so far? “We had a very good reaction from the audience, people love the culture and philosophy displayed in the show, and a lot of the audience told our company manager they love Tai Chi and the girls’ percussion.

“But then I enjoy performing for people and I love the excitement of being on stage and have been learning the Guzheng (a traditional musical instrument) for 11 years now.”

When did she start? “When I was eight I became fascinated by percussion after seeing some girl drummers at a concert. They were so passionate, so awesome and so charming... The next day I decided to learn percussion.”

The gender divides mean the men play warriors in Immmortal Chi, Deng Youfeng from Shandong Province being one of them. He’s been practising martial arts since he can remember, taking it up when he was seven.

Having won Shandong Provincial Championships of Martial Arts for overall skills in 1995 and 1996 as well as China National Sports Games in 1995, Deng is now a Class A National Warrior and Class A Referee of Martial Arts.

And now you can see him for yourself at the New Theatre. “Besides martial arts I also love to perform on stage,” he confirms, having performed with the Shaolin Warriors. Even when it’s so dangerous? “It’s only dangerous when you’re not careful and I’m very careful.”

SEE IT
Immortal Chi is at the New Theatre Oxford on Saturday at 7.30pm. Call the box office on 0844 871 3020 or see atgtickets.com/oxford