MEDIATHEK

"Das harte Leben begann an dem Tag, als ich meine Karriere beendet habe. Ich habe keine Wohnung, keinen Job und kein regelmäßiges Einkommen", erzählt die chinesische Gymnastin Cheng Fei, siebenfache Nationalmeisterin und Weltmeisterin. "Die Blumen, der Applaus, die Flaggen ' das fühlt sich an wie ein anderes Leben." Mit Mitte 20 bereits altes Eisen, auf sich allein gestellt, ohne staatliche Fürsorge, oft ohne formale Schulbildung und berufliche Perspektive: Macras arbeitet in "THE GHOSTS" mit chinesischen Zirkusakrobaten. Es scheint, als seien die ehemaligen Akrobaten, welche einst Ruhm und Ehre für ihr Land erlangten, in Vergessenheit geraten und von der chinesischen Gesellschaft 'ausrangiert' worden, auch wenn viele von ihnen noch sehr jung sind. Macras erinnern sie an "hungrige Geister" ' nach der chinesischen Alltagsmythologie sind das verlorene Seelen, die bei ihren Vorfahren in Vergessenheit geraten sind und die ohne Hab und Gut ein tristes Dasein in der Zwischenwelt fristen. Für Macras ist die materiell prekäre, geisterhafte Existenz der ehemaligen Akrobaten eine Metapher für das Leben im heutigen China mit seinen Widersprüchen, sozialen Ungerechtigkeiten und Machtstrukturen. Die einst dem Land Ruhm und Ehre brachten, werden ausrangiert, sobald sie keine Spitzenleistung mehr erbringen. 

Macras' "THE GHOSTS" soll den Akrobaten nun temporär die Rückkehr ins Leben ermöglichen. Sie sollen sichtbar werden mit ihrer Geschichte. 

Besetzt hat Macras neben vier Mitgliedern ihrer Kompanie Constanza Macras | DorkyPark fünf chinesische Zirkusakrobaten und einen chinesischen Musiker. Wie stets nähert sich Macras ihrem Thema dabei mit unterschiedlichen theatralen Mitteln wie Tanz, Musik und Text.

// ENGLISH //

"The hard life began on the day I ended my career. I have no flat, no job and no regular income," says the Chinese acrobat Cheng Fei, seven-times national champion and world champion. "The flowers, the applause, the flags ' it feels like a different life." On the scrapheap by their mid-twenties, on their own, with no social security, often lacking formal education and job prospects ' in "THE GHOSTS" Constanza Macras worked with Chinese circus acrobats. It looks like these former acrobats, who once won fame and fortune for their country with their bodily discipline, have been forgotten and 'decommissioned' by Chinese society, even though many of them are still quite young. They recall the 'hungry ghosts' ' according to Chinese popular mythology, lost souls who have been forgotten by their descendents and lead a miserable existence in an intermediate world. For Macras the former acrobats' materially precarious, ghostly condition is a metaphor for life in contemporary China, with it contradictions, social injustice and power structures. Those who once brought the country glory and honour are discarded as soon as acrobatics itself began to be seen as a privileged form of entertainment for the bourgeoisie. "I was born into a poor family, joined an acrobatic troupe when I was only eight years old. My exceptional talent enabled me to rise from student ranks to become the troupe's top woman acrobat. However, as the troupe became increasingly mixed up by radical politics it was discontinued. Two years later, me and several other performers were ordered to work in a textile factory. The following year, I was sent to work in the country side and believed that I would never return to perform acrobatics again. Unexpectedly, the troupe's leaders sent me a message urging my return to work. During 6 years I did not practice at all and gave birth to two children. I was already twenty-nine. I thought since the leaders wanted me to do it, I must not complain. The Revolutionary Committee of Shanghai decided to entertain the US visitors with 'traditional acrobatics' because the committee believed foreigners would not be able to understand chinese revolutionary operas. We went to the United States on tour. The officials told us even if people threw things at our stage, we must continue our performance." The decision to send an acrobatic troupe overseas reflected Chinese leaders' ideas about how to communicate 'Chinese-ness' to US audience through the acrobatic body. Such cultural policy would enable Beijing to export acrobatics as 'Chinese heritage' and, at the same time, achieve its political objectives in the Cold War. "When our tour started in Chicago, a gas bomb exploded in the theater. The tear gas did not dissipate easily, but me and my colleagues resumed our performance, despite our tearing eyes and pain." We might make things that break easily, but we people don't.

[efr]