An oversized spool whirls on a string, spinning faster and faster as it is tossed into the air, and then caught again on the same string. For many people in Taiwan who grew up playing this traditional Chinese game--an evolved form of an ancient Chinese yoyo--diabolo is little more than a child's toy. Indeed, many young diabolo players cease taking it seriously by the time they enter junior high school. "More than nine out of 10 elementary-school diaboloists drop it by the time they enter senior high school," says Liu Le-chun, board director of the Diabolo Association of Taiwan and a former elementary schoolteacher.
Those who hold on to diabolo, however, are proving that it could be a great career choice to pursue as a specialized and subtle form of performance art that is winning international recognition. The Diabolo Dance Theater, founded by Liu in 1986 as the hitherto only dance group based on diabolo in the world, has been invited to perform in Taiwan and in more than 30 countries abroad including Canada, Japan and the United States. In February this year, William Lin, a student in the Department of Physical Education at National Taipei University of Education, won first prize at the Worldwide Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow held in Paris. Like circus festivals in Monte Carlo and Wuqiao in China's Hebei province, the French show is one of the world's premier events showcasing acrobatics and circus arts.
About a month later, Cho Chia-hung, a student at Taipei Physical Education College, won another world championship event, the International Circus Festival of Albacete in Spain. In 2007, Cho's performance dubbed "phantasmal diabolo" landed him a bronze medal at Wuqiao. Lin has also won several first place prizes in competitions in the United States including World Juggling Federation events in 2005 and 2006 and the International Jugglers' Association meet in 2006. Lin and Cho have also been invited to perform or compete in major circus events in countries including Canada, Italy and Germany this year and in 2009.
Lin's trainer, Zeng Wun-siou, who also leads the MHD art performance troupe, points out that diabolo has a long history of development in many Eastern and Western countries including Japan and Britain. "Our diaboloists play in a style that merges ancient and modern diabolo skills as well as performance elements," says Zeng, who teaches diabolo in several elementary and high schools. "It's not confined to the Chinese tradition."
Lin agrees, defining his style as an artistic blend of Chinese and Western elements. He says that in China, diabolo is more a part of acrobatic performances than a specialized area in itself. Therefore, the diabolo skills of Chinese players are not as well developed, although their acrobatic gestures can be quite advanced and complicated, he says. In Western countries, however, innovation and creativity are the first and foremost standards for a performer, trainer Zeng notes. "Their skill level is a lot higher than ours," she says of Western performers. "Lin might be one of the Asian players who come closest to their ideas of a truly professional diaboloist."
Cho Chia-hung, 2008 champion of the International Circus Festival of Albacete in Spain (Photo by Chang Su-ching)
East-West Connection
Both Lin and Cho have set their sights on making it as performers in Western countries, which have strong entertainment industries and well-developed leisure cultures. Among other things, Cho tries to incorporate elements of ballet and other dance as well as traditional Chinese martial arts in his diabolo shows. After being invited to give diabolo classes at National Taiwan College of Performing Arts, Cho says he also learned a lot about juggling and other skills from the school's acrobatics department. "A typical clown's acting style is also an aspect of my diabolo performance," he says.
Cho and Lin are developing diabolo into a performance art that combines theatrical elements such as music, costumes and--perhaps most significantly--interaction with audiences. "When one gives a diabolo performance on stage, one must not only perform well, but also make a connection with the audience," says Steven Lin, a board director for the Taipei Municipal Arts Association. Steven Lin, who accompanied Cho to the Spanish circus festival, is also an operator of several amusement parks in Taiwan and maintains close personal and commercial links with the international entertainment industry. "A great performer like Cho is highly respected and received like an honored guest in Europe and the United States," he says.
In Taiwan, however, diabolo--like many other athletic or artistic endeavors--has yet to develop a high profile. Worse still, as it falls somewhere between a sport and an art form, it is not generally recognized or well defined in either field. Some categorize diabolo as a "folk sport" such as shuttlecock kicking, rope skipping and playing with spinning tops, which are seen at the nation's Popular Games held every two years. "Athletes don't consider it a sport, especially when resources are largely devoted to competitive titles in the Asian Games and the Olympic Games," Zeng says. "Then, if you call it a form of dance, few dancers would agree."
Despite the difficulty of classifying diabolo as a sporting or artistic pursuit, in accordance with the government's shift in education policy toward recognition of a greater range of knowledge and skills, diabolo has secured a place in the regular education system. Now young diaboloists can use their competition results in the Popular Games to boost their application to schools with training programs like those attended by Cho and William Lin. As the 2004 and 2006 champion for solo diabolo performers at the games, Lin is now considering graduate studies in sport and leisure management.
Refined Skills
Diabolo is gradually being emancipated from its stereotype as a child's pastime. William Lin recalls it was considered not just a toy, but a girl's toy at the time when he started to play about 10 years ago. Today, Liu Le-chun's diabolo troupe has taken the simple game to a performance extreme. "People are wondering how many diabolos we can spin at the same time on a single string," Liu says. "We've been working on how to satisfy audiences paying for a 90-minute show that relies solely on diabolos."
Liu says his troupe has three full-time professional dancers and that he is marrying the relatively marginal field of playing diabolo to the quite mainstream tradition of learning dance. "Dance classes exist at schools of all levels from elementary school to university," he says. "Dancers might come to learn that diabolos can move in time with music and in harmony with their bodies and feeling." That could build a sustainable movement for diabolo as an art form and more occupational prospects for diabolo performers, as well as add a new element for the performing arts.
The Game by Diabolo Dance Theater (Courtesy of Diabolo Dance Theater)
Liu's group uses virtually all the same staging and visual effects available for modern drama. Diabolos glide on extended strings and move across nearly the entire width of the stage. Sometimes, projectors are used to cast powerful images on the setting. In a darkened theater, shining diabolos swing and whirl on the stage and among the audience seats like fireflies in a dark wilderness. "We're trying to expand the scope in which diabolo can be talked about and envisioned," Liu says. "Our diabolo specialists are trained to be dancers and performance artists rather than jugglers." The group has performed in major arenas in Taiwan and overseas such as Taipei's National Theater, New York's Lincoln Center and the Aichi Expo Dome in Japan. Last year, they performed in Canada, the United States, a number of countries in Africa and the Chuncheon International Mime Festival in South Korea.
In addition to creating a new way to look at diabolo, Liu is also adding vigor and flexibility to local diabolo competitions. The Diabolo Association of Taiwan has organized the annual Taiwan Super Diabolo Game since 2000, which divides contestants by age and skill level, in contrast to the Popular Games that see competition between counties or cities.
Super Spinning
In the Super Game's free-style section, the judging rules are modeled after the technical and artistic standards for figure skating. "The judges are specialists in different areas such as music, dance and costuming," Liu says. "Instead of counting how many times players accidentally drop their diabolo, the judges try to build a more comprehensive view of the whole performance." Moreover, the chosen venues for the two games differ significantly. Regular diabolo competitions usually take place in a school's gymnasium with contestants just playing diabolo and waiting for the results. Liu says that a key aspect of the Super Game is that the venue, Taipei's spacious Da-an Forest Park, provides a setting for competitors and audience members alike to enjoy the process of playing diabolo.
The formation of the diabolo association in 1999 is a major sign that diabolo is developing beyond its origins as a child's game, while also separating itself from the general acrobatics sector. Steven Lin also recognizes this trend and says he hopes his association can be reorganized along the same lines. Currently, the group includes members from a wide variety of backgrounds including jugglers, dancers, martial artists and magicians. Lin's vision is for the group to become something more akin to a management agency for brilliant performers like Cho. Trainer Zeng plans to operate her diabolo group as a professional troupe and, like the Diabolo Dance Theater, create more possibilities to imagine and present diabolo. "Diabolo requires hard practice and highly developed skills, and deserves its independent status," she says.
Write to Pat Gao at kotsijin@gmail.com