Review: Shaolin Warriors knock out Lied Center audience

Grace, precision and superb balance were on display Thursday night at the Lied Center as China’s Shaolin Warriors delivered a knockout performance that left the capacity crowd breathless. The performers, whose martial arts training is rooted in the famous monastery founded in 525 C.E. by Bodhi-dharma, demonstrated fighting techniques – both empty-handed and with a variety of exotic weapons – as well as incredible flexibility and strength.

The group featured approximately 20 adult men and two children who looked to be about 8. It was hard to decide which was more impressive – the children’s ability to execute the complex martial arts moves with the same precision as their adult counterparts, or the fact that the men possessed the same flexibility as the kids.

The best bits were those where the entire troupe performed the same moves at once. Every hand was exactly the same, every kick and every punch thrown exactly alike. It was like watching a beautiful but violent dance perfectly choreographed by a master.

The audience was allowed in on the fun on several occasions. Approximately 35 children were invited up on stage and then, through monkey-see, monkey-do, were taught one of the martial arts sequences. After each move, the master would correct the stances of the kids, drawing laughter when on two occasions he physically picked up a child and turned him or her to face the correct direction.

Later, two adults were brought on stage and, using the same mimicking technique, staged a mock fight. Both volunteers got into it, and, as with the children, their strikes were corrected by the supervising teachers.

Sadly, the performance was marred by several groups of latecomers being seated after the first scene, which created a huge distraction and cast a black eye on the usually impeccable face of the Lied’s ushering staff.

At points, the show was also hard to follow. It was, according to the program, divided into four sections, each representing a season. However, it was impossible to tell which season was which, when one began and another started, or what the acts had to do with them (or even if that was what we were seeing, since a note in the credits read, “Program subject to change”). One wished for a narrator to help the audience understand some of the interpretations.

If any of that bothered the audience, though, it didn’t show. The crowd applauded enthusiastically throughout, and the appreciation was well-deserved. The performers demonstrated repeatedly how marvelous the human body is when it is perfectly controlled. One monk was suspended in the air on the tips of spears and another laid across a bed of swords with another monk on top of him while a third broke a marble board over them with a sledgehammer.

The ability to control one’s body and turn it into both a formidable weapon and a work of art was absolutely breathtaking. The Shaolin Warriors were a true testament to the grandeur of human achievement.