Randomly, my husband had the intense desire to learn how to juggle. He bought a book, and I sewed him three small beanbags. He practiced, hit the cat in the head when he dropped one, and practiced some more.
Shortly after, a friend of mine, Rachel Yang, invited us to see the Taiwanese Diabolo Dancers perform in Edmond, Oklahoma.
The diabolo, which originated in China in the 12th century, is somewhat like a giant yo-yo that passes between two sticks connected by a string. The word is actually pronounced the same as the Spanish word for devil, Diablo, and is sometimes referred to as the “devil on two sticks.” Yang told me they call it this because when you’re practicing, as with my husband and his beanbags, the diabolos often come down and smack you on the head.
When we saw the Taiwanese dancers, they performed the art of Diabolo as well as a mix of traditional and modern dance. They twirled the diabolos on their sticks, threw them more than 20 feet in the air, caught them on the string, and flung them from one dancer to another, all the way across the auditorium.
The entire performance was incredible. The only thing I could say to my husband while we watched them throwing and catching and twirling was, “And you want to learn to juggle!”
The Taiwanese Dancers are trained from when they are very young. Diabolo combines hand-eye coordination, balance, and rhythm into a complex art. They dancers have to master all three.
The show my husband and I watched was entitled “The Heart of the Ocean.” It took place completely underwater, with the diabolo dancers lying behind a silk screen representing ocean currents. When the sun rose and shone off the water, the dancers awoke.
Not a minute of the show was boring. The two and a half hours flew by. I sat literally on the edge of my seat, mesmerized by how skilled the dancers were and how easily they could catch the yo-yos flying at them, sometimes in the dark!
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