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Cirque Mei kicks off arts series

CLOVIS - Soaring acrobats draped in colorful clothing and accompanied by traditional music will bring a taste of Chinese culture to Clovis this weekend, kicking off the latest season of the Clovis Cultural Arts Series.

Opening its 19th season, the series will host the Cirque Mei Chinese acrobatics troupe at 3 p.m. Sunday at Marshall Auditorium.

Boasting 40 different performers, Cirque Mei performs an array of traditional and contemporary Chinese circus acts dating back over 4,000 years and originating from the Hebei province of China.

Audience members will witness many of the most popular traditional Chinese circus acts, including hoop diving, bicycle skills, foot juggling, contortion and ladder balancing.

Keeping in line with the tradition of acrobatics being a source of entertainment for the workingman in China, many acts incorporate everyday items like chairs, tables, plates and bowls.

Tickets will be $20 for general admission, $15 for students, service members and seniors or $45 for a five-person family pass. The box office opens at 2 p.m.

This will be the first of eight shows in the Cultural Arts Series 2019/2020 season put on by the Clovis Community College. This includes the "Sugar Skulls!" Day of the Dead musical in October and the "Sons of the Pioneers" singing performance in November.

"This is our 19th year of presenting performances to the Clovis community," said Christy Mendoza, the Cultural Arts Series director. "Our mission is to bring the best that we can and provide diverse cultural programming of the highest quality by presenting international and regionally produced works to underserved audiences."

Though Cirque Mei won't be involved this year, many of the Cultural Arts Series performances do outreach shows with Clovis schools throughout the years, with children from different schools being bussed to Marshall High School for performances before the main shows.

"We feel this is very important to get our young people involved," Mendoza said. "By the time most of these kids hit junior high we hope they'll have seen two or three of these shows."

Information: http://www.clovisarts.org

 
 
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