By Avonlea Cummings
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Imagine being only six years old and trying out something new that would become your career for the rest of your life? Devoting hours of hard long training sessions, practicing during the day, and studying schoolwork at night for your passion? This is the path that Li Liu the Acrobat had taken when she was a young girl, and now in her fifties, she has traveled the world from Beijing, China showing off her Acrobat talent and has even traveled right to our doorstep at the Needham Free Public Library.
On Tuesday, August 1, Li Liu spent her late afternoon dazzling the Needham audience with her outstanding talent. Throughout her interactive show, Li Liu first began spinning and balancing plates as she performed for the amazed crowd. She quickly showed the way she could balance herself on a table with a one-arm handstand while balancing the circulating plates on stilts. Next, after introducing herself to the audience she was quick to pull some volunteers from the crowd to teach them step-by-step how to spin their own plates. The audience was ecstatic and busted with loud cheers as the young volunteers spun their plates around.
As the hour progressed, Li Liu continued her interactive show as she dazzled the stage with Ribbon dancing, a staple in Chinese culture to celebrate big holidays like the Chinese New Year. Floating the ribbons in unique patterns and creating a memorizing scene Li Liu smiled from ear t ear as showed a part of her heritage to the audience. Once she completed her act, it was time to grab members from the audience once again where she taught the formalities of Ribbon dancing. As the volunteers learned the dance process step by step, they were ready for their own act with Li Liu as they ribbon danced the time away flowing with the upbeat music.
Soon after the music filled the air with intense emotion as Li Liu began her final act to amaze the on-goers, she began to show her pure talent in the art of balancing on handstands. Configuring in challenging positions on stilts Li Liu was able to balance for multiple minutes at a time switching to one hand, spinning rings on the tops of her feet, and free hand. The crowd clung onto the edge of their seats wondering how she could balance all at once. As Li Liu wrapped up her performance, loud cheers praised her long hard work that she has devoted most of her life towards, it was such a beautiful moment as she shared with the audience her story, encouraging the children to follow their dreams.
Want to see what’s happening next at the library? Check out the events page at https://needhamlibrary.org/events/.
