University of the Ozarks will present a performance by the ZUZU African Acrobats at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 11, in the University’s Walton Fine Arts Center Seay Theatre.
Sponsored by the Walton Arts & Ideas Series, this is a free performance that is open to the public.
The ZUZU Acrobats are a Tanzanian troupe who base their performances on 2,000 years of history and who celebrate their niche culture of Dar Es Salaam through jaw dropping acrobatics, live music, singing, dancing, and more. They have performed in more than 25 countries and bring modern art, culture, and passion with them everywhere they go.
The ZUZU Acrobats exhibit gravity defying stunts while simultaneously displaying the beauty of the Tanzanian culture of East Africa. The interactive 90-minute show includes human pyramids, dish spinning, stick balance, contortion, chair balance, unicycling, juggling, hand-to-hand balance, pole acts, hoop diving, as well as comedy and more. The cast consists of 14 performers: 9 acrobats, 3 dancers and 2 musicians.
Each member of the cast has received special instructions from elders in the Bagamoyo Arts and Cultural Institute to perform these ancient traditions to audiences around the world. Some of the highlights of this training include proficiency with the ngoma (drum), contortion (ubishi wa solo), dish spinning (sahani inazunguka), chair balance (kusawazisha kiti), unicycles and bicycle tricks (baiskeli), human pyramids (mazoezi ya viungo) and much more all to the sounds of African beats.
The grace, beauty and strength of Africa stands as living testimony presented through living human art and entertainment.
