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Dance Review

Bending Backward, and More, to Please

When the Golden Dragon Acrobats come to town, the wonders stack up. Cathedrals of contortionists in backbend rise before your eyes, body by body. Human obstacles, which tumblers flip over, widen in person-size increments. The thrill is escalation. These touring acrobats from China know how to keep topping themselves.

In the current two-hour production at Queens Theater there are also some less salutary causes for wonder. Why, for example, is the woman who balances pyramids of plastic wine glasses on her feet (Gao Ping) assisted by sinister monks in purple sequins? And why, above all, does the director, Danny Chang, think that the amazing skills of his company are enhanced by what sounds like world elevator music?

Fortunately the show’s chintzy elements are offset not only by the performers’ extraordinary abilities but also by their mostly self-effacing manners. If a man balancing on a board atop a roller fails at first to catch a spoon in the mug on his head, as Zhang Tian Jun did early in Friday night’s performance — it happens to the best — he tries again. His calm inspires trust.

Some of the most breathtaking effects are relatively subtle. Notice the minute adjustments of aim made at the last instant by the men running though hoops. Marvel at the way, when approaching a small circle set progressively higher, they carefully regulate a string of flips so that the final release sends them through.

Still, overwhelming is overwhelming. In one number everyone rides wheels to which pedals are affixed. By the end a woman makes her wheel bounce, timing her hops to clear three jump-ropes — one that she is swinging, another being wielded by two wheel-riding friends who flank her, and yet a third rope outside that one.

At the Queens Theater all of the seats are close to the action. When women juggle umbrellas with their feet, the image is lovely and delicate. But when Hou Ya Nan juggles a table with her feet, you can feel the difference in weight of the spinning mass that could easily fly in your direction.

And when Mr. Zhang does a series of handstands atop a stack of chairs that eventually grows high enough that his toes can brush the zenith of the proscenium arch, the first few rows of the audience seem like a splash zone where more is risked than getting wet.

“One more?” Mr. Zhang asks, and everyone eggs him on except those directly below. Don’t worry. He can be trusted.

Golden Dragon Acrobats continue through Aug. 5 at Queens Theater, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park; (718) 760-0064, queenstheatre.org.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section C, Page 5 of the New York edition with the headline: Bending Backward, And More, To Please. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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