Chinese Acrobats

The early 20th century was difficult times world-wide, but a golden age for contortion because all performers in the world really worked hard to impress the public. Many people were poor, to become a public entertainer was one way to make a living but there was a really strong competition, so if someone wanted to be a performer they had to invest their whole time and heart into it and become professionals in the full sense of the word.

The results were truly impressive! ^^ This drawing was inspired by a troupe of Chinese contortionists performing back in 1935, as seen in the video "Esibizione di un gruppo di cinesi contorsionisti", especially by the beautiful extremely flexible pose the boy oh-so-easily pulls around 1:00 ^^ He must have been stretching himself backwards every day for many hours to be able to bend that far! O.O The rest of the show with the other boy putting his feet behind his back was none the less impressive!! XD