Republic of the Philippines

MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY

Fatima, General Santos City

Louise Dianne S. Amparo

PED013 - ECON

A Narrative Report about the RM Cebu Acrobatic

Performance at the Gym
Circus performers are brave individuals. They must rely on entertaining
paying customers who want to receive their money's worth when they watch
them. Along with peer pressure from their fellow performers, they are under a lot
of strain because of it. They are under pressure from that, but they are also
concerned about the acts themselves, such as playing with fire and swords or
hanging from a wire hundreds of feet in the air. They can be instantly killed if they
are not paying attention to what they are doing.

Last Tuesday, September 26, 2023, I went to MSU gym to watch the RM
Cebu acrobatics with my friends. The acrobatic performance I saw included a
circus-like gymnastic element. On tight ropes suspended high in the air, people
were walking. I witnessed a variety of sports that I had previously only seen in
images. Exactly at 7 o’clock, the show began and a big crowd had assembled
there. We were full of thrill and excitement. First came in all men dressed in red
with blue and yellow stripes. They perform and incredible balancing positions
which let them almost reach the top of the gym. In their stunts, many performers
fell or made mistakes but I think it is part of their show to bring excitement with a
touch of nervousness in the show. One by one, they jump and did a tumbling
stunts which give me an ‘awe’ reaction because as the time goes on, their
jumping at the trampoline performing a high tumbling with I think 8 people in line.
Clowns also shows up in the middle of their performance doing funny acts which
let the atmosphere filled with full of laughter inside the gym. After that, they set a
ring of fire and let each performers enter the ring with a blazing fire. A man with
only one ladder tries to climb at the top of the ladder without any help for him to
reach the top. He gives an amazing balance without falling from the ground. Next
is a man having a great balance using only one of his hand at the top of a
stainless steel with one brick of it, then the next performer does the same act but
with 6 bricks on it which gave me an heart attack because one wrong move can
easily break the arrangement of bricks and might lead him to falling to ground,
and worst will have an injury. With a high stainless steel, a man on top of it was
being carried by one man using his only right shoulders. He did a great balancing
act without letting his partner at the top fall. The show was getting more
interesting as a man was climbing at the top of the ladder with his partner using
only his feet. Then, a performer uses a 6 blocks of chair, piling it up altogether
and perform a balancing trick above it. An acrobat was suspended above in an
aerial action, as an illustration. He started a vigorous dance swinging in the rope
above. Artists who take part in performing arts employ their bodies, faces, and
presence as the creative medium. One by one, he took all of his clothes while at
the rope then dressed it all again. Next is man balancing a bicycle at the rope
without even falling. Lastly, two acrobats with a very long leg were walking in the
center and looking for a girl who can be part of their show. The crowd goes wild
as they took 2 girls and bring them in the middle, and dance them like they were
couples. That was the very last act that I watched since its getting late and
travelling way back home will take me almost 2 hours to arrive that’s why I
decided to end my acrobatic viewing even though I want to finish the show.

The art was amusing though implausible; how can someone constantly
hang on a string and actively perform without getting tired? How can someone
balance with only one hand at the top of a pile of chairs and bricks? Overall, the
reality hit me that what is recorded about the acrobats is true and is presented by
real people, not cartoons as I had imagined.