Posted on 02/13/2008 5:10:42 AM PST by Dysart
With only some luggage, stage props and one-way tickets to Dallas, 18 Chinese acrobats and coaches found themselves at a homeless shelter Tuesday.
Members of the Guanhua Acrobatic team from Shanghai, China, had just started a nine-month performance tour of the United States when they arrived in Dallas on Monday evening. But they were stranded, with no one to meet them at the airport, no transportation and no shelter.
Bill Thompson, executive director of the Union Gospel Mission homeless shelter, stepped in to help Monday.
"We got a call from Wisconsin from a guy named Gary. He said they were en route at the time," Mr. Thompson said. "He said no one would step up to the plate. We didn't know what that meant, either."
It meant that Gary, a businessman associated with the team, had run out of money and couldn't take care of the performers. A planned Dallas performance had gone bust, Mr. Thompson said.
When reached by phone Tuesday evening, Gary declined to provide his last name or answer questions.
"What really concerns me is Gary, who's supposed to be 'the guy,' has no money. He's tapped out. He's living with his mother," Mr. Thompson said.
Mr. Thompson and two other members of the mission drove three vans to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, unsure of how to find the young acrobats.
"I should have probably taken a sign that said, 'Chinese Acrobatic Team,' " he joked.
He found eight of the performers huddled around a luggage carousel. Mr. Thompson, who doesn't speak any Chinese, said the magic word: "Are you the acrobatic team?
"And they said, 'Acrobat! Acrobat!' "
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
The team's nine-month U.S. tour ended almost as soon as it began. The team has no money and only one-way airplane tickets.
I don’t think a troupe of Chinese acrobats would be that hard to find, even in an airport . . . but that’s just me.
But what Mr. Thompson did not realize was Acrobatic in Chinese meant "would you like to sleep with my wife?"
Homeless shelter and Chinese acrobats?
Don’t let the bums get a hold of the real plates.
/mark
Sounds like the Guanhua Acrobatic Team got taken for a ride by a stateside huckster. They look like nice enough kids. Maybe a local benefactor can step up to the plate and put together enough dough to salvage their tour.
Either way, I see material for a great screwball comedy (or heartwarming family drama) here.
I see you’ve never been to DFW airport before. Makes the UN look provincial.
DFW has 5 terminals, each with about 40 gates/luggage places.
It would take a long time just to walk past all the luggage carousels.
Odd. The 9/11 hijackers had one way tickets as well.
I would hope in order to come to the USA you would be required that you had a way to leave. aka Return ticket.
Is this part of their act?
Well they are a lot easier to find than a group of Mexican Acrobats.........
You have to pay extra for that...
I like it! Sort of like "Eight is Enough" meets "The Partridge Family" meets "Bozo's Circus".
No, I'm telling you that I would have no trouble finding a troupe of Chinese acrobats at an airport. (And I used O'Hare in my mind as a reference).
It wouldn't be that complicated, if you are familiar with airports.
I thought the guy in the middle was holding up the beds. I remember seeing stuff like that on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Headline of the month.
Well it sure got my notice.
It's always a balancing act to achieve the proper attention-grabbing header, while simultaneously juggling journalistic integrity.
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