Chen Xiaochun

654789759@qq.com

THE Fringe Parade, the theatrical centerpiece of the Fringe Festival and a momentous force in Shenzhen’s festival culture, was held on Shenzhen Bay Avenue on Sunday afternoon. Some 250 artists of 17 teams from around the globe gathered for the one-day carnival.

The artists were divided into two groups and marched from the two ends of Shenzhen Bay Avenue towards the main stage in the middle for a performance, propelling the event to its climax.

Among the 17 teams, an airborne performance by the Mandrágora Circo from Argentina and a harp performance by the Yerko Lorca & Kuan Yin from China’s Taiwan headed the parade. “CANDYman” by JOHNman, now an old friend of the Fringe Festival, also showed up at the Sunday event together with “Cartoonette” by Ita Branco, the first time the two living statue artists have performed on the Fringe stage at the same time.

“This is my fifth time joining the festival. My first time was in 2012. I feel really great. People in Shenzhen are really nice. And I want to say thank you to the festival organizer for inviting me again and again. I am really proud and happy to be here. The crowd is amazing. I have travelled around the globe with my show, but Shenzhen almost has the biggest crowd,” JOHNman told the Shenzhen Daily.

“Fly Art Butterfly” presented by Artfusion, lively music performed by Le Groupe Electrogene Fanfare Club from France, the Brazilian ADCCM team from China’s Macao and the stilt performance by Black Sand Theater and Long Fung Theater from China’s Macao also earned the accolades of the audience.

The dance “Chinese Dream” by a group of elderly Chinese matrons and the performance by kids also contributed part of the lively scene.

“This is the first time I’ve joined the Fringe Festival. It was an amazing experience. The quality of the other artists like the old Chinese ladies was very good. It’s really international because the teams are from different countries like Brazil and Portugal,” said Jean Edouard Aguie with Le Groupe Electrogene Fanfare Club.

Sebastien Salin with Le Groupe Electrogene Fanfare Club agreed that it was a really good experience. “Here the audience is pretty amazing. They are really interactive and they were playing with us. We would love to do it again because Chinese people are amazing.”

“We want to say thank you to the organizer of the festival. People were very receptive and amazing. They were very cheerful. And we are happy to win the first prize in the parade,” said Clement Mycountry with the same French group.

The French group was named the best parade team of the day, while Cartonnette and CANDYman won the best visual team award. Long Fung Theater and Artfusuion were the most creative team awards winners, while Cheerleaders of SZPT and Mandrágora Circo were named the best performance teams.