Yes... they did breathe fire. Real fire, like....... real real fire. Sorry... my language skills have not yet fully recovered from the shock I had last week at a Taiwanese puppet show. This story actually started last fall, when my voice teacher, Chia-Wei, asked me if I was still involved in the International Club. What he wanted, was International Club to co-sponsor the Taiwanese puppetry show. Several other organizations from Trinity and the San Antonio Community had already contributed to bringing the Happy Puppetry Company from Taiwan to have their show on campus. Shortly before I assumed the presidency of the club in December, we agreed it would be a great idea to donate some of our budget money to bring the company.

Probably one of the best decisions ever. This show was not like anything I've seen before in my life. The puppets fought between each other and against a puppet tiger just like you would see it in a Chinese martial arts movie. It was incredible. The first part of their show focused on the fight scenes and martial arts stuff: jumps, twirls, kicks, karate chops, sword fights and tiger bashing.

For a short clip on how it looked like: http://youtube.com/watch?v=v-VlgTdz6cw

The second part was even better. The story here is a bout the Candlelight festival, so you scroll through several characters going thorugh their daily activities and the festivities. One of the puppets actually wrote "LOVE" on a little piece of paper, after striking a matchstick on fire to light up his desk candle. The Old Man also used a matchstick to light his pipe and smoke. He actually inhaled and exhaled smoke. It was astonishing. The puppeteers were able to do amazing feats like balance pots and twirl plates on the puppets' heads. They could also make them juggle with fire and BREATHE FIRE!!!!! (Can you tell I was blown away about the fire?). Unbelievable! Incredible! The show was also accompanied by a small ensemble of traditional instruments, which made the whole show even more enjoyable. Definitely something to check out if you ever have the opportunity.