Light Up Your Senses w/ This Weekend's Hot & Spicy Entertainment
Our eyes are already tingling and our noses already running with the prospect of there being only four days between us and the masses of fiery foodstuffs at our inaugural Hot & Spicy Festival this weekend (Apr 14-15) at Galaxy Soho! The vendors are already locked and loaded having tinkered with their secret sauces and concocted their burn-quelling tonics and now all that is left to add to the mix are your eager mouths with a penchant for pain.
While you're guzzling down the goods, we've also prepared an entire weekend's worth of entertainment to keep you transfixed (distracted?) between the gasps, the "oh god's" and the heavy pattings of the brow. The acts below were chosen for their international flavor and diversity of skills as well as their ability to get you moving, get you hot under the collar, or (in the case of our annual Hot Chili Pepper Eating Competition) leave you feeling better off than some other poor souls.
Without further ado, here are the acts that you have to look forward to savoring this weekend while you're not calling for mercy.
You've seen an old man do it in the park, now watch several beautiful women do it on stage. We're of course talking about acrobatic diabolo! This troupe take the traditional dance and costumes of qiao hua dan and mix it with acrobatics before sprinkling in some diabolo for good measure. Breathtaking, fun, and highly skilled, you'll watch on as this all-female team goes Cirque du Soleil on the Chinese yo-yo, completing moves that have names like the "four-leveled pyramid with a second-quarter turn after landing". Not to be missed.
Soul Pollution play authentic Chicago blues that draws from shuffle, mojo, and even jungle beats for a heady mix that have shaped blues in America for the past 50 years. Liu Chuan on drums, Wei Wei, on guitar, Wang Zheng on bass, and Miranda on vocals are sure to get the crowds moving early in the afternoon and lay the foundations for the chili-instigated madness later in the day.
If you're not sure whether to come on Saturday or Sunday, our 8th Annual Hot Chili Pepper Eating Contest may just be the decider you need. We've once again gathered some of the city's biggest chiliheads to see who has the highest pain threshold. Unlike previous years, contestants won't be judged on how many chilies they can eat but rather who can eat the hottest chili, which means there'll be a head-to-head match until one last madman/madwoman is left standing (sitting and crying).
By this point, you may also need some physical therapy to help relieve the burn. Let Base Fit's trainers divert your gaze for a while why they walk you through what it takes to get into peak physical strength. They'll guide you through techniques best suited for a range of workouts, including functional training, bodybuilding, weight lifting, running, cycling, boxing, kickboxing, and yoga. If you don't know where chili fits into all this, studies have shown that munching on burn-inducing peppers can help you lose weight, so it won't have been a complete loss when you have to bend down to pick up your spicy hot dog.
Once someone's well and truly hurt their innards in the name of entertainment, it's time to listen to some metaphorically hard-hitting rap from Xiao Yudan, a founding member of rap group Dong Pao Xi Dian. Founded in 2011, Dong Pao Xi Dian's four members were drawn together on account of their unique outlooks and innovative spirits, mining the possibility of fusing various types of rap styles. Xiao Yu Dan got his start at 15 years old, releasing his first rap track “White Night” in 2010, garnering him a following among Beijing's student population. His lyrics flitter between humorous anecdotes and playful rhyme but come together to create something altogether stronger in scope. Expect him to drop an original track purely for our festival – spicy!
Moor Hick got their start in early 2015 out of a drunken late-night post-show conversation between its founding members about the prospect of creating music that exists without borders, much like the sounds they all respect. For Moor Hick, that means combining the sounds of North Africa and the Old South as well as recent flirtations with Mediterranean and old world tribal music, making for a whole new musical experience. This lineup will also include members of The Great Buffalo Blues band, who, like their contemporaries Soul Pollution above, are one of the most accomplished American blues-rock bands currently going in Beijing.
Adding a little shaking of hips into the tribal sounds left by Moor Hick, French bellydancer Inko will set the stage alight with her strong, elegant, and mesmerizing dances. Built from elements of oriental belly dance, flamenco, and Indian dance, Inko has studied with many of the American dance greats in her home country as well as France, Japan, and China. Now, further inspired by her experience of theater (as well as the magical fiery qualities of the chili, no doubt), she is working on developing her own dance style which is at once spiritual, expressive, and primal. Get a taste of what she's been working on this Saturday and Sunday.
Once you've been wooed by the impassioned dances of Inko, the Sazón Cuban Dancing Academy will be on hand to take your moves to the next level. Made up of the best dance teachers from Cuba, Sazón pride themselves on teaching their students – in this case, you, the crowd – the most updated Cuban dance theory in a fun environment. Practice your best danzón, mambo, and cha-cha-cha just in time to get one more round of spicy grub in your belly.
Finally, there's a reason why Mix is continuously one the busiest Gongti clubs: well, as for anyone who has been, it's easy to forget exactly why per se, but we're pretty sure it has to do with the tried and tested combination of world-class DJs spinning world-class tunes among world-class parties, or should that be, partiers of the world? Either way, the same will be true come this weekend except the whole shebang will move from the heart of Sanlitun to Galaxy Soho so as to keep you moving till the very end of our Hot & Spicy Festival.
And that's it, folks! We hope you're all fired up and ready to go for this weekend's bonanza of all things spice. If you need more, catch all of our Hot & Spicy content here: thebeijinger.com/2018-hot-spicy-festival, including (non-exhaustive) details of specific cuisines that will be available. Remember, you can avoid the queues and get a special edition Hot & Spicy Festival bandana simply by grabbing your RMB 20 presale tickets below. Scan the appropriate QR code and be whisked through to our WeChat store:
Images: monacochannel.mc, courtesy of the entertainers, the Beijinger
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