Flying monks return for more shows
The legendary flying Shaolin Monks have returned to Athens another series of performances. Shows will kick off tonight at the capital’s Coronet Theater and will run to November 5. The group will then embark on a tour around Greece which will run to the end of January. The show, titled «Shaolin – The Spirit,» chronicles a young student’s quest for the absolute truth and his guidance by an old Shaolin teacher. All that is set against a backdrop of dance, theater, kung fu and meditation. The Shaolin motto is that the mind takes over the body, which leads to amazing stunts such as breaking granite with your head, walking on a ladder made out of knives and throwing all your body weight on just two fingers. Abstention from violence For the past 1,500 years the monks, based in the Shaolin temple hidden away in the mountains of the northern Henan province, have studied the traditional Chinese wushu, which is the root of all Asian martial arts. Thousands of monks, some of them very young, engage in daily training under very harsh circumstances, so as to achieve perfection and the absolute victory of mind over body. It is a tradition of peace, harmony and spirituality, forgotten for many years because of war and interventions. The Shaolin are undercover warriors who preach abstention from violence via the peaceful method of kung fu. The Coronet shows will be followed by shows in Patras (November 6 and 7), Alexandroupolis (November 12), Thessaloniki (November 17 to 19) and Volos (November 20). The dates for the rest of their tour have yet to be announced. The Coronet Theater is situated at 11 Frynis & Hymettou, Pangrati (tel 210.701.2123).
