UK's percussion show returns to China

From June to September 2016, Stomp, a well-known percussion performance stage show, was shown in Beijing some 70 times, which attracted about 50,000 people. This year, it will return to the city from Sept 26 to Oct 6, and will be staged at the Poly Theater.

The show, created in Brighton, in the United Kingdom, in the summer of 1991, is the result of a 10-year collaboration between Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas.

The duo first worked together in 1981 as members of the street band Pookiesnackenburger and the theater group Cliff Hanger.

Together, these groups presented a series of street comedy musicals at the Edinburgh Festival throughout the early 1980s.

The show now in its 17th year, is an international hit, and has been staged in 53 countries with over 20,000 performances, including one at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London.

"It's always a surprise to us that Stomp continues to be so popular all over the world. I think the universal language of rhythm is something in all of us, no matter where we are from. The show has grown as it has traveled, influenced by the different performers, different cultures and different rhythms from around the world," Cresswell says.

After Beijing, the show will travel to Guangdong, Chengdu, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

Stomp first played in Hong Kong in the 90s. And Cresswell recalls that it was great to visit although they had to search all over to find scrap metal for the show.

They have since played in Shanghai and Beijing.