Limbo troupe is a fair favorite

COSTA MESA — It’s a moment that always astonishes the crowd. Juma Mwasahani sets up a limbo bar in the middle of the stage, wriggles under it twice, then lowers the bar to barely a foot off the ground. As the audience claps in unison, the acrobat flattens his back to the carpet and slowly pushes himself to the other side.

It’s a stunt that might exhaust even a seasoned performer, but Mwasahani, the leader of the Mapapa African Acrobats, performs it four times a day. The troupe, which hails from Kenya and has performed around the world, puts on shows every afternoon and evening in the Fair Square at the Orange County Fair.

The Mapapa team, which consists of Mwasahani, his cousin and three brothers, trained at the Sarakasi Trust school for acrobats in Nairobi. The show features jaw-dropping stunts involving hoops and human pyramids. With the group’s years of experience, though, it doesn’t involve much rehearsing.

“We don’t practice,” Mwasahani said after his 3 p.m. show Saturday. “We just talk. We say we’re going to do this and this, and then we do it.”

At 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m. every day during the fair, the acrobats lay out a simple rug on the blacktop and put on a series of elaborate moves. This year marks the second time the current group has performed at the Orange County Fair, although their manager, Dennis Condon, has brought other Mapapa lineups to the fair in the past.

The Mapapas, Condon said, have amassed a growing following among fairgoers.

“People ask us, ‘Are you going to bring the Africans to the fair again this year?’” he said. “And I say, ‘Well, we pretty much have to.’”

Charlie Kwan, 11, of Irvine was among those gawking from the sidelines during the first show on Saturday.

“It was fantastic,” he said after watching the members hold each other up in a pyramid. “They have a lot of arm strength.”

To see more photos of the Orange County Fair, click here.

To Do:

VIVA EL MARIACHI

The Orange County Fair offers an eclectic mix of entertainment, with a Hungarian sand artist, acrobats from China and Kenya, and international food booths. Tonight in the O.C. Register Arena, Mariachi King Jose Hernandez and the Mariachi Sol de Mexico will present music and dance from south of the border. The show starts at 8 p.m. and is free with regular fair admission.

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

The musical lineup tonight in the Pacific Amphitheatre won’t be for the faint of heart, as the hard-rock trio of Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal and The Duke Spirit puts the amplifiers on 11. The first chords sound at 7 p.m. with tickets at $39.50.

PIGLETS

They tumbled out of the womb on Friday, they’re still adorable— and crowds have been gathering around them ever since. See them up close at the Centennial Farm, located adjacent to the Pacific Amphitheatre.