Thousands serenade French mechanical elephant parade with birthday song

Taipei, Sept. 7 (CNA) Tens of thousands of spectators gathered in Taipei on Sunday to serenade a street parade of mechanical elephants, presented by a French performing arts group, marking the 100th show of the act.

A crowd from about 50,000 gathered at the destination of the "Trois éléphants passent ..." parade in the city's Shilin District, singing a birthday song in tribute to the 100th presentation worldwide of the act by the French troupe Compagnie Oposito, according to the Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC).

The street theater presentation featured three mechanical elephants, each 4.5 meters tall and 8 meters long. It also included cultural fusion elements that combined classical music, Breton folk tunes, and street percussion performed by local groups Sun Son Theatre and Hsuan-yu Music.

"Trois éléphants passent ..." (Three elephants passing) references a European tradition in which herders move livestock like sheep, cattle, and goats between summer and winter pastures.

The 100th presentation of the show on Sunday highlighted all the locations the act had visited around the world, including Taipei, some of which were featured on the exterior design of one of the giant mechanical elephants.

According to the TPAC, about 100,000 people attended the show on the streets of Shilin District on the opening night Saturday, but the crowd was smaller on Sunday, about 50,000, likely due to the rain.

The two-day parade also streamed live, attracting 220,000 viewers and 6,000 comments, most of them positive, the TPAC said.

On Sunday night, members of Compagnie Oposito thanked the audience and the Taipei City government for helping to make the show successful, in particular the residents of Shilin for the use of their streets for an "unforgettable" performance.

The TPAC said some 800 police officers and volunteer traffic police were deployed for the show, noting that most of them were positioned at Exit 2 of MRT Shilin Station, around MRT Jiantan Station, and also in the areas of the parade.

On the two nights of the show, the Taipei Metro system increased services on the Tamsui-Xinyi line to accommodate the increased number of passengers, the TPAC said.