MOSCOW CIRCUS REVIEW

The Moscow Circus, a collection of thirteen of the best acts from the Soviet Union's many state-owned circuses, made its fifth U.S. tour during this past November and December. This reviewer saw it in Providence, Rhode Island, with a group of other Boston jugglers.

The show was thoroughly enjoyable and the acts were excellent without exception. Several of the acts were especially interesting to us as jugglers. Strong-man juggler Valeri Guryev cascaded three steel cannonballs, did a series of throws and catches with two larger weights, balanced a barbell on his forehead, and ended his act with a series of excruciating neck catches using the cannonballs.

Ludmilla Golovko and Peter Lubichenko did an aerial ball balancing act which was very beautiful. It included the spinning of large balls on their fingers and toes, and throwing and catching a ball between them using various parts of the body, all while hanging from trapezes.

The clown, Yuri Kuklachov, was an extremely entertaining performer. During his several appearances between the other acts, he displayed an outstanding variety of skills ranging from animal training, through juggling and hat tricks, to riding the "ultimate wheel" (a unicycle with no seat -- it is very difficult to master).

For us, the high point of the show was Sergei Ignatov, billed in the program simply as "juggler". (Some of you may have seen him in the films shown at the Delaware convention.) To start his lively, fast-paced act, he ran out into the ring juggling five clubs. He then laid one down on the floor while continuing to juggle four. He laid down another and continued to juggle three. These he also laid down one at a time. Next he kicked up five balls which had been placed around the ring. After juggling five, he picked up two more and did seven. What made this so spectacular was the size of the balls he used: They were five or six inches in diameter! He ended the seven ball routine by throwing them over his shoulder, where they were caught in a net bag held by an assistant.

Then Ignatov placed a ring around his neck. Six more were held upright in a small rack on the floor. He bent down on one knee, threw the rings up two at a time, grabbed the one from around his neck, and went into a seven ring cascade. He seemed quite comfortable with seven rings. He did a series of seven-half pirouettes and full pirouettes, a half shower with sideways overthrows, and ended with "butterfly" throws (in which the rings turn perpendicular to their usual direction of spin) which he caught one by one and placed over his head.

He then kicked up the five clubs by stepping on the head of each one causing the handle to swing up into his hand.

After the third one, he commenced juggling them and continued while kicking the other two up into the pattern. Some highlights of his five clubs routine were beautiful backcrosses, under the wrist throws, and a shower. He put down two of the clubs and did a three club routine which included a dazzling series of under the ~eg and between the legs throws. He had a very neat way of picking up a dropped club. Almost before it hit the floor, he threw another club up about forty feet. By the time it came down, he had picked up the dropped one and could continue his routine. For his finale, he juggled nine rings and ended by catching each one and placing it over his head.

After the show, we were fortunate enough to meet Ignatov backstage. He was very friendly and talked to us for nearly an hour (mainly through an interpreter although he could speak some English). He said he entered the circus school at the age of four. He is now twenty-six and has been performing for the last eleven years. (I hope I got those facts correctly through the language barrier.) Someone asked him a question about his props, and to our surprise, he got them all out and let us juggle them. He said he made his own clubs. The rings were cut out of very thin yellow fiberglass and were badly chipped (and appeared to regularly cut his hands), and the balls were just kiddie balls from Japan. I can attest to the fact that there was nothing magical about Ignatov's props. His juggling skill was entirely his own.

Thinking back to the numbers competition at the Delaware convention, one of our group asked Ignatov how long he could juggle five clubs. He said that he once kept them going for sixteen minutes.

While we were backstage, Ignatov juggled eleven rings for us. He said the most difficult thing in performing such difficult feats (besides practice) is to psyche yourself up beforehand. We all left that evening with a great deal of inspiration and the feeling that jugglers allover the world are just as friendly as those at home.

--David LeDoux, MIT Juggling Club

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