JUGGLING THROUGH THE USSR WITH CIRCUS SMIRKUS

By Toby Ayer

  

We started juggling in the Toronto airport. While waiting by our gate, fellow traveler Tracy Hewat used her new red beanbags while I learned to throw playing cards by tossing them at her from across the room. We probably didn't look like a normal tour group, and we weren't. Circus Smirkus was going to Moscow.

 

In December 1989 my mother called me to say that Rob Mermin, founder and artistic director of Circus Smirkus, was planning a trip to the USSR. I had been a member of the Vermont youth circus since its start three years before, and was one of those asked to join Mermin on the trip.

 

Our group included 11 young performers, all at least one-year Smirkus alumni. We were acrobats, clowns, tightrope walkers and three 15-year-old jugglers - Nolan Haims, Duane Barnen and me. We traveled with five Smirkus adults, including Mermin, Tracy Hewat, and professional juggler Stewart Uppe. A local newspaper sent a reporter and photographer, and an independent videographer joined us in Moscow. The trip's cosponsor, Project Harmony, sent interpreter Dave Hosford.

 

On June 8 our Soviet hosts were waiting for us in Moscow, offering the customary flowers and buttons. A bus took us to the circus hotel, "Arena," where we stayed for six days.

 

On the first day we took a brief tour of Moscow, including lunch and dinner at the "old" Moscow Circus building. We saw the show there that night. There were several animal acts, tightrope, skateboards and an impossible magic act, but no juggling.

 

We started our own circus work the next morning. The bus took us to what we thought for days was the Moscow Circus School, but turned out to be just a studio. There were nine young Soviet children there, sons and daughters of Moscow Circus performers, and some of them hoped to continue with the circus.

 

They included three Soviet jugglers - Ruslan Anokhin (12), Misha Ivanov (10) and Peter Sarach (12). Ivanov's solo act included unicycling, five balls and a split while juggling. Anokhin was working on five clubs.

 

Though his juggling was very good for his age, it seemed Anokhin hadn't had time to play, to get fluid and comfortable with his props. His clubs were very light, with a long wooden handle and a six-sided plastic body. They seemed home-made, as did most other clubs I saw (at least four different styles) in the country.

 

The following day at the studio Lippe developed a group juggling act. Each of us took a Soviet partner. The act began with each pair sharing three objects. Then the Soviets, all three smaller than us, sat on our shoulders and everyone juggled at once. Anokhin and I followed with a club "duel", I did a trick and then he did it. We did under -the-legs, back crosses, and kickups. We passed for 10 showered throws, and I collected all six to finish. Haims did five rings. We all did about 20 seconds of random solo juggling and took a final bow.

 

While we were practicing in the studio, there was a juggler on the side doing five and six balls, then kicking up the seventh. He caught balls on his feet, and even juggled two with one foot. Another unknown juggler worked on five clubs.

 

That evening's performance at the "new" Moscow Circus building was a completely different experience than at the old site. This building was modern, with technology to match. Three of the five

changeable ring floors were used in the show, including a water tank filled during intermission.

 

The four men in the main juggling ad put on a fast-paced club passing routine, constantly turning, weaving or lying down. They continued with two eight. club patterns, still moving around. After a few variations with 24 metal dishes, all were shot incredibly fast to one man who caught them all on the first try.

 

The two clowns in the show did a beautifully simple reprise with just three clubs. One carried the other, who juggled the clubs, under his arm. After being set down the juggler went through a series of positions, essentially walking on top of the other, who executed a slow backwards roll. The juggler lost neither his control of the clubs nor the resigned expression on his face. He was picked up and carried off by his partner as slowly as the two had entered.

 

Following a visit the next day to the new circus building to watch the tigers train, we returned to the old circus.

 

As we were leaving the building, Haim and I saw 14-year-old Sergei Ignatov, nephew of the great Soviet juggler. Little Sergei was juggling five propeller-like objects, which looked remarkable when spun in the air. Right next to Sergei was a woman multiplexing six balls, and working on seven.

 

Morning and afternoon practices the next day ended with dinner at the new circus. At the same time, yet another unknown juggler was practicing. She was doing back cross flashes with four clubs. Her five club back crosses were not as good, but five and seven rings were. The last trick I saw her do was six rings while balancing a pole on her forehead.

 

One of the most exciting moments of the trip came when we finally visited the Moscow Circus School a day later. Former Moscow Circus juggler Violetta Kiss, now a teacher, briefed us on the school's history and then announced that we would have a juggling clinic.