If a colorful cascade of tumbling umbrellas catches your eye on a trip to central Florida, check it out. Chances are you'll be witnessing the unusual spectacle of Russian circus clown Iouri Kreis.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many Russian and Ukranian jugglers have traveled westward in search of new audiences and better pay. Kreis (pronounced to rhyme with "trace"), a former member of the Russian Circus troupe "the Akishins," has settled in in Winter Haven, Fla., (between Tampa and Orlando), where he and his comrades have been working at Cypress Gardens.

Like most Russian circus artists, Kreis is well versed in many aspects of physical comedy and acrobatics. The Akishins specialize in spectacular jump rope tricks, and Iouri used to perform as part of their team show. Recently, though, he has been a featured solo act performing with his uncommon prop.

Wearing full clown makeup, Kreis crouches and waddles into the circus ring hidden between four open umbrellas held in a dome shape around his body: He moves into the center of the ring before revealing himself to the crowd. In playful clown style, he flips an umbrella over, catching it at the last instant of its erratic tumble. Then he balances it on his foot, and kicks it up to his forehead for another balance.

The umbrella's shape makes it fall more slowly, which allows Kreis to propel it upward from his forehead while balancing it, as if head-bouncing a ball. The umbrella appears to hop up and down under its own power, coming to rest gently between hops. He transfers it back to his foot, and back to the forehead with ease.

Then the juggling begins. To the music of Mancini's "Pink Panther Theme," Kreis juggles three open umbrellas in several patterns: basic cascade, columns, double flips. Then he attaches two umbrellas one atop the other and balances them on his forehead. Holding the other two umbrellas one in each hand, he begins to swing his arms between the umbrella handle and his forehead, hopping the umbrella up each time to allow his arm to pass through. He turns as he repeats this trick, allowing everyone in the audience to see it. He has such control of the balanced umbrella stack that it seems like there is an invisible cable holding it up while he hops beneath it. Finally, he picks up a third umbrella and juggles three while balancing the stack of two.

Kreis was born in Murmansk, Russia, on March 8, 1962. He is the only circus performer in his family: He studied tap dancing and comic acrobatics at the Maslukov (1975-80) and Moscow (1986-91) circus schools, and learned to juggle five each of balls, clubs and rings.

But since everyone seemed to be performing similar juggling tricks, Kreis looked for an idea that would make his show unique and memorable. His teacher in Moscow, Irina Ossinsova, suggested umbrellas because of their interesting looping turn and their large, visible size. They worked together for three years to create and polish his current presentation.

During his most recent appearances at Cypress Gardens, Kreis has also been performing "Nanaika," the Eskimo dance. This piece must be seen to be appreciated! Two three-foot Eskimo puppets, grasping each other firmly about the shoulders, rise up out of a small box in the ring and begin to dance and hop around. They begin to tussle and kick at each other, twirl around, tumble into the audience, and eventually climb tandem up onto a chair.

Their cartoonish movement suggests something unusual, and at the end of the dance, one Eskimo stands up, revealing that a stretched-out Kreis controls both dancers! The comical style and choreography of the "Nanaika" make the audience laugh, but the act requires serious stamina and control on the part of the performer.

Fortunately, Iouri is in excellent shape. He used to jump rope as part of a three-person tower, and jumped solo on his hands, propelling himself off the ground from a handstand for every pass of the rope!  Needless to say, the trick takes a toll on the performer's wrists, and Iouri is glad to be focusing on juggling now.

While Kreis continues performs with umbrellas, he is interested in buying some clubs to use for shows outside the circus ring. He is good with kickups, and can stand on a chair and catch he­licopter drops on his foot without the aid of the floor.

Kreis also has an interesting variation on floaters: he tosses them with the clubs totally vertical, bulb upward, in a cascade. He expressed interest in attending an IJA festival to see American juggling and shop the vendors' tables.

Kreis's favorite jugglers are Valentin Tchirnov, Rudy Schweitzer, Eugeny Bilauer, and Sergei Ignatov. He said that the best thing about the opening of the former Soviet Union is the freedom to travel, and especially for performers to seek good jobs in other countries. The down side is that, with curtailed state funding, circuses and circus schools in the former Soviet Union are losing much of their polish. For example, Kreis pointed out that circuses used to put on two shows every day, but they are now limited to weekend shows.

Also, many of the best artists have left Russia for the West. Vladimir Tsarkov is in Switzerland, and Gregory Popovich and Anatoly Myaskostuvopov are in Las Vegas. Kreis said that even Eugeny Bilauer, the famous club master, is working somewhere in western Europe. Despite its shrinking budget, however, Kreis thinks the Russian circus will survive to continue its rich tradition. He said he plans to return to Russia eventually, at least to visit and perform.

For the time being, though, he'll stay in the States with his young family: While at Cypress Gardens, Iouri met and married Tracy: They now live in Winter Haven with two daughters, Jordan and Katelin.