JW-Vol49-No1-page31

Gena Shvartsman

by Bill Giduz

The fall of communism was good news for world freedom, but bad news for legions of Soviet circus performers who suddenly found themselves without a job when state funding of their enterprise ceased. Many have emigrated elsewhere in search of steady work, and the luckiest among them have found it.

Circus fans in western nations have enjoyed this sudden influx of new talent. Those who have seen "The Greatest Show on Earth"*blue unit last year and this year have seen a young emigre' who is sure to inspire others of her gender for a long time to come - 14-year-old Gen Shvartsman.

Gena's five-minute routine, which opens the show in conjunction with acts in the other two ring, begins as the spotlight illuminates her in a pose, twirling a baton. She casts that aside quickly and picks up two hula hoops and a medium size ball, which she bounces on her head while twirling the hoops. She drops the hoops and continues to bounce the ball on her head while bending down to almost lie on the floor. She quits the bounce and picks up eight hollow plastic balls filled with sand. She tosses them all up two at a time in multiplex throws, and pirouettes under them to conclude that segment. Next is five clubs with under the leg throws. She tosses two back to her father, Yevgeniy, and finishes the act with a wide array of three club tricks, including kickups.

The opening is all-Russian for Ringling. While Gena juggles in one side ring, Idar Rakhmatoullin manipulates metal framed cubes in the other and the five-person Ivankov Troupe pass clubs in the middle ring.

Gena was born in 1983 in Grozny, Chechnya. Yevgeniy and Viktoriya Shvartsman were happy to be working

there with the Moscow Circus because Viktoriya had family there. March 2 of that year was a memorable date for the couple. It was the final day of the circus's run there, Yevgeniy bought his first car, and Gena was born.

Gena and her two sisters are the fourth generation of the Shvartsman circus family. Viktoriya performed as a member of the Russian gymnastics team, traveling to the United States to compete in 1979 where she was awarded the status of "honorary citizen." She also performed as a trapeze artist, acrobat and ballerina in Russian circuses.

Yevgeniy's grandfather and grandmother produced Circus Grimmy, which performed throughout the country before the Communist revolution in 1917. His father, Misha, founded a circus music hall with a partner, but it was taken over by the Communists in 1922. The family had a choice of giving up the profession or joining the state circus, and chose the latter.

Yevgeniy was born when the circus was playing Rostov in 1945. (le grew up in the circus environment and never considered doing anything else. Though his father did a human statue strongman act and never juggled, Yevgeniy took to juggling early, loved to practice, and was doing seven rings and five sticks (not clubs) at age 11.

He ended up developing several acts in his career, including gymnastics, acrobatics and juggling. He met and worked with many famous jugglers, and was inspired by Alexander Kiss and his sister Violetta. Yevgeniy explained, "I was a new generation and jealous of how they could do five and six sticks. I was the second to do six sticks behind Alexander, and then got better and was the first anywhere to do seven in performance. I was just 18."