JUGGLER'S GLASNOST

Bilyauer Talks About Getting Better

by Michiel Hesseling (reprinted from "Kaskade")

During my recent stay in Amsterdam there was a 100-year anniversary of the Circustheatre Carre. For this occasion there was an international show with artists from Circus Knie (animals), The Chinese Circus (contortionist), The Ringling Brothers Circus (trapeze) and none less than Ewgeny Bilyauer, a juggler from the Russian State Circus.

 

Russian jugglers are my favorite. Their technique, showmanship and style are unequaled. Naturally I had to see him. From a video at the Saintes convention, I had seen him performing five club backcrosses and going straight into a four club juggle with one balanced on his chin. He did a five club pirouette. He does three clubs, nine rings, extraordinary large ball manipulation and a four club routine with many variations I had never seen, even though 1 have seen a lot of jugglers.

 

I went backstage to ask if I could interview him for Kaskade. He agreed.

 

Ewgeny Bilyauer was born Dec. 25, 1947, in a circus family. As a child he had many interests but his father, a juggler himself, pushed him to juggle. At age 12 he joined a group doing a juggling show and his talent showed. At age 15 after finishing normal school, he was able to enroll in the Moscow Circus School .

 

- The first year he learned all the basic cir­cus skills. The second year he specialized. The second and third year he learned dance, rhythm, history of circus, theatre and art. And the third and fourth years he put together an act, with help from special circus school show designers.

 

In 1967 he graduated and has worked all over the globe since: Poland , Germany , Spain , Portugal , Sweden , Afghanistan , Holland (twice), Canada , America and Japan . As a youngster, his idols were Albert Petrowsky, his teacher (Zemtsev), and Alexander Kiss. Kiss could not only do many difficult juggling tricks, but had many other circus skills.

 

Soviet jugglers become so good because there is a lot of competition.  They push each other as friendly rivals to become better and better. Bilyauer's goal, of course, was to become the best, or at least achieve the highest level. He thinks he has reached that level, and I agree.

 

Although he just turned 40, he still works on new combinations. He showed a couple - seven club cascade, five club flash under a front roll, six club juggle to balancing one on his chin with five, then flipping it back into the six club pattern.

 

He likes contributing to a show, and wants to make it better. When I asked if he is nervous before performing, he says an artist should be. Otherwise, he becomes like a robot.

 

When I asked if he had any funny experiences, he remembered a club that broke in half as he tossed it high up and did a back flip. He looked up and saw two objects, the handle and the body! "I couldn't decide what to do, but finally caught the body. It was a good choice because it was right above the audience!" he said.

Bilyauer has invented many new tricks and combinations. He says jugglers should learn the basics of juggling and then continue working on their own invented tricks, though they might take a dozen years to learn. The Moscow State Circus School encourages this creativity. Bilyauer says quality is more important than quantity, but says improvement in technical skills are also crucial.

 

The USSR doesn't have meetings for jugglers like the West, but in the near future there will be contests that should be future meeting sites.

 

His working life follows a pattern. He becomes part of a program and tours from one city to another, staying at each for one or two months. Then he has a holiday before the next tour. The families of artists travel with them, and stay in special, comfortable circus hotels in each city. He loves traveling and seeing new places, saying "What would life be without it?"

 

But he admits that it attracts him less as he grows older. He will stop juggling when he feels it doesn't work anymore. He will get a government pension, and has offers to be a juggling teacher after retirement. But he'll make that decision at that time.

 

He hopes for individuality in the new juggling generation, and that youngsters will have the health they need to juggle their best. His teacher told him, "Don't overwork, and learn to know your body." Of course, he juggled too much anyway, and feels it in his shoulder and certain spots in his hands.

 

Seeing Soviet jugglers is a very healthy experience. If you have a chance, don't miss it. It shows you how far you can go, the many new combinations possible, and how far you have to go!

 

It's also a great dose of inspiration. The last time I met a Soviet juggler I juggled my brains out afterwards. This time I can't. I didn't follow the wise advise of Bilyauer's teacher. I overworked and badly bruised my right middle finger!

 

(Michiel Hesseling is a professional juggler living in Amsterdam.)