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"The big problem with seven is starting with four in one hand. When we started with five she put two in each hand and balanced one on her head, and now she is learning seven with one on her head also. It's the same thing! I think she will get the seven clubs in another year or so. I want her to perform seven clubs because I don't know of any woman who's ever performed it, and there are very few men who do it in performance, either."
He maintains a meticulous log of her practice. "I count everything," he said. "Over the course of a single day I have counted her bouncing a ball on her head 8,000 times, and she has done a cartwheel between bounces as much as 300 times in a day."
She loves competition, and was eager to take on 1995 IJA junior champion Vladik Miagkostoupov at a seven ball endurance contest when the two families met in Atlantic City not long ago.
She does other acts as well, including twirling two hats with hand-held sticks, balancing a spoon on her head while she sits on the floor and rolls over, and contortion. She and her father do an act together in which they pass eight clubs and do synchronous juggling of three and five clubs.
Gena's versatility has been recognized not only by audiences, but by fellow performers. Last winter in Denver the Ringling performers staged a talent show in which they were not allowed to do the act they do on stage. Colleagues voted Gena as the winner for her performance of contortion and balancing.
The family had been planning for her to compete in the Cirque de Demain in Paris in January as well. The plans were in place and plane tickets were purchased, but they were not able to obtain visas at the last minute because they have only green cards and not US passports.
Gena's younger sister, eight-year-old Vikki, is working on her juggling also, and is already doing four balls and three clubs. She appears in the show now doing some acrobatics with her father at the end of Gena's act. Yevgeniy believes Vikki can be as good as Gena, and hopes the two will develop an act together as well as separate acts. He is also certain that infant Maria will follow her sisters into the ring. In his wildest dreams, he would develop a balancing act for one of his girls with a sea lion!
But at the same time he passes on his techniques, he is trying to pass on a solid value system that will maintain them in whatever endeavors they choose. "I always tell her the work isn't for money, it's for her life!" Yevgeniy said. "Life is short. I say, 'Be first for you, Gena, not for money or your manager. It's your life.'" |