The Magical World of the Russian Circus

“Everything I see in the arena blends into something triumphant, where skill and strength celebrate their victory over mortal danger.”

Maxim Gorky

“Oy, how I love the Tsirk”, bellows Alexander Frish, a charismatic and eccentric performer who has been clowning around in the Russian Circus for over 25 years. Frish calls the circus “the universal language of joy and laughter that lets us all become children again.” The circus is indeed a magical world, full of vibrant artistry, precision and grace. It is a highly respected art form that, in Russia, is taken as seriously as the theater and classical ballet.

It is also one of the country’s most popular forms of entertainment – over half the Russian population attends at least one circus performance a year. More than 50 permanent circus buildings (more than in the rest of the world combined) are scattered in cities stretching across Russia’s 11 time zones, from Moscow to Siberia. From the capital, the Russian State Circus Company, Rosgostsirk, oversees 40 circus collectives, 15 tent circuses, nine animal circuses, circuses on ice, and the Circus of Lilliputians – in all comprising over 3,000 artists who perform in traditional single-ring circuses throughout Russia and more than 25 countries each year. 

The circus is one of the world’s most ancient performing arts. Circus Maximus, founded in 329 bc, continued operating until the Roman Empire fell in the 5th century. When Russia adopted Byzantine Christianity in 988 ad, it imported many of the arts and customs from Constantinople as well. One thousand year-old frescoes painted inside Kiev’s Sofia Cathedral depict musicians, dancers, and even a man holding a long wooden pole, with a young boy ascending to the small square platform at the top.

By the 11th century, Russian skomorokhi (the origin of this word is uncertain; some think it derives from the French searamouche, a comedic-musician) acted as wandering minstrels, roaming the countryside, singing and playing music. Russian carnivals, the baraban, also traveled with tumblers, dancers and performing bears, staging acts at local markets and fairs. They were especially popular during holidays and harvest times, and even performed at monasteries.

By the 13th and 14th centuries, many tournaments were organized around horse competitions. At jousting and riding events, participants dressed in brightly decorated costumes. The pantomimist developed silent theatrical skits when his voice could no longer reach the larger audiences. Even the art of clowning originated at these types of festivals. (Clowns were eccentric, from the Latin, meaning “off center.”) By acting comical and boisterous, the jester could entice crowds over to a particular booth or attraction. For amusement rides, crude wooden Ferris wheels were constructed; the first carousels or merry-go-rounds used real horses.

The performing arts had became so popular by the 17th century that the Russian Church (alongside Patriarch Nikon’s many strict reforms in 1648) decided to ban all forms of public entertainment. The Church regarded performers as partners with the devil, whose function was to entice the audience to sin. Needless to say, the religious ruling did not have much effect. Peasants joked that they would merely repent after a performance and be forgiven anyway. And the aristocracy built their own theaters at home, hiring visiting troupes. One of Tsar Alexei’s (1645-1676) primers even described a jester who was at court with trained dogs and bears.

Peter the Great (1689-1725) began his reign by overturning the Church edict banning amusements. He allowed open entertainment spots to be built all around his new capital of St. Petersburg, and even permitted women to perform. Peter especially loved the shuti, or jokesters, and court functions frequently included theatrical spectacles. Fireworks were set off in the Summer Gardens, and the Swan Canal had a tiny boat for Peter’s favorite court jester.

During the reign of Peter’s daughter, Elizabeth I, an article in a St. Petersburg newspaper described performances made by trained bears, strongmen who lifted logs with their teeth, and rope walkers who danced on lines tied between trees on the grounds of the Royal Palace. Rope walking originated with traders who, to demonstrate a rope’s strength and durability, would string it between two trees and then hang and step on it. Tightrope, highwire and ladder balancing later evolved from these common merchant demonstrations.

In the 18th century, the horse was a central feature of everyday life. It was Peter the Great who initiated construction of the city’s first “horse factories.” Their main purpose was to get horses ready for manège showings (and wars). Many of the upper classes had their own manege rings, and dressage was even studied in school. It is no wonder, therefore, that equestrian events played a central role in that era’s public entertainment, and in the evolution of the modern circus.

THE FIRST CIRCUSES 

In 1768, the first modern circus was created in England by Philip Astley, a former cavalry officer turned trick rider. He named his spectacle “circus,” from the Latin, meaning circle or ring. (The Russian word tsirk stems from the French cirque.) Astley’s circus consisted mainly of trick riding, tumbling and wrestling events that were all performed inside a 42-foot-wide ring – the ideal width for his exhibitions of horsemanship. His popular circus performed throughout Europe.

It was one of Astley’s horsemen (and later rivals), the dashing Charles Hughes, who first introduced the circus to Russia. In 1793, when Hughes brought his equestrian troupe to perform before the Empress Catherine II at the Imperial Court, it caused an immediate sensation. Catherine the Great was so taken by Hughes and, of course, his horses, that she rewarded him with a private circus and, so the story goes, with her intimate favors as well. (In the same year, Hughes’ pupil, John Bill Ricketts, introduced the modern circus to American audiences in Philadelphia.) Over the next decade, the circus became so popular that, by 1811, an amphitheater was built in Moscow to accommodate 5,000 spectators.

By the mid-19th century, other circus entrepreneurs, mainly from France and Italy, had established circuses in many of Russia’s major cities. On November 22, 1845, the Cirque Olympique gave its first performance on Merry-Go-Round Square (today’s Theater Square) in St. Petersburg. It was run by the Italian equestrian, Alessandro Guerra, who had the nickname Il Furioso, for his tempestuous style of trick-riding. Set within a large, wooden, rectangular-shaped building, Olympique had six Ionic columns marking the portico entrance. To survive the cold, dark St. Petersburg winters, the space was well-heated, well-lit and comfortably decorated; there was even a coffee house set up next door.

Over 40 performers were decked out in lavish European-style costumes, and the beauty and talent of the female equestriennes particularly guaranteed the tour’s success. Crowds utterly adored the panneau ballerinas who (while dressed in tutus) stood and balanced on ‘flat wooden saddles’ as their trotting horses pranced around the ring.

Just one year later, the success of the Cirque Olympique was unexpectedly undermined when another prominent circus came to town, the Cirque de Paris. (By this time, St. Petersburg was a bilingual city and French the language of the court.) At the heart of the company was Paul Cuzent, considered one of Europe’s finest horsemen. Their wooden circus building opened near the Alexandrinsky Theater (today’s Pushkin Theater) off Nevsky Prospekt. This circus radiated a greater feeling of intimacy, with carpeted corridors, fragrance burners and an elegant parlor atmosphere. Cirque de Paris also incorporated many novel acts into its show, including magicians and animal trainers.

With the two circuses vying for attendance, Guerra got Count Orlov – whose family had helped sponsor Hughes’ debut – to contribute money so his Cirque Olympique could hire new, eye-catching Parisian acts. Meanwhile, Cuzent’s three beautiful sisters – Armantine, Pauline and Antoinette – enticed audiences with their ravishing costumes and remarkable equestrienne skills. Prince Konstantin Nikolaevich, a member of the royal family, was said to have succumbed to the charms of Antoinette, who was already wedded to the circus’ producer, Jean Lejars. The Circus battles ended three months later, when the Cirque Olympique conceded defeat and moved on to perform in Vienna.

Tsar Nicholas I, reflective of his strict censorship of artistic expression, wasted no time in reigning in the competitive circus wars. As soon as the Cirque Olympique left town, the once foreign-owned circuses were put under complete state control. The Management of Imperial Theaters acquired the two circus buildings, and Cuzent’s Cirque de Paris was grandly renamed the Cirque de la Direction des Théâtres Impériaux. Nicholas personally signed all authorizations, approved programs, and even delegated performers’ salaries and vacation times.

In addition, Nicholas thought it was high time that his country’s Imperial Circus had more Russian performers. So, in 1847, Nicholas ordered the creation of the world’s very first circus school, which included classes in horsemanship, trick-riding and acrobatics. There were already schools for drama, music and dance; France’s famous Marius Petipa, who redefined classical ballet, was the ballet master of the Imperial Dance School. Meanwhile, the tsar ordered the demolition of the Cirque Olympique; in its place, an even grander building was erected.

The Imperial Circus, which premiered to the public on January 29, 1849, cost a whopping 216,000 rubles. It was a large stone, classically-designed complex, filled with crimson velvet seats, chandeliers and gas-light candelabras. Paul Cuzent, now the circus’ director, filled the luxurious interior with the first grandiose pantomimes. One, The Alta Blockada, included a choir, a troupe of 22 Cossack horsemen, and over 100 enlisted men from the Imperial Army. After the building caught fire on January 22, 1859, Alexander II invited the famous architect, Alberto Kavos, to rebuild it. The following year, on October 2, the new structure reopened as the Mariinsky Theater (the Kirov from 1935 to 1992), now to display operas and ballets.

Shortly before Nicholas I’s death in 1855, another circus building had been constructed on Admiralty Square, and was leased to visiting companies. Here, in 1861, aerial master Jules Léotard was honored with standing ovations. As early as 1828, newspapers told of a Flying Indian who performed on elevated cords in Astley’s circus. But the flying trapeze act is credited to this Frenchman who, in 1859, began to swing and somersault from one trapeze bar to another in the Cirque Napoleon in Paris, wearing the first “leotard.” In Russia, Léotard was banned from wearing his signature full body tights by the Imperial Censors and was forced to wear a costume of black pants and white shirt. With this new craze, single trapezes were hung from the underside of hot air balloons or on moving, horse-drawn floats. For a while, performers even flew through paper or burning hoops. The great leap forward came in the 1880’s, when flyers began to do tricks to catchers and return back to the trapeze board.

Over a century later, Russia’s Flying Cranes would tour the world as one of the greatest aerial acts of all time. The act’s producer, Vil Golovko joked that “I was baptized on the trampoline when I was seven months old.” Taking five years to perfect a routine before a single performance, the ten flyers combine extraordinary trapeze and acrobatic skills and utilize all aspects of the net and trapeze, creating an exquisite aerial ballet. Soaring to the “Ride of the Valkyries,” the Cranes are a Wagnerian poem in motion.

Russian circus performers often create their acts around a story. The Cranes’ act was first inspired by a popular Russian folk song (Cranes, sung by Mark Bernes) commemorating WWII. (The popularity of the 1957 war film, The Cranes Are Flying, also influenced the act.) It is about friendship and sacrifice, about the spirits of fallen soldiers turning into white cranes and flying away, their souls released to heaven. The only female in the act plays the last of the fallen cranes, and is courageously rescued so that peace may prevail. In 2003, a new generation of The Flying Cranes made their debut in Moscow’s Tsirk Nikulina.

THE GOLDEN AGE

By the late 19th century, it was fashionable to visit the circus of Gaetano Ciniselli, an entrepreneur from Milan. (Ciniselli first performed in the Cirque Olympique.) His first circus building, built in 1877 along the Fontanka Canal, still houses today’s St. Petersburg Circus. The Ciniselli Circuses were the center of performance activity up to the 1917 Revolution, and were mainly filled with trick riding events and wrestling matches (the wrestlers later became circus strongmen).

In 1883, the Brothers Nikitin (see placard, page 51) constructed a two-ring, outdoor circus on Khodiinsky Field in Moscow that held 15,000 spectators. (Ten years earlier, P. T. Barnum had opened the first three-ring circus in America.) Over the next few decades, the Ciniselli, Nikitin and Salamonsky families went on to establish circuses in cities all around the country, from Kiev and Kazan to Yaroslavl and Novgorod.

During this time, the clowns, who were originally brought in as mere comic relief, soon developed a more meaningful and humanistic connection with the masses. Since the 11th century, Russian mimes – or vatagami (“in support of the masses”) – had been poking fun at the upper classes. By the end of the 1800’s, the clowns were also supporting public views of opposition to the tsars.

Nowhere in the world were circus performers as politically active as in turn-of-the-century Russia. The circus became a haven for protests, where uncensored sketches depicting the tumultuous state of tsarist Russia were tolerated. Since the circus was the most popular form of entertainment available to the common man, the clown began a tradition of activist social comedy, and took every opportunity to satirize the tsars, landowners and merchants. The most popular clown of the time, Vitaly Lazarenko, once even protested on stilts through Moscow’s Red Square. 

On occasion, the performers did get in trouble. For example, Lazarenko was once banned from performing after staging a skit on the 1905 revolution. A sign was posted: “Banned by the city of Orinberg. Vitaly Lazarenko. After 5 pm he is forbidden to perform any longer because of words he spoke on the 3rd of September at the circus, concerning his views on the Russian Constitution.” Later, however, Lazarenko performed before soldiers on the front lines during WWI.

The Durov brothers, Anatoly and Vladimir, were among the most beloved circus performers in Russia, and quite creative dissenters. Born of nobility, their mother, Alexandra, was said to have disguised herself as a Hussar and fought against Napoleon. First sent off to military school, the brothers later ran away and joined the circus. They went on to become outstanding clowns and animal trainers. The brothers established a highly effective approach to animal training that had a profound impact on animal acts around the world. “All my knowledge and all my heart are for the people,” said Vladimir who, in 1927, celebrated 50 years of work in the Russian Circus. The Durovs went on to found one of Russia’s first circus dynasties; today, the fourth generation of Durovs performs in the Russian circus, and Moscow hosts the famous Durov Animal Theater for children.

“Galai, would you like to go to the circus today? If so, we’ll expect you at 6:30 p.m. If not, lend me your season pass; Ivan and I are going.” 

This note to a friend was penned by writer Anton Chekhov, who adored the circus. In his newspaper column, “Fragments of Moscow Life,” Chekhov spoke out against social inequities, and much of his material was based on what he saw at the circus. One day, a group of merchants stole a performer’s pig and roasted it. They never asked the performer for the pig, but just gave him money afterwards with a slice of roasted pork. Chekhov wrote of the incident “as the trampling of human dignity in a society where money has become God.”

One of Chekhov’s short stories was titled “Kashtanka,” named after one of Vladimir Durov’s favorite dogs. He even modeled the clown in the story after Durov. After viewing a circus performance in 1885, Chekhov wrote: “Moscow is terribly addicted to swine-ishness. During one of Durov’s performances, he presented a pig reading the papers. The pig was offered a variety of papers, but indignantly refused each of them in turn, grunting suspiciously all the while ...” (the pig apparently knew that the papers were highly censored and that there was absolutely nothing worth reading).

This act would have been censored in any theater, but, cleverly, without written dialogue, such circus skits could not be subjected to official censorship. Once, in Odessa, Vladimir Durov came out into the ring with a green pig. At the time, Odessa had a very anti-semitic mayor, Admiral Zelyony (whose last name translates as “green”). Everyone immediately burst into laughter. Durov was reprimanded, so he then showed up in the ring wearing a padlock on his mouth. The audience understood again, and Durov got around the censors. 

BRING IN THE SOVIETS 

In a letter to Chekhov, the novelist Alexander Kuprin (many of whose short stories centered around circus life) expressed his wishes concerning the future of the Russian Circus. “Will I ever live to see the day when, on our circus posters, instead of foreign management, one will find Russian names? I know they will create a repertoire no worse and certainly much better and more original than the foreigners have, because our muscles are stronger, fate has not bypassed us without courage, and we have patience enough and laughter! Oh, the Russians can laugh better than anyone in the world, because our laughter is a very special kind.”

Kuprin’s wish came true at the onset of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, when all foreign directors fled the country and the Russian circus was left to itself. Appropriately, Karl Marx was quoted: “...on seeing a fearless acrobat in bright costume, we forget about ourselves, feeling that we have somehow risen above ourselves to reach the level of universal strength.” 

A whole new era of Russian producers emerged to cultivate native performers. Circus troupes toured the country and, continuing their political role, encouraged the masses to cheer on the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. On September 22, 1919, Vladimir Lenin signed a decree nationalizing the Russian circus. Thus did the world’s first government-run circus organization, Soyuzgostsirk, begin operations. The first performance of the Moscow State Circus took place a week later.

During these revolutionary years, some of Russia’s finest writers and directors – Chekhov, Gorky, Eisenstein and Stanislavsky – focused their attention on the circus. Lunacharsky, the head of the Circus House, rallied: “Here it will be possible to have fiery revolutionary speeches, declarative couplets and clowns doing caricatures on enemy forces.” Poet and playwright Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote skits for the new state circuses. One of his most famous was Moscow Burning, about the burning of the tsar and aristocracy, releasing Moscow to the people.

Comrade Circus, where’s your grin? 

Here’s a sight to tickle us. 

Look and see who’s trotting in 

The Dynasty of Tsar Nicholas ...

Don’t forget about 1905, 

A year of undying glory and fame 

When the dream of the land came alive. 

And revolutionary ideals set aflame.

Maxim Gorky pronounced: “I love this popular form of amusement to distraction.” He wrote the play, The Lower Depths, and even got the famous bear trainer, Ivan Filatov, to play the Baron. The clown Lazarenko later studied with the avant-garde theater director, Vsevolod Meyerhold. Another famous director, Konstantin Stanislavsky, during a Moscow Art Theater season (entitled Merry Evenings), had his actors depict various circus artists in pantomime. Stanislavsky loved impersonating a circus horse trainer by dressing up in black leather boots, breeches, and a top hat. He often exclaimed: “the circus is the best place in the world!”

The young Soviet circus began to blossom in 1927 with the creation of Moscow’s School for Circus Arts, the modern world’s first professional circus school, founded to provide a consistently high standard of training. Today, at hundreds of circus schools throughout Russia, students can train for up to four years, studying all facets of circus life. During their final year, they create their own acts. Once the act is approved, the Circus Board helps provide everything from costumes and equipment to animals and special effects.

THE CIRCUS TODAY 

Even though the automobile, train and airplane eventually surpassed the horse for modes of transport, horse acts remain an essential element of the circus (after all, the circular arena had originally been designed for horsemanship). So, the Russians turned back to their traditions for creating new equestrian numbers, such as the Djigit horsemen who perform stunts on fast, galloping horses. Today, the Djigits are an exhilarating part of many a Russian circus performance.

The green-eyed and silver-maned Tamerlan Nugzarov, who comes from the northern Caucasus, stems from three generations of circus performers. “I learned everything from my father,” explains Nugzarov, “as he learned everything from his; now my sons carry on the Djigit tradition.” Tamerlan’s father was a Cossack horseman; and, today, the Nugzarov family carries on their heritage with dazzling, unparalleled horsemanship. The 12 horses gallop at full speed around the ring, while riders perform tricks both atop and beneath their mounts. The act culminates with a stunt rider jumping through a hoop of knives. “This is nothing,” Tamerlan attests. “In my opinion, the hardest injuries are those to the soul.” Nugzarov’s awe-inspiring act was awarded a Gold (first prize) at the annual International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo. 

In 1996, Moscow began hosting an International Festival of Circus Arts on Red Square. Circus acts from around the world competed on 13 rings in every genre, from juggling, acrobatics and animal acts, to high-wire and trapeze. The winners received a ‘Golden Bear.’ The Russian Circus All-Stars also made a special appearance, which included The Flying Cranes, the famous juggling Ignatov family, Nugzarov’s Galloping Djigits, and Nikolai Pavlenko, one of the world’s preeminent tiger trainers. Pavlenko has created an animal extravaganza like no other in the world. He stands inside the cage with 17 wild Sumatran tigers, whose names range from Masha to Tony, and takes them through a spine-tingling performance of a life-time. (Today, even though animal acts are no longer as popular with international audiences, the Russian Circus still respects its long-standing animal traditions.) Appropriately, the festival’s first prize was awarded to the act, Noviye Russkiye – the ‘New Russians’ performed stunts while dressed in coat and tails, symbolizing the country’s nouveau riche generation.

In 2003, as St Petersburg was fêted on its tercentennial, the St. Petersburg Circus celebrated its 125th anniversary at its current location. Today, the facility also houses a Circus Museum (established in 1928) and research library of more than 100,000 historical circus items. In Moscow, Russia’s second oldest circus, built in 1880, originally held the Ciniselli and Salamonsky Circuses. It later became known as the Stary (Old) Circus on Tsvetnoy Bulvar. Today, the independently-run Old Circus has been renamed Tsirk Nikulina, after Yuri Nikulin, one of Russia’s most popular comedic artists, who became the circus’ director in 1984. (Nikulin died in 1997; today his son Maxim carries on the directorship.) The Novy, or Bolshoi ‘New’ Circus, opened in 1971, and sits perched atop Sparrow Hills, near Moscow University.

Nikulin had performed in the circus during most of the Soviet era, and always tried to overcome hard times with the help of humor. Starting in 1936, he began collecting jokes and, eventually filled two volumes with over 10,000 of his favorite anecdotes. “Laughter is beneficial to the human body.” Nikulin surmised. “When smiling, giggling, bursting into laughter, a person, without even suspecting it, keeps himself healthy.”

With the fall of Communism and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Rosgostsirk has had to regroup considerably. Without major state subsidies, there has been a large revenue loss; and, many highly skilled performers have left Russia for other circuses and theater acts abroad. But, considering that this ancient performing art has already survived a millennium of turbulent Russian history, the circus is sure to carry on. “Even though this is a time of great transition in Russia, a time when old styles are giving way to new,” explained St. Petersburg Circus artistic director, Alexei Sonin, “the circus is one tradition that is sure to remain as important to Russia as it has for centuries; it is truly a part of the Russian soul.”

Minutes before the lush velvet curtains part, the backstage area glistens with sequined bodies and the sheen of stretching muscles. These performers dedicate their lives creating a world of fantasy that everyone can enjoy. The language they speak is without words; their beauty, courage and skill bridge the gap between generations, nations and cultures. Their message of awe, love and laughter goes straight to the heart.

After working in the Circus for over 50 years, the renowned Russian ‘Sunshine Clown,’ Oleg Popov, could have retired years ago. But Popov prefers to keep on working. “What happens,” he reflects, “is that a fine speck of sawdust enters your bloodstream and stays there for life. The magic never ends!”   RL