Difference between revisions of "Elena Panova"

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(Swinging Trapeze)
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[[Image:Elena_Panova.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Elena Panova]]Elena Panova was born Elena Nikolaevna Borisova on July 18, 1964 in Murom, Russia. Her father, Nikolai, and her mother, Klavdia, had nothing to do with the circus: they both worked in a factory in Murom. Actually, Elena had never seen a live circus performance in Murom, which is too small a town to have a circus building.  
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[[Image:Elena_Panova.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Elena Panova]]Elena Panova was born Elena Nikolaevna Borisova on July 18, 1964 in Murom, Russia. Her father, Nikolai, and her mother, Klavdia, had nothing to do with the circus: they both worked in a factory in Murom. In fact, Elena never even saw a live circus performance while growing up.  
  
Yet, Elena saw circus on television, and at age fourteen, she joined the local Amateur Circus—the Soviet equivalent of a European or American youth circus, albeit with a much higher level of training. "Amateur circuses" were burgeoning in the Soviet Union, a country where circus arts were held in high esteem.
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She did see the circus on television, however, and at age fourteen, she joined the local Amateur Circus—the Soviet equivalent of European or American youth circuses, though at a much higher level, in terms of the training they provided. Amateur circuses flourished in the Soviet Union, where circus arts were held in high esteem.
  
During these years, Elena was trained in basic acrobatics, but her tastes led her to aerial apparatuses. She eventually created a "bambou" (aerial perch) act with a fellow student. She performed in front of an audience  for the first time in April 1978, with a static trapeze act in the show the Amateur Circus had staged in Murom’s Grand Theatre for Easter.
+
During these years, Elena trained in basic acrobatics, but her tastes drew her to aerial apparatuses; while still at the Youth Circus, she and a fellow student developed a "bambou" (aerial perch) act. Her performance debut came in April 1978; she executed a static trapeze act in an Easter show the Amateur Circus staged in Murom’s Grand Theatre.
  
Since she was bent on becoming a circus artist, and showed abilities to do so, her coach suggested that Elena apply for an audition to Moscow’s [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts]]. She sent the proper forms and documents, and to her surprise, was invited to audition in Moscow. She was seventeen and had never left Murom.
+
Since she was bent on becoming a circus artist—and had the ability to succeed—Elena's coach suggested she apply to audition for Moscow’s [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts]]. She submitted the proper forms and documents and, to her surprise, was invited to audition in Moscow. She was seventeen and had never left Murom.
  
After a strenuous exam, she was accepted, and would train for the next four years in all circus disciplines, acting, and ballet, eventually specializing in swinging trapeze. The creation of her act, which would drastically change the traditional concept of swinging trapeze acts, was however the result of a series of coincidences.
+
Following a strenuous exam, Elena was accepted to the College. Over the next four years, she trained in acting, ballet, and all circus disciplines, eventually specializing in swinging trapeze. Even so, the creation of her act—an act that would redefine the swinging trapeze—resulted from a series of coincidences.
  
First, although Elena wanted to do a trapeze act, the five-year plan that dictated the Soviet circus industry didn’t call for new trapeze acts. Yet, since she adamantly insisted on learning swinging trapeze, her teachers caved in and assigned a trapeze coach to her. Then, her coach suddenly had an opportunity to go and live for a time in Paris, which was too good to miss, especially in the Soviet era. The coach asked a friend, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]], an act director who had recently joined the College staff, to create a swinging trapeze act for Elena.
+
Although Elena wanted to do a trapeze act, the five-year plan then in effect did not call for new trapeze acts. In the Soviet Union, five-year plans were centralized methods of promoting economic growth through the use of quotas. The early five-year plans (1928-37) called for the rapid collectivization of agriculture, a policy that was not revised even though it led to millions of deaths from starvation. There was little hope, then, that Elena would get her new trapeze act as long as it deviated from the five-year plan.
  
Tereza Durova came from a famous dynasty of clowns and animal trainers and had never worked on an aerial act before. She asked another newcomer to the staff, [[Viktor Fomin]]—a former competition gymnast who had performed in a horizontal bar actEmdashto assume the technical part. To Fomin, who complained that he had never worked on an aerial act before, Durova just said, "A trapeze is a bar hanging from two ropes; go to the school library, and read every book you can find on the subject!"
+
Even so, she insisted on learning the swinging trapeze. Eventually, her teachers acquiesced, assigning her a trapeze coach. The coach then took advantage of an opportunity to live for a time in Paris. The coach asked a friend, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]]—an act director who had recently joined the College staff—to create a swinging-trapeze act for Elena.
  
Durova, Fomin, and Panova worked on the new act for a total of three years, trying to give life to Durova’s often far-stretched ideas, coming up with new tricks, and experimenting with various techniques to achieve them. Some were found by sheer luck, others by trial and errors.  
+
Tereza Durova came from a famous dynasty of clowns and animal trainers and had never worked on an aerial act before. She asked another newcomer to the staff, [[Viktor Fomin]]—a former competition gymnast who had performed in a horizontal bar act—to take on the technical aspects of the act. To Fomin, who complained that he had never worked on an aerial act before, Durova is reported to have said, "A trapeze is a bar hanging from two ropes. Go to the school library and read every book you can find on the subject!"
  
When ready, Elena Panova’s act didn’t look like anything that had been seen before: performed entirely in full swing, it included pirouettes between the ropes caught by the ankles and half-pirouettes caught by the heels, without ever interrupting the swing, or having it re-energized by an assistant.  
+
Durova, Fomin, and Panova spent three years developing the act. They struggled to realize Durova’s often far-stretched ideas. They came up with new tricks and experimented with various techniques to achieve them; some were found by sheer luck, others by trial-and-error.  
  
Furthermore, Elena's act was not conceived around the notion of danger, but on the aestheticism of movements. It was a seductive ballet, danced in space (eventually, in 1987, to the accents of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons—at a time when classical music was still a rarity in the circus). Elena made her professional debut in 1985, in a show presented by the [[Moscow Circus]] in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
+
When it was done, Elena Panova’s act was like nothing else that had been seen before. Performed entirely in full swing, it included pirouettes between the ropes, caught by the ankles, and half-pirouettes caught by the heels, all done without interrupting the swing or having it re-energized by an assistant.
  
In 1987, Elena Panova was the great revelation of the [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] in Paris: It that landmark edition, the new tendencies of the contemporary circus emerged for the first time. She won the Gold Medal, and ignited the imagination of [[André Simard]], who saw her performance at the festival. Simard was then teaching acrobatics at the [[Ecole Nationale de Cirque]] in Montreal; back to Canada, he decided to build trapeze acts in this new style: adding his own ideas, he would develop a "Canadian school" of swinging trapeze. (After the fall of the Soviet regime, Viktor Fomin would eventually re-settle in Montreal, where he opened his own, very successful, trapeze school.)
+
Furthermore, Elena's act was not conceived around the notion of danger, but around the aestheticism of movement. It was a seductive ballet, danced in space (eventually, in 1987, to the accents of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons—this at a time when classical music was still a rarity in the circus).
  
In 1988, Elena Panova won the All-Union Circus Competition of the USSR, which was arguably, at the time, the world’s most difficult circus competition. From 1985 to 1990, she performed in the Soviet Union and toured with various units of the [[Moscow Circus]] in Mongolia, Cambodia, Vietnam, France, Belgium, Austria, Germany, and Israel, before becoming an independent contractor in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet regime.
+
The act was first performed in 1985, in a show presented by the [[Moscow Circus]] in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was also Elena's professional debut. Two years later, the act emerged as  the great revelation of the [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] in Paris; in that landmark edition of the festival, the sea change underway in the contemporary circus was apparent for the first time. Elena won the Gold Medal and ignited the imagination of [[André Simard]], who saw her performance. Simard was then teaching acrobatics at the [[Ecole Nationale de Cirque]] in Montreal. After returning to Canada, he decided to develop trapeze acts in the new style suggested by Elena's act. Adding his own ideas, he would in time develop a "Canadian school" of swinging trapeze. (After the fall of the Soviet regime, Viktor Fomin would eventually settle in Montreal, where he opened his own very successful trapeze school.)
  
Elena's first independent engagement was with the [[Big Apple Circus]] in the United States, in 1991. She subsequently appeared in some of the world’s leading circuses on four continents, including [[Circus Knie]] in Switzerland and the [[Cirque d’Hiver]]-Bouglione in Paris. She has performed her act under the nave of the Cathedral of St. John The Divine in New York, and at the Victorian Arts Festival in Melbourne, Australia, where she has been also featured in a musical, ''Amore''.
+
In 1988, Elena won the All-Union Circus Competition of the USSR, which was, at the time, arguably the world’s most difficult circus competition. From 1985-90, she performed in the Soviet Union and toured with various units of the [[Moscow Circus]] in Mongolia, Cambodia, Vietnam, France, Belgium, Austria, Germany, and Israel, before becoming an independent contractor in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union.
  
Elena married the clown Serguei Panov in 1983. They divorced in 1990. Although she had settled in the United States in 1993, she continued to perform around the world, mostly in Europe. Her career lasted nineteen years: She retired from performing in 2003, after a last tour in the people's Republic of China. She has since become a very successful aerial teacher at Circus Center, in San Francisco, California.
+
Elena's first independent engagement came in 1991, with the [[Big Apple Circus]] in the United States. She subsequently appeared in some of the world’s leading circuses on four continents, including [[Circus Knie]] in Switzerland and the [[Cirque d’Hiver]]-Bouglione in Paris. She has performed her act under the nave of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York and at the Victorian Arts Festival in Melbourne, Australia, where she has also been featured in a musical, ''Amore''.
 +
 
 +
Elena married the clown Serguei Panov in 1983. They divorced in 1990. Although she settled in the United States in 1993, Elena continued to perform around the world, mostly in Europe. Her career lasted nineteen years. She retired from performing in 2003, after a last tour in the People's Republic of China. She has since become an aerial teacher at Circus Center, in San Francisco, California.
  
 
==Image Gallery==
 
==Image Gallery==

Revision as of 01:30, 6 February 2009

Swinging Trapeze

By Dominique Jando


Elena Panova
Elena Panova was born Elena Nikolaevna Borisova on July 18, 1964 in Murom, Russia. Her father, Nikolai, and her mother, Klavdia, had nothing to do with the circus: they both worked in a factory in Murom. In fact, Elena never even saw a live circus performance while growing up.

She did see the circus on television, however, and at age fourteen, she joined the local Amateur Circus—the Soviet equivalent of European or American youth circuses, though at a much higher level, in terms of the training they provided. Amateur circuses flourished in the Soviet Union, where circus arts were held in high esteem.

During these years, Elena trained in basic acrobatics, but her tastes drew her to aerial apparatuses; while still at the Youth Circus, she and a fellow student developed a "bambou(French - Russian: Bambuk) Aerial apparatus, generally a hanging perch, from where the performers hang with the help of hand or ankle loops. See also: Aerial perch." (aerial perchA hanging perch, from where the performers hang with the help of hand or ankle loops. (French: Bambou - Russian: Bambuk)) act. Her performance debut came in April 1978; she executed a static trapeze act in an Easter show the Amateur Circus staged in Murom’s Grand Theatre.

Since she was bent on becoming a circus artist—and had the ability to succeed—Elena's coach suggested she apply to audition for Moscow’s State College for Circus and Variety Arts. She submitted the proper forms and documents and, to her surprise, was invited to audition in Moscow. She was seventeen and had never left Murom.

Following a strenuous exam, Elena was accepted to the College. Over the next four years, she trained in acting, ballet, and all circus disciplines, eventually specializing in swinging trapeze. Even so, the creation of her act—an act that would redefine the swinging trapeze—resulted from a series of coincidences.

Although Elena wanted to do a trapeze act, the five-year plan then in effect did not call for new trapeze acts. In the Soviet Union, five-year plans were centralized methods of promoting economic growth through the use of quotas. The early five-year plans (1928-37) called for the rapid collectivization of agriculture, a policy that was not revised even though it led to millions of deaths from starvation. There was little hope, then, that Elena would get her new trapeze act as long as it deviated from the five-year plan.

Even so, she insisted on learning the swinging trapeze. Eventually, her teachers acquiesced, assigning her a trapeze coach. The coach then took advantage of an opportunity to live for a time in Paris. The coach asked a friend, Tereza Durova—an act director who had recently joined the College staff—to create a swinging-trapeze act for Elena.

Tereza Durova came from a famous dynasty of clowns and animal trainers and had never worked on an aerial act before. She asked another newcomer to the staff, Viktor Fomin—a former competition gymnast who had performed in a horizontal bar act—to take on the technical aspects of the act. To Fomin, who complained that he had never worked on an aerial act before, Durova is reported to have said, "A trapeze is a bar hanging from two ropes. Go to the school library and read every book you can find on the subject!"

Durova, Fomin, and Panova spent three years developing the act. They struggled to realize Durova’s often far-stretched ideas. They came up with new tricks and experimented with various techniques to achieve them; some were found by sheer luck, others by trial-and-error.

When it was done, Elena Panova’s act was like nothing else that had been seen before. Performed entirely in full swing, it included pirouettes between the ropes, caught by the ankles, and half-pirouettes caught by the heels, all done without interrupting the swing or having it re-energized by an assistant.

Furthermore, Elena's act was not conceived around the notion of danger, but around the aestheticism of movement. It was a seductive ballet, danced in space (eventually, in 1987, to the accents of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons—this at a time when classical music was still a rarity in the circus).

The act was first performed in 1985, in a show presented by the Moscow Circus in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was also Elena's professional debut. Two years later, the act emerged as the great revelation of the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris; in that landmark edition of the festival, the sea change underway in the contemporary circus was apparent for the first time. Elena won the Gold Medal and ignited the imagination of André Simard, who saw her performance. Simard was then teaching acrobatics at the Ecole Nationale de Cirque in Montreal. After returning to Canada, he decided to develop trapeze acts in the new style suggested by Elena's act. Adding his own ideas, he would in time develop a "Canadian school" of swinging trapeze. (After the fall of the Soviet regime, Viktor Fomin would eventually settle in Montreal, where he opened his own very successful trapeze school.)

In 1988, Elena won the All-Union Circus Competition of the USSR, which was, at the time, arguably the world’s most difficult circus competition. From 1985-90, she performed in the Soviet Union and toured with various units of the Moscow Circus in Mongolia, Cambodia, Vietnam, France, Belgium, Austria, Germany, and Israel, before becoming an independent contractor in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Elena's first independent engagement came in 1991, with the Big Apple Circus in the United States. She subsequently appeared in some of the world’s leading circuses on four continents, including Circus Knie in Switzerland and the Cirque d’Hiver-Bouglione in Paris. She has performed her act under the nave of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York and at the Victorian Arts Festival in Melbourne, Australia, where she has also been featured in a musical, Amore.

Elena married the clown Serguei Panov in 1983. They divorced in 1990. Although she settled in the United States in 1993, Elena continued to perform around the world, mostly in Europe. Her career lasted nineteen years. She retired from performing in 2003, after a last tour in the People's Republic of China. She has since become an aerial teacher at Circus Center, in San Francisco, California.

Image Gallery