Circopedia - User contributions [en]

https://www.circopedia.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Djando Circopedia - User contributions [en] 2026-04-24T17:06:51Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.24.1 https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Maria_Andreeva&diff=45733 Maria Andreeva 2026-04-20T23:50:15Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>==Aerialist==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Maria_Andreeva_Video_(2002)|Maria Andreeva, cloud swing Act]], at the Circus Prinsessan Festival, Stockolm (2002)<br /> * Video: [[Andreeva_Video_(2019)|Maria Andreeva, cloud swing/corde lisse combo]], at the Festival International des Artistes de Cirque (2019)<br /> * Video: [[Andreeva-Sukhorukov_Video_(2025)|Maria Andreeva & Egor Sukhorukov, corde lisse]], at Circus Nikulin in Moscow (2025)<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Egor Sukhorukov]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Andreeva_and_Sukhorukov_-_Girona.jpg|Maria Andreeva & Egor Sukhorukov (2026)<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:Artists and Acts|Andreeva, Maria]][[Category:Aerialists|Andreeva, Maria]][[Category:Spanish Web|Andreeva, Maria]][[Category:Cloud Swing|Andreeva, Maria]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Egor_Sukhorukov&diff=45732 Egor Sukhorukov 2026-04-20T23:49:26Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>==Aerialist==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Andreeva-Sukhorukov_Video_(2025)|Egor Sukhorukov & Maria Andreeva, corde lisse]], at Circus Nikulin in Moscow (2025)<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Maria Andreeva]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Andreeva_and_Sukhorukov_-_Girona.jpg|Maria Andreeva_&_Egor Sukhorukov (2026)<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:Artists and Acts|Sukhorukov, Egor]][[Category:Aerialists|Sukhorukov, Egor]][[Category:Spanish Web|Sukhorukov, Egor]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Egor_Sukhorukov&diff=45731 Egor Sukhorukov 2026-04-20T23:48:46Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>==Aerialist==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Andreeva-Sukhorukov_Video_(2025)|Egor Sukhorukov & Maria Andreeva, corde lisse]], at Circus Nikulin in Moscow (2025)<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Andreeva_and_Sukhorukov_-_Girona.jpg|Maria Andreeva_&_Egor Sukhorukov (2026)<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:Artists and Acts|Sukhorukov, Egor]][[Category:Aerialists|Sukhorukov, Egor]][[Category:Spanish Web|Sukhorukov, Egor]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Maria_Andreeva&diff=45730 Maria Andreeva 2026-04-20T23:46:20Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>==Aerialist==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Maria_Andreeva_Video_(2002)|Maria Andreeva, cloud swing Act]], at the Circus Prinsessan Festival, Stockolm (2002)<br /> * Video: [[Andreeva_Video_(2019)|Maria Andreeva, cloud swing/corde lisse combo]], at the Festival International des Artistes de Cirque (2019)<br /> * Video: [[Andreeva-Sukhorukov_Video_(2025)|Maria Andreeva & Egor Sukhorukov, corde lisse]], at Circus Nikulin in Moscow (2025)<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Andreeva_and_Sukhorukov_-_Girona.jpg|Maria Andreeva & Egor Sukhorukov (2026)<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:Artists and Acts|Andreeva, Maria]][[Category:Aerialists|Andreeva, Maria]][[Category:Spanish Web|Andreeva, Maria]][[Category:Cloud Swing|Andreeva, Maria]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=File:Andreeva_and_Sukhorukov_-_Girona.jpg&diff=45729 File:Andreeva and Sukhorukov - Girona.jpg 2026-04-20T23:45:14Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>Maria Andreeva & Egor Sukhorukov being presented with the ''Elefant d'Or'' at the [[Festival Internacional del Circ]] of Girona]], Spain (2026) &mdash; ''Photo X''<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biographies: [[Maria Andreeva]], [[Egor Sukhorukov]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Photo Archive|Andreeva, Maria]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=File:Andreeva_and_Sukhorukov_-_Girona.jpg&diff=45728 File:Andreeva and Sukhorukov - Girona.jpg 2026-04-20T23:43:38Z

<p>Djando: Maria Andreeva & Egor Sukhorukov being presented with the ''Elefant d'Or'' at the Festival Internacional del Circ of Girona]], Spain (2026) &mdash; ''Photo X''</p> <hr /> <div>Maria Andreeva & Egor Sukhorukov being presented with the ''Elefant d'Or'' at the [[Festival Internacional del Circ]] of Girona]], Spain (2026) &mdash; ''Photo X''</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=45727 Main Page 2026-04-20T21:42:37Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>__NOTOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__<br /> <br /> {| id="mp-topbanner" style="width:100%; background:#fcfcfc; margin-top:1.2em; border:1px solid #ccc;"<br /> |style="width:56%; color:#0000"| <br /> {| style="width:100%; border:solid 0px; background:none;"<br /> |style="width:500px; text-align:center; white-space:nowrap; color:#000;"|<br /> <br><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Welcome! ✫ Bienvenue! ✫ Willkommen! ✫ Добро Пожаловать!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Bienvenida! ✫ Benvenuto! ✫ 歡迎 ! ✫ Vítejte! ✫ Καλώς ήρθατ<br /> ε!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Üdvözöljük! ✫ Добре Дошли! ✫ Welkom! ✫ Ласкаво Просимо!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Velkommen! ✫ Tervetuloa! ✫ Дабро Запрашаем! ✫ Välkommen!</div><br/><br /> <div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:98%;"> ''Circopedia is an independent educational website, initially created as a project of the original, non-profit [[Big Apple Circus]]''.</div><br/><br /> <br /> |}<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ==In The Spotlight==<br /> <br /> ===ÉMILIEN BOUGLIONE===<br /> [[File:Emilien_Bouglione_Courier.jpg|right|350px]]<br /> Émilien Bouglione (1934-2026) was the fourth of Joseph and Rosa Bouglione’s seven children (Odette, 1929-2025 – Josette, 1930-? – Firmin, 1933-2022 – Émilien – Sandrine, 1936-2012 – Sampion III, 1938-2019 – Joseph, b. 1942). Of the four brothers, he was by far the most artistically minded; he succeeded his uncle Sampion II at the helm of Cirque Bouglione’s equestrian department and presented with infinite taste and great gusto equestrian presentations that were often prepared with the help of his mentor, Master Equestrian André Vasserot (1911-1991).<br /> <br /> He was born Jules Émilien Buffalo-Bill Bouglione on July 20th, 1934, in Coulommiers (a town famous for its cheese, east of Paris), where his family's circus was performing. His father, the legendary circus director Joseph Bouglione (1904-1987), and his Belgian mother, Rosalie Van Been (1910-2018), were both of Roma descent and came from the world of fairground menageries, which were, between the two world wars, restructuring into the modern traveling circus. <br /> <br /> The father and uncles of "Julot" (the diminutive by which Emilien was known by his close friends and family) had already paraded under a succession of picturesque banners&mdash;including one that helped them build their fortune: ''Stade Bufalo-Bill''&mdash;before settling on the proud ''Cirque des 4 Frères Bouglione''. It is said that the day after their newest family member, Jules Émilien, had arrived, they signed the contract making them tenants of the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris, the world's oldest circus building, which eventually became their property.<br /> <br /> The Bougliones were a large family whose school had been the circus ring. Émilien entered it at the age of two and was already in the saddle two years later. Like in every circus, the Bougliones' ring was a school of life, the curriculum of which was written in the pungent smell of horse manure, wild animals, leather, and sawdust. Their approach to equestrian art owed nothing to the classical academic style (already fading away): Theirs was fierce and more romantic; it was the world of mythical horses that gallop through folklore and dime novels, ridden by a family whose Roma blood gave it a stamp of dazzling wonder.... ([[Émilien Bouglione|more...]])<br /> <br /> ==New Essays and Biographies==<br /> <br /> * [[The Ziratron]], Israel's first Circus<br /> * [[Carlos Guity]], acrobat<br /> * [[James Clowney]], acrobat<br /> * [[Émilien Bouglione]], equestrian, circus director<br /> * [[Alexis Gruss, Jr/fr|Alexis Gruss, Jr]] (version française)<br /> <br /> ==New Videos==<br /> <br /> * [[Streltsov_Video_(1990)|Aleksandr Streltsov]], ''Angel'', strap act (1990)<br /> * [[Larkina_Video_(1993)|Yelena Larkina]], hula-hoop act (1993)<br /> * [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]], jugglers (1993)<br /> * [[Lauenburger_Dog_Video_(2025)|Wolgang Lauenburger]], dog act (2025)<br /> * [[Balkanski_Trio_Video_(2025)|Trio Balkanski]], roller-skating act (2025)<br /> <br /> ==New Oral Histories==<br /> <br /> * [[Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)|Valentin Gneushev interview]] on Russian Television (c.1990)<br /> * [[Dominique_Jando_Video_(2025)|Dominique Jando interview]] by the Circus Historical Society (2025)<br /> * [[Evelyn_and_Andre_Video_(2015)|Evelyn & André Interview]] on Blikk TV (2015)<br /> * [[BAC_Blumberg_Video_(1977)|''For A Moment You Fly'']], The First Season of The Big Apple Circus (1977)<br /> * [[Durov_Documentary_Video_(c.2000)|Vladimir Durov Documentary]] on Russian Television (c.2000)<br /> <br /> ==Circopedia Books==<br /> <br /> * [[Circopedia Books|Philip Astley & The Horsemen who invented the Circus]], by Dominique Jando (2018)<br /> <br /> ==A Message from the Founder==<br /> <br /> ''CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus, maintained by reliable circus historians and specialists. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly&mdash;and sometimes daily&mdash;basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to [[Circopedia:Contact|contact us]]: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.'' <br /> <br /> :'''Dominique Jando'''<br /> :Founder and Curator</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45726 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-20T21:41:10Z

<p>Djando: /* See Also */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to become socially isolated. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev's passing was largely reported and commented by Russian news media: He was remembered as a major figure in the Russian performing arts; he was also an epoch-making figure in Circus history. He was laid to rest at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. Valentin once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at a funeral&mdash;when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)|Valentin Gneushev Interview]] (c.1990)<br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]]<br /> * Video: [[Streltsov_Video_(1990)|''Angel'' with Aleksandr Streltsov]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1993)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Aleksandr_Streltsov&diff=45725 Aleksandr Streltsov 2026-04-20T20:47:55Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>==Aerialist==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Streltsov_Video_(1990)|Aleksandr Stretsov, ''Angel'']], strap act created by [[Valentin Gneushev]] (1990)<br /> <br /> [[Category:Artists and Acts|Stretsov, Aleksandr]][[Category:Aerialists|Stretsov, Aleksandr]][[Category:Strap Acts|Stretsov, Aleksandr]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Aleksandr_Streltsov&diff=45724 Aleksandr Streltsov 2026-04-20T20:47:02Z

<p>Djando: Created page with "==Aerialist== * Video: Aleksandr Stretsov, ''Angel'', strap act (1990) Stretsov, AleksandrCategory:Aerialists|Stre..."</p> <hr /> <div>==Aerialist==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Streltsov_Video_(1990)|Aleksandr Stretsov, ''Angel'']], strap act (1990)<br /> <br /> [[Category:Artists and Acts|Stretsov, Aleksandr]][[Category:Aerialists|Stretsov, Aleksandr]][[Category:Strap Acts|Stretsov, Aleksandr]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Streltsov_Video_(1990)&diff=45723 Streltsov Video (1990) 2026-04-20T20:44:39Z

<p>Djando: Created page with "Aleksandr Streltsov, ''Angel'', strap act (excerpts), created by Valentin Gneushev (1990) {{#ev:vimeo|1184949431|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Aleksandr Streltsov..."</p> <hr /> <div>Aleksandr Streltsov, ''Angel'', strap act (excerpts), created by [[Valentin Gneushev]] (1990)<br /> <br /> {{#ev:vimeo|1184949431|740}}<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Video Archive|Streltsov, Aleksandr]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45722 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-20T18:11:10Z

<p>Djando: /* Epilogue */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to become socially isolated. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev's passing was largely reported and commented by Russian news media: He was remembered as a major figure in the Russian performing arts; he was also an epoch-making figure in Circus history. He was laid to rest at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. Valentin once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at a funeral&mdash;when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)|Valentin Gneushev Interview]] (c.1990)<br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1993)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=45721 Main Page 2026-04-20T06:05:01Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>__NOTOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__<br /> <br /> {| id="mp-topbanner" style="width:100%; background:#fcfcfc; margin-top:1.2em; border:1px solid #ccc;"<br /> |style="width:56%; color:#0000"| <br /> {| style="width:100%; border:solid 0px; background:none;"<br /> |style="width:500px; text-align:center; white-space:nowrap; color:#000;"|<br /> <br><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Welcome! ✫ Bienvenue! ✫ Willkommen! ✫ Добро Пожаловать!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Bienvenida! ✫ Benvenuto! ✫ 歡迎 ! ✫ Vítejte! ✫ Καλώς ήρθατ<br /> ε!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Üdvözöljük! ✫ Добре Дошли! ✫ Welkom! ✫ Ласкаво Просимо!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Velkommen! ✫ Tervetuloa! ✫ Дабро Запрашаем! ✫ Välkommen!</div><br/><br /> <div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:98%;"> ''Circopedia is an independent educational website, initially created as a project of the original, non-profit [[Big Apple Circus]]''.</div><br/><br /> <br /> |}<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ==In The Spotlight==<br /> <br /> ===ÉMILIEN BOUGLIONE===<br /> [[File:Emilien_Bouglione_Courier.jpg|right|350px]]<br /> Émilien Bouglione (1934-2026) was the fourth of Joseph and Rosa Bouglione’s seven children (Odette, 1929-2025 – Josette, 1930-? – Firmin, 1933-2022 – Émilien – Sandrine, 1936-2012 – Sampion III, 1938-2019 – Joseph, b. 1942). Of the four brothers, he was by far the most artistically minded; he succeeded his uncle Sampion II at the helm of Cirque Bouglione’s equestrian department and presented with infinite taste and great gusto equestrian presentations that were often prepared with the help of his mentor, Master Equestrian André Vasserot (1911-1991).<br /> <br /> He was born Jules Émilien Buffalo-Bill Bouglione on July 20th, 1934, in Coulommiers (a town famous for its cheese, east of Paris), where his family's circus was performing. His father, the legendary circus director Joseph Bouglione (1904-1987), and his Belgian mother, Rosalie Van Been (1910-2018), were both of Roma descent and came from the world of fairground menageries, which were, between the two world wars, restructuring into the modern traveling circus. <br /> <br /> The father and uncles of "Julot" (the diminutive by which Emilien was known by his close friends and family) had already paraded under a succession of picturesque banners&mdash;including one that helped them build their fortune: ''Stade Bufalo-Bill''&mdash;before settling on the proud ''Cirque des 4 Frères Bouglione''. It is said that the day after their newest family member, Jules Émilien, had arrived, they signed the contract making them tenants of the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris, the world's oldest circus building, which eventually became their property.<br /> <br /> The Bougliones were a large family whose school had been the circus ring. Émilien entered it at the age of two and was already in the saddle two years later. Like in every circus, the Bougliones' ring was a school of life, the curriculum of which was written in the pungent smell of horse manure, wild animals, leather, and sawdust. Their approach to equestrian art owed nothing to the classical academic style (already fading away): Theirs was fierce and more romantic; it was the world of mythical horses that gallop through folklore and dime novels, ridden by a family whose Roma blood gave it a stamp of dazzling wonder.... ([[Émilien Bouglione|more...]])<br /> <br /> ==New Essays and Biographies==<br /> <br /> * [[The Ziratron]], Israel's first Circus<br /> * [[Carlos Guity]], acrobat<br /> * [[James Clowney]], acrobat<br /> * [[Émilien Bouglione]], equestrian, circus director<br /> * [[Alexis Gruss, Jr/fr|Alexis Gruss, Jr]] (version française)<br /> <br /> ==New Videos==<br /> <br /> * [[Larkina_Video_(1993)|Yelena Larkina]], hula-hoop act (1993)<br /> * [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]], jugglers (1993)<br /> * [[Lauenburger_Dog_Video_(2025)|Wolgang Lauenburger]], dog act (2025)<br /> * [[Balkanski_Trio_Video_(2025)|Trio Balkanski]], roller-skating act (2025)<br /> * [[Gino_Donati_Video_(1981)|Gino Donati]], comedy acrobatics (1981)<br /> <br /> ==New Oral Histories==<br /> <br /> * [[Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)|Valentin Gneushev interview]] on Russian Television (c.1990)<br /> * [[Dominique_Jando_Video_(2025)|Dominique Jando interview]] by the Circus Historical Society (2025)<br /> * [[Evelyn_and_Andre_Video_(2015)|Evelyn & André Interview]] on Blikk TV (2015)<br /> * [[BAC_Blumberg_Video_(1977)|''For A Moment You Fly'']], The First Season of The Big Apple Circus (1977)<br /> * [[Durov_Documentary_Video_(c.2000)|Vladimir Durov Documentary]] on Russian Television (c.2000)<br /> <br /> ==Circopedia Books==<br /> <br /> * [[Circopedia Books|Philip Astley & The Horsemen who invented the Circus]], by Dominique Jando (2018)<br /> <br /> ==A Message from the Founder==<br /> <br /> ''CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus, maintained by reliable circus historians and specialists. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly&mdash;and sometimes daily&mdash;basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to [[Circopedia:Contact|contact us]]: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.'' <br /> <br /> :'''Dominique Jando'''<br /> :Founder and Curator</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45720 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-20T05:59:46Z

<p>Djando: /* See Also */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev's passing was largely reported and commented by Russian news media: He was remembered as a major figure in the Russian performing arts. He was laid to rest at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. Valentin once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at a funeral&mdash;when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)|Valentin Gneushev Interview]] (c.1990)<br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1993)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Yelena_Larkina&diff=45719 Yelena Larkina 2026-04-20T05:58:22Z

<p>Djando: /* See Also */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Larkina_2009_Photo_Dehurtevent.jpg|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> ==Hula-Hoops==<br /> <br /> ''By Dominique Jando''<br /> <br /> <br /> A former rhythmic gymnast of the Soviet Gymnastics Team and a Silver Medalist at the 1985 USSR championships, Yelena (or Elena) Larkina joined Moscow’s [[State College of Circus and Variety Arts]] (a.k.a. the Moscow Circus School) in 1987, where the famous Russian act director [[Valentin Gneushev]] noticed her.<br /> <br /> Gneushev made Yelena the dancer-assistant to the late juggler-on-rolling-globe, [[Yury Borzykin]], with whom she performed, in 1991, at the Gershwin Theater on Broadway, in Steve Leber’s production of ''Cirk Valentin''. In that show, Yelena also performed an early version of her hula-hoop act. <br /> <br /> When Yelena returned to Moscow, Gneushev helped her develop her hula-hoop act into something unique. Set to Middle Eastern music, its choreography and presentation were as important as her remarkable technique. The act was an immediate sensation, not least because&mdash;in early performances&mdash;Yelena performed topless under a light veil that her dancing movements made teasingly move to and fro.<br /> <br /> In 1994, Yelena's act won a Bronze Medal at Paris’s [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]]&mdash;a remarkable feat, considering the high level of the acrobatic competition, which tends to overshadow specialties such as hula-hoop acts.<br /> <br /> Yelena Larkina has since been featured in many of the world’s major circuses and variety shows, including: [[Cirkus Benneweis]] in Denmark; the [[Big Apple Circus]] in the United States; [[Circus Knie]] and [[Circus Conelli]] in Switzerland; and, in Germany, [[Circus Krone]], Frankfurt’s TigerPalast, Düsseldorf’s Apollo Varieté, and Berlin’s WinterGarten. <br /> <br /> Yelena Larkina married juggling legend [[Kris Kremo]], with whom she had a son.<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1993)|Yelena Larkina, hula-hoop act]] (original version) (1993)<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, hula-hoop act]], at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain (1994)<br /> * Video: [[Yelena_Larkina_BAC_Video_2007|Yelena Larkina, hula-hoop act]], in the Big Apple Circus production of ''Celebrate'' (2007) <br /> <br /> [[Category:Artists and Acts|Larkina, Yelena]][[Category:Hula-Hoop|Larkina, Yelena]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Larkina_-_Krevino.jpeg|Yelena Larkina at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain (1993)<br /> Image:Yelena_Larkina (c.2005).jpg|Yelena larkina (c.2005)<br /> Image:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina (c.2005)<br /> Image:LARKINA_BAC_(2007)_Mo_Sherif.jpg|Yelena Larkina at the Big Apple Circus (2007)<br /> Image:Larkina_at_BAC_(2007).jpg|Yelena Larkina at the Big Apple Circus (2007)<br /> Image:Larkina_-_Heidemarie_Wussler.jpg|Yelena Larkina at Circus Knie (2009)<br /> Image:Larkina_2009_Photo_Dehurtevent.jpg|Yelena Larkina at Circus Knie (2009)<br /> Image:Yelena_Larkina_(2009).jpg|Yelena Larkina at Circus Knie (2009)<br /> Image:Yelena_Larkina_(2010).jpg| Yelena Larkina at the Royal Hanneford Circus (2010)<br /> </Gallery></div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Larkina_Video_(1993)&diff=45718 Larkina Video (1993) 2026-04-20T05:52:34Z

<p>Djando: Created page with "Yelena Larkina, hula-hoop act (excerpts), as originally staged by Valentin Gneushev (1993) {{#ev:vimeo|1184697372|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Yelena Larkina ..."</p> <hr /> <div>Yelena Larkina, hula-hoop act (excerpts), as originally staged by [[Valentin Gneushev]] (1993)<br /> <br /> {{#ev:vimeo|1184697372|740}}<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Video Archive|Larkina, Yelena]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=James_Clowney&diff=45717 James Clowney 2026-04-20T05:42:39Z

<p>Djando: /* An International Circus Career */</p> <hr /> <div>[[File:James_Clowney.jpg|right|300px]]<br /> ==Acrobat==<br /> <br /> ''By Dominique Jando''<br /> <br /> James Clowney (1972-2026) was a talented acrobat and comedy character whose professional career spanned twenty years in two circuses only, but two prestigious ones: New York's [[Big Apple Circus]] and Canada's [[Cirque du Soleil]]. A versatile and charismatic performer and a generous individual, he was held in high esteem by his colleagues and loved by his audiences&mdash;until his untimely death at age fifty-four in 2026.<br /> <br /> ===A Kid from Manhattan===<br /> <br /> Born in New York January 9, 1972, James grew up in Manhattan surrounded by five sisters and one brother. On July 18, 1977, the Big Apple Circus gave its inaugural performance in a landfill near Battery Park, in Manhattan; the Big Apple Circus was then the performing arm of the New York School for Circus Arts, and the show featured a young and very talented African American acrobatic group, [[The Back Street Flyers]].<br /> <br /> Age fourteen to sixteen, hailing from the now-defunct Charles Evans Hughes High School in the Chelsea District on Manhattan's West Side (of ''West Side Story'' fame), they had practiced tumbling at a YMCA, until their teacher brought them to the newly established New York School for Circus Arts. They were to become a staple of the Big Apple Circus’s early productions, and, in 1980, won a Silver Medal at Paris’s [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]]. The Back Street Flyers became an inspiration for other African American kids in New York.<br /> <br /> James joined the New York School for Circus Arts at age nine, in 1981. When the school morphed into the Big Apple Circus Arts in Education Program two years later and found a home at the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School (better known simply as Harbor School) on Governors Island, James moved with it, and graduated from Harbor School in 1986. He then went to West Side High School, took a break to work as an usher and on the ring crew at the Big Apple Circus, and returned to school to graduate in 1992.<br /> <br /> During that time, James never stopped training. In 1988, he performed an acrobatic act with [[Carlos Guity]] (soon to join the Big Apple Circus) and four other students of the Arts in Education Program at the [[Festival Première Rampe]] in Monte Carlo&mdash;then the junior equivalent of the [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]]&mdash;where they won the ''Nice-Matin'' award presented by the local press.<br /> <br /> ===An International Circus Career===<br /> <br /> James eventually joined the Big Apple Circus Company in 1993 for its production of ''Carnevale in Venice''. He appeared in the show as a tumbler and acrobat in various tableaus. Turned professional, he would participate in three more Big Apple Circus productions until 1997&mdash;notably in a hand-to-hand balancing act with [[Melinda Merlier]] and Carlos Guity, in a comedy tumbling act with [[Julian Stachowski]], Carlos Guity, [[Al Calienes]], and [[Elena Panova]], in a Russian barre act with Julian Stachowski and Carlos Guity, and in a teeterboard act with Melinda Merlier, Carlos Guity, Julian Stachowski, and the [[William Woodcock, Jr.|Woodcock]] elephants: A versatile performer indeed! <br /> <br /> Then, in 1998, James went to work at Cirque Du Soleil for the Canadian circus's restaging of its old production of ''Saltimbanco''. James was originally cast as an acrobat and character in the show, but his presence and comedic talent eventually earned him the central role of "The Ringmaster." James was an excellent spotter, and didn't hesitate to put himself at risk to save a fellow performer. In 2008, he suffered leg and ankle fractures after he broke a twelve-meter fall (about thirty feet) by another acrobat, Yannick Blackburn. He was credited with saving Blackburn's life. James would tour the world with ''Saltimbanco'' for fifteen years before leaving the show in 2012.<br /> <br /> Then, at age forty, James Clowney left the circus altogether and went to work for a time as a security professional for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. He settled in Las Vegas, where Cirque du Soleil employees and alumni are many, and eventually created his own business, ''Armchair Millionaire Academy''&mdash;the title of which corresponds well with his sense of humor. <br /> <br /> What happened next is not well documented. Having left show business, James somewhat disappeared from the circus world's radar&mdash;until his death from a heart attack on January 30, 2026, at age fifty-four, which came as a shock to all those who had been lucky to know and work with him. His was survived by one son, Ayjai Clowney. James Clowney was a warm human being, and a multi-talented artist who combined amazing strength, acrobatic nimbleness, and a great sense of humor. Said James: "Always believe that hard work pays off."<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Statues_BAC_Video_(1994)|James Clowney,Melinda Merlier, and Carlos Guity, statue act]], in the Big Apple Circus production of ''Grandma Meets Mummenschanz'' (1994)<br /> * Video: [[Stachowsky_Clowney_Guity_BAC_1996_Video|James Clowney, Carlos Guity & Julian Stachowski, double-bar act]], at the Big Apple Circus (1996)<br /> * Video: [[Bill Woodcock Elephants and BAC Company BAC 1996 Video| James Clowney and the Big Apple Circus Company]], teeterboard with Bill Woodcock's elephants in ''The Medicine Show'' (1996)<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:James_Clowney.jpg|James Clowney (1993)<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:Artists and Acts|Clowney, James]][[Category:Acrobats|Clowney, James]][[Category:Hand-to-Hand Balancing|Clowney, James]][[Category:Teeterboard|Clowney, James]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)&diff=45716 Gneushev Video (c.1990) 2026-04-20T05:32:32Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>Valentin Gneushev's interview on Russian Television (c.1990), interspersed with excerpts of later videos of [[Evgeny Pimonenko]], [[Yelena Larkina]], the [[Duo Bondarenko]], [[Aleksandr Steltsov]], and a piece of acrobatic dance, which he had created. (''In Russian.'') &mdash; ''Document: RosGosTsirk''<br /> <br /> {{#ev:vimeo|1184614277|740}}<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Valentin Gneushev]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Video Archive|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)&diff=45715 Gneushev Video (c.1990) 2026-04-20T03:13:05Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>Valentin Gneushev's interview on Russian Television (c.1990), interspersed with excerpts of later videos of [[Evgeny Pimonenko]], [[Yelena Larkina]], the [[Duo Bondarenko]], and a piece of acrobatic dance, which he had created. (''In Russian.'') &mdash; ''Document: RosGosTsirk''<br /> <br /> {{#ev:vimeo|1184614277|740}}<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Valentin Gneushev]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Video Archive|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=45714 Main Page 2026-04-20T03:10:00Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>__NOTOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__<br /> <br /> {| id="mp-topbanner" style="width:100%; background:#fcfcfc; margin-top:1.2em; border:1px solid #ccc;"<br /> |style="width:56%; color:#0000"| <br /> {| style="width:100%; border:solid 0px; background:none;"<br /> |style="width:500px; text-align:center; white-space:nowrap; color:#000;"|<br /> <br><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Welcome! ✫ Bienvenue! ✫ Willkommen! ✫ Добро Пожаловать!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Bienvenida! ✫ Benvenuto! ✫ 歡迎 ! ✫ Vítejte! ✫ Καλώς ήρθατ<br /> ε!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Üdvözöljük! ✫ Добре Дошли! ✫ Welkom! ✫ Ласкаво Просимо!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Velkommen! ✫ Tervetuloa! ✫ Дабро Запрашаем! ✫ Välkommen!</div><br/><br /> <div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:98%;"> ''Circopedia is an independent educational website, initially created as a project of the original, non-profit [[Big Apple Circus]]''.</div><br/><br /> <br /> |}<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ==In The Spotlight==<br /> <br /> ===ÉMILIEN BOUGLIONE===<br /> [[File:Emilien_Bouglione_Courier.jpg|right|350px]]<br /> Émilien Bouglione (1934-2026) was the fourth of Joseph and Rosa Bouglione’s seven children (Odette, 1929-2025 – Josette, 1930-? – Firmin, 1933-2022 – Émilien – Sandrine, 1936-2012 – Sampion III, 1938-2019 – Joseph, b. 1942). Of the four brothers, he was by far the most artistically minded; he succeeded his uncle Sampion II at the helm of Cirque Bouglione’s equestrian department and presented with infinite taste and great gusto equestrian presentations that were often prepared with the help of his mentor, Master Equestrian André Vasserot (1911-1991).<br /> <br /> He was born Jules Émilien Buffalo-Bill Bouglione on July 20th, 1934, in Coulommiers (a town famous for its cheese, east of Paris), where his family's circus was performing. His father, the legendary circus director Joseph Bouglione (1904-1987), and his Belgian mother, Rosalie Van Been (1910-2018), were both of Roma descent and came from the world of fairground menageries, which were, between the two world wars, restructuring into the modern traveling circus. <br /> <br /> The father and uncles of "Julot" (the diminutive by which Emilien was known by his close friends and family) had already paraded under a succession of picturesque banners&mdash;including one that helped them build their fortune: ''Stade Bufalo-Bill''&mdash;before settling on the proud ''Cirque des 4 Frères Bouglione''. It is said that the day after their newest family member, Jules Émilien, had arrived, they signed the contract making them tenants of the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris, the world's oldest circus building, which eventually became their property.<br /> <br /> The Bougliones were a large family whose school had been the circus ring. Émilien entered it at the age of two and was already in the saddle two years later. Like in every circus, the Bougliones' ring was a school of life, the curriculum of which was written in the pungent smell of horse manure, wild animals, leather, and sawdust. Their approach to equestrian art owed nothing to the classical academic style (already fading away): Theirs was fierce and more romantic; it was the world of mythical horses that gallop through folklore and dime novels, ridden by a family whose Roma blood gave it a stamp of dazzling wonder.... ([[Émilien Bouglione|more...]])<br /> <br /> ==New Essays and Biographies==<br /> <br /> * [[The Ziratron]], Israel's first Circus<br /> * [[Carlos Guity]], acrobat<br /> * [[James Clowney]], acrobat<br /> * [[Émilien Bouglione]], equestrian, circus director<br /> * [[Alexis Gruss, Jr/fr|Alexis Gruss, Jr]] (version française)<br /> <br /> ==New Videos==<br /> <br /> * [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]], jugglers (1993)<br /> * [[Lauenburger_Dog_Video_(2025)|Wolgang Lauenburger]], dog act (2025)<br /> * [[Balkanski_Trio_Video_(2025)|Trio Balkanski]], roller-skating act (2025)<br /> * [[Gino_Donati_Video_(1981)|Gino Donati]], comedy acrobatics (1981)<br /> * [[Statues_BAC_Video_(1994)|Melinda Merlier, Carlos Guity & James Clowney]], statue act (1994)<br /> <br /> ==New Oral Histories==<br /> <br /> * [[Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)|Valentin Gneushev interview]] on Russian Television (c.1990)<br /> * [[Dominique_Jando_Video_(2025)|Dominique Jando interview]] by the Circus Historical Society (2025)<br /> * [[Evelyn_and_Andre_Video_(2015)|Evelyn & André Interview]] on Blikk TV (2015)<br /> * [[BAC_Blumberg_Video_(1977)|''For A Moment You Fly'']], The First Season of The Big Apple Circus (1977)<br /> * [[Durov_Documentary_Video_(c.2000)|Vladimir Durov Documentary]] on Russian Television (c.2000)<br /> <br /> ==Circopedia Books==<br /> <br /> * [[Circopedia Books|Philip Astley & The Horsemen who invented the Circus]], by Dominique Jando (2018)<br /> <br /> ==A Message from the Founder==<br /> <br /> ''CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus, maintained by reliable circus historians and specialists. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly&mdash;and sometimes daily&mdash;basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to [[Circopedia:Contact|contact us]]: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.'' <br /> <br /> :'''Dominique Jando'''<br /> :Founder and Curator</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45713 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-20T03:01:46Z

<p>Djando: /* See Also */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev's passing was largely reported and commented by Russian news media: He was remembered as a major figure in the Russian performing arts. He was laid to rest at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. Valentin once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at a funeral&mdash;when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)|Valentin Gneushev Interview]] (c.1990)<br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45712 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-20T03:01:33Z

<p>Djando: /* See Also */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev's passing was largely reported and commented by Russian news media: He was remembered as a major figure in the Russian performing arts. He was laid to rest at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. Valentin once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at a funeral&mdash;when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)|Valentin Gneushev Interview (c.1990)<br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)&diff=45711 Gneushev Video (c.1990) 2026-04-20T03:00:18Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>Valentin Gneushev's interview on Russian Television (c.1990), interspersed with excerpts of later videos of [[Yelena Larkina]], the [[Duo Bondarenko]], and a piece of acrobatic dance, which he had created. (''In Russian.'') &mdash; ''Document: RosGosTsirk''<br /> <br /> {{#ev:vimeo|1184614277|740}}<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Valentin Gneushev]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Video Archive|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)&diff=45710 Gneushev Video (c.1990) 2026-04-20T02:59:28Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>Valentin Gneushev's interview on Russian Television (c.1990), interspersed with excerpts of later videos of [[Yelena Larkina]], the [[Duo Bondarenko]], as well as a piece of acrobatic dance, which he had created. (''In Russian.'') &mdash; ''Document: RosGosTsirk''<br /> <br /> {{#ev:vimeo|1184614277|740}}<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Valentin Gneushev]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Video Archive|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)&diff=45709 Gneushev Video (c.1990) 2026-04-20T02:58:54Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>Valentin Gneushev's interview on Russian Television (c.1990), interspersed with excerpts of later videos of [[Yelena Larkina]], the [[Duo Bondarenko]], as well as a piece of acrobatic dance, which he had created (''in Russian'') &mdash; ''Document: RosGosTsirk''<br /> <br /> {{#ev:vimeo|1184614277|740}}<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Valentin Gneushev]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Video Archive|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Gneushev_Video_(c.1990)&diff=45708 Gneushev Video (c.1990) 2026-04-20T02:58:41Z

<p>Djando: Created page with "Valentin Gneushev's interview on Russian Television (c.1990), interspersed with excerpts of later videos of Yelena Larkina, the Duo Bondarenko, as well as a piece of a..."</p> <hr /> <div>Valentin Gneushev's interview on Russian Television (c.1990), interspersed with excerpts of later videos of [[Yelena Larkina]], the [[Duo Bondarenko]], as well as a piece of acrobatic dance, which he had created (''in Russian'') &mdash; ''Document: RodGosTsirk''<br /> <br /> {{#ev:vimeo|1184614277|740}}<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Valentin Gneushev]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Video Archive|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45707 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T20:54:45Z

<p>Djando: /* See Also */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev's passing was largely reported and commented by Russian news media: He was remembered as a major figure in the Russian performing arts. He was laid to rest at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. Valentin once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at a funeral&mdash;when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=45706 Main Page 2026-04-19T20:52:11Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>__NOTOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__<br /> <br /> {| id="mp-topbanner" style="width:100%; background:#fcfcfc; margin-top:1.2em; border:1px solid #ccc;"<br /> |style="width:56%; color:#0000"| <br /> {| style="width:100%; border:solid 0px; background:none;"<br /> |style="width:500px; text-align:center; white-space:nowrap; color:#000;"|<br /> <br><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Welcome! ✫ Bienvenue! ✫ Willkommen! ✫ Добро Пожаловать!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Bienvenida! ✫ Benvenuto! ✫ 歡迎 ! ✫ Vítejte! ✫ Καλώς ήρθατ<br /> ε!</div><div style="font-size:175%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Üdvözöljük! ✫ Добре Дошли! ✫ Welkom! ✫ Ласкаво Просимо!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Velkommen! ✫ Tervetuloa! ✫ Дабро Запрашаем! ✫ Välkommen!</div><br/><br /> <div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:98%;"> ''Circopedia is an independent educational website, initially created as a project of the original, non-profit [[Big Apple Circus]]''.</div><br/><br /> <br /> |}<br /> |}<br /> <br /> ==In The Spotlight==<br /> <br /> ===ÉMILIEN BOUGLIONE===<br /> [[File:Emilien_Bouglione_Courier.jpg|right|350px]]<br /> Émilien Bouglione (1934-2026) was the fourth of Joseph and Rosa Bouglione’s seven children (Odette, 1929-2025 – Josette, 1930-? – Firmin, 1933-2022 – Émilien – Sandrine, 1936-2012 – Sampion III, 1938-2019 – Joseph, b. 1942). Of the four brothers, he was by far the most artistically minded; he succeeded his uncle Sampion II at the helm of Cirque Bouglione’s equestrian department and presented with infinite taste and great gusto equestrian presentations that were often prepared with the help of his mentor, Master Equestrian André Vasserot (1911-1991).<br /> <br /> He was born Jules Émilien Buffalo-Bill Bouglione on July 20th, 1934, in Coulommiers (a town famous for its cheese, east of Paris), where his family's circus was performing. His father, the legendary circus director Joseph Bouglione (1904-1987), and his Belgian mother, Rosalie Van Been (1910-2018), were both of Roma descent and came from the world of fairground menageries, which were, between the two world wars, restructuring into the modern traveling circus. <br /> <br /> The father and uncles of "Julot" (the diminutive by which Emilien was known by his close friends and family) had already paraded under a succession of picturesque banners&mdash;including one that helped them build their fortune: ''Stade Bufalo-Bill''&mdash;before settling on the proud ''Cirque des 4 Frères Bouglione''. It is said that the day after their newest family member, Jules Émilien, had arrived, they signed the contract making them tenants of the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris, the world's oldest circus building, which eventually became their property.<br /> <br /> The Bougliones were a large family whose school had been the circus ring. Émilien entered it at the age of two and was already in the saddle two years later. Like in every circus, the Bougliones' ring was a school of life, the curriculum of which was written in the pungent smell of horse manure, wild animals, leather, and sawdust. Their approach to equestrian art owed nothing to the classical academic style (already fading away): Theirs was fierce and more romantic; it was the world of mythical horses that gallop through folklore and dime novels, ridden by a family whose Roma blood gave it a stamp of dazzling wonder.... ([[Émilien Bouglione|more...]])<br /> <br /> ==New Essays and Biographies==<br /> <br /> * [[The Ziratron]], Israel's first Circus<br /> * [[Carlos Guity]], acrobat<br /> * [[James Clowney]], acrobat<br /> * [[Émilien Bouglione]], equestrian, circus director<br /> * [[Alexis Gruss, Jr/fr|Alexis Gruss, Jr]] (version française)<br /> <br /> ==New Videos==<br /> <br /> * [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]], jugglers (1993)<br /> * [[Lauenburger_Dog_Video_(2025)|Wolgang Lauenburger]], dog act (2025)<br /> * [[Balkanski_Trio_Video_(2025)|Trio Balkanski]], roller-skating act (2025)<br /> * [[Gino_Donati_Video_(1981)|Gino Donati]], comedy acrobatics (1981)<br /> * [[Statues_BAC_Video_(1994)|Melinda Merlier, Carlos Guity & James Clowney]], statue act (1994)<br /> <br /> ==New Oral Histories==<br /> <br /> * [[Dominique_Jando_Video_(2025)|Dominique Jando interview]] by the Circus Historical Society (2025)<br /> * [[Evelyn_and_Andre_Video_(2015)|Evelyn & André Interview]] on Blikk TV (2015)<br /> * [[BAC_Blumberg_Video_(1977)|''For A Moment You Fly'']], The First Season of The Big Apple Circus (1977)<br /> * [[Durov_Documentary_Video_(c.2000)|Vladimir Durov Documentary]] on Russian Television (c.2000)<br /> * [[Dolly_Jacobs_Interview_Video_(2018)|Dolly Jacobs Interview]] at The Ringling (2018)<br /> <br /> ==Circopedia Books==<br /> <br /> * [[Circopedia Books|Philip Astley & The Horsemen who invented the Circus]], by Dominique Jando (2018)<br /> <br /> ==A Message from the Founder==<br /> <br /> ''CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus, maintained by reliable circus historians and specialists. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly&mdash;and sometimes daily&mdash;basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to [[Circopedia:Contact|contact us]]: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.'' <br /> <br /> :'''Dominique Jando'''<br /> :Founder and Curator</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Duo_Bondarenko&diff=45705 Duo Bondarenko 2026-04-19T20:51:04Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>==Jugglers==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko, juggling act (excerpts)]], archival document (1993)<br /> <br /> [[Category:Artsits and Acts|Bondarenko Duo]][[Category:Jugglers|Bondarenko Duo]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Duo_Bondarenko&diff=45704 Duo Bondarenko 2026-04-19T20:50:11Z

<p>Djando: Created page with "==Jugglers== * Video: Duo Bondarenko, juggling act (excerpts)]], archival document (1993) Bondarenko DuoCategory:..."</p> <hr /> <div>==Jugglers==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko]], juggling act (excerpts)]], archival document (1993)<br /> <br /> [[Category:Artsits and Acts|Bondarenko Duo]][[Category:Jugglers|Bondarenko Duo]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Bondarenko_Video_(1993)&diff=45703 Bondarenko Video (1993) 2026-04-19T20:47:09Z

<p>Djando: Created page with "Duo Bondarenko, juggling act (excerpts), staged by Valentin Gneushev (1993) {{#ev:vimeo|1184616543|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Duo Bondarenko Category:Video..."</p> <hr /> <div>Duo Bondarenko, juggling act (excerpts), staged by [[Valentin Gneushev]] (1993)<br /> <br /> {{#ev:vimeo|1184616543|740}}<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Duo Bondarenko]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Video Archive|Bondarenko Duo]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45702 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:41:55Z

<p>Djando: /* Epilogue */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev's passing was largely reported and commented by Russian news media: He was remembered as a major figure in the Russian performing arts. He was laid to rest at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. Valentin once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at a funeral&mdash;when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45701 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:41:06Z

<p>Djando: /* Epilogue */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev's passing was largely reported and commented by Russian news media: He was remembered as a major figure in the performing arts. He was laid to rest at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. Valentin once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at a funeral&mdash;when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45700 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:36:20Z

<p>Djando: /* Epilogue */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev is buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at a funeral&mdash;when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45699 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:33:59Z

<p>Djando: /* Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45698 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:33:19Z

<p>Djando: /* Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. [[File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Yelena Larkina]]<br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45697 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:32:04Z

<p>Djando: /* Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]<br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. <br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45696 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:31:21Z

<p>Djando: /* Image Gallery */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> <br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. <br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko <br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Yelena_Larkina.jpg|Yelena Larkina<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45695 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:28:06Z

<p>Djando: /* Image Gallery */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> <br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. <br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:Andrei_Ivakhnenko_B-W.jpg|Andrey Ivakhnenko (1990)<br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45694 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:24:55Z

<p>Djando: /* See Also */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> <br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. <br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1997)&diff=45693 Evgeny Pimonenko Video (1997) 2026-04-19T19:24:19Z

<p>Djando: /* See Also */</p> <hr /> <div>Evgeny Pimonenko (''Your Pierrot''), juggler (excerpts), at the Jubilee Gala of the [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]], at Paris's [[Cirque d'Hiver]] (1997)<br /> <br /> {{#ev:vimeo|232121477|740|center}}<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biographies: [[Evgeny Pimonenko]], [[Valentin Gneushev]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Video|Pimonenko, Evgeny]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45692 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:19:45Z

<p>Djando: /* Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> <br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. <br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1993)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45691 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:19:31Z

<p>Djando: /* Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> <br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. <br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1993)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45690 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:19:15Z

<p>Djando: /* The Gneushev Era */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> <br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|right|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. <br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1993)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45689 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:19:03Z

<p>Djando: /* From Clowning To Directing */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Valentin in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|left|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> <br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|right|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. <br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1993)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45688 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:18:25Z

<p>Djando: /* From Clowning To Directing */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> [[File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|thumb left|300px|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)]]Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|left|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> <br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|right|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. <br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1993)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=Valentin_Gneushev&diff=45687 Valentin Gneushev 2026-04-19T19:17:34Z

<p>Djando: /* Image Gallery */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|right|400px]]<br /> ==Director, Act Designer==<br /> <br /> ''By Raffaele De Ritis''<br /> <br /> <br /> Born on December 20, 1951, in Nizhny Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, (close to the boundary between Asia and Europe), Valentin Aleksandrovich Gneushev (1951-2026) was one of the most influential circus directors-choreographers of the second half of the twentieth century, and the creator of some of the most innovative and celebrated circus acts of the 1990s.<br /> <br /> As the “new circus” movement was drastically changing the traditional imagery of the circus (roughly between 1975 and 1995), Gneushev became the ultimate trendsetter, completely renewing the language of the ring. A master at discovering untapped talents in the disintegrating Soviet circus world, then creating and designing original acts for them, he eventually influenced the style of many young circus artists and companies, including [[Cirque du Soleil]].<br /> <br /> ===From Clowning To Directing===<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev fell in love with the circus as a teenager, although he was destined to be a cook. Obviously, this was not his calling: At age fourteen he began to perform in a local Amateur Circus (the Russian equivalent of our Youth Circuses, albeit at a much higher artistic and technical level than in the West). He eventually decided to leave the Sverdlovsk Province and the industrial fumes of Nizhny Tagil (birthplace of the first Russian steam locomotive) and headed for Moscow, where he was accepted in the [[State College for Circus and Variety Arts (Moscow)|State College for Circus and Variety Arts]] (the “legendary Moscow Circus School”). There, he specialized as a clown.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Gneushev studied under Roman Viktiuk, Firs Zemtsev, and especially Serguei Kashtelian, who had a lasting influence on his work. He graduated in 1978 and formed a short-lived clown trio with two partners, in which he revealed a special aptitude for pantomime, as well as a need to distance himself from the conventional circus clowning of the period. <br /> <br /> An eager student of the arts (literature, history, painting, music), Valentin developed a remarkable artistic culture, and an aesthetic vision rooted in classic as well as contemporary art, and widely open to new influences&mdash;a far cry from the prevalent rhetoric of the Soviet artistic scene.<br /> <br /> This eventually led him to study Movement Theater at the Moscow Theater Academy, and, upon graduation in 1980, to teach pantomime and movement at the Moscow Circus School and other performing art institutions. His also embarked into intense theatrical activity, consulting in stage movement for several major theater productions of the period. In 1983, he was named Artistic Director of the Stage Circus group of the "Pravda" plant’s cultural center in Moscow.<br /> <br /> Valentin’s work and interests led him to study at the GITIS institute, the theater institute in Moscow that was then developing new guidelines inspired by the “biomechanics” theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold&mdash;a sophisticated principle of body aesthetics spreading across mime, gymnastics and dance. Gneushev graduated as a director in 1986. <br /> <br /> Although other director-choreographers applied with remarkable success Meyerhold’s principles to the circus (among them, [[The Durov Dynasty|Tereza Durova]] and [[Piotr Maistrenko]]), it fell upon Gneushev to transform them into a new mode of expression for the circus arts. Connecting the circus to a fundamentally different imagery, he developed new, groundbreaking circus aesthetics.<br /> <br /> === The Gneushev Era ===<br /> <br /> By the mid-1980s, Gneushev’s activity became completely devoted to the circus. One of the very first acts he had created was, in 1983, ''The Moscow Builders'', an extravagant, semi-ironic staging for Yury Odintsov’s perch pole act (an impressive but often boring Russian specialty), in which props and athletes evoked a tongue-in-cheek picture of proletarian street workers. <br /> <br /> [[Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|thumb|left|350px|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'']]This act was perceived as somehow iconoclastic by the bureaucrats of [[SoyuzGosTsirk]] (the Soviet State Circus organization)&mdash;and their perception was indeed correct. But Valentin’s work was truly revealed to the world in 1987, when he introduced at Paris’ [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]] the juggler [[Vladimir Tsarkov]] as ''The Red Harlequin'', an act he had created in 1985. <br /> <br /> Inspired by Picasso’s "Arlequin" paintings, the act shattered the traditional juggler image and reconstructed the artist’s movements into a true choreographic piece, with its own vision and imagery. It became immediately clear that Valentin’s talent as an act choreographer was his ability to fully develop the hidden potential of a performer’s personality and combine it with his or her technical achievements. <br /> <br /> Tsarkov’s success in Paris (he won a Gold Medal) didn’t truly please the Russian circus authorities, which were still promoting a more conservative and politically correct image of the Soviet circus. That same year, Valentin helped with the choreography of one of the greatest circus acts of all times, Vilen Golovko’s [[The Cranes|''The Cranes'']], the superb aerial piece created by Piotr Maistrenko.<br /> <br /> After his first success in Paris, Valentin returned regularly to the Festival, each time with new and always surprising acts, most of which became milestones of a new circus language. In 1986, he created to Nino Rota’s music the chair-balancing pantomime of [[Vassily Demenchuk]] (performed after 2006 by [[Maxim Popazov]]). In 1989, it was the aerial straps act of [[Vladimir Kekhaial]], the long-manned flying Hercules (whose style would inspire many subsequent strap acts), who became, with the clown [[David Shiner]], the main feature of Cirque du Soleil’s ''Nouvelle Experience'' (1990)&mdash;the show that ultimately defined Cirque du Soleil’s artistic path. (Demenchuk was also featured in ''Nouvelle Experience''). <br /> <br /> That same year (1989), Valentin revamped the extraordinary tiger act of [[Nikolai Pavlenko]], bringing the concept of acting and character to the big cage, and working on the trainer’s movements as if he were a symphony orchestra conductor, replete with baton, white tie, and tails. The result was astounding&mdash;a true ballet featuring seventeen tigers and their ''conductor'' performing to a piece of classical music. (Pavlenko has been awarded a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo in 1990.) 1989 also saw the superb juggling act on a rolling globe of [[Yury Borzykin]].<br /> <br /> Then came in 1990 the controversial ''Angel'', with [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]&mdash;a near-naked child performing a sensual aerial straps act to Nina Hagen’s rendition of Schubert’s ''Ave Maria''&mdash;and ''Rattango'', the unconventional hand-balancing act of [[Genady Chijov]], who partnered with a trained white rat. (Chijov eventually became the central character of Cirque du Soleil’s original production of ''Saltimbanco'' in 1993).<br /> <br /> ===Cirk Valentin and Other Experiments===<br /> <br /> Finally, SoyuzGosTsirk began to include some of Gneushev’s acts in the foreign tours of the [[Moscow Circus]] companies, which attracted the curiosity of journalists and producers. One of these producers was Steve Lieber, who had organized very successful tours of the Moscow Circus in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Lieber launched a revolutionary concept: ''Cirk Valentin'', a stage production displaying the best of Valentin’s acts, with Bobby Previte as music composer. <br /> <br /> [[File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|thumb|right|300px|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)]]The show premiered in New York at the Gershwin Theatre, a major Broadway house, on November 6, 1991. It was choreographed by [[Pavel Brun]], who had been for years Gneushev’s assistant and choreographer. Brun was to work later with [[Franco Dragone]] for Cirque du Soleil, and became the associate director of Celine Dion's show, ''A New Day'', at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas (2002-2007). <br /> <br /> Although it was not a commercial success and closed after a poorly attended two-month run, and its format was slightly controversial at the time&mdash;mostly because its production values were rather cheap for a Broadway show, which gave critics a misled reading of its concept&mdash;''Cirk Valentin'' actually pioneered the subsequent trend of stage circuses, established the notion of authorship (or ''cirque d’auteur'') in contemporary circus, and helped to definitely ascertain Valentin Gneushev as a name to contend with on the international circus scene.<br /> <br /> The most spectacular feature of Cirk Valentin was a groundbreaking aerial bars act, ''[[Perezvony]]'' (''Chimes''), an impressively dark aerial piece performed to a symphonic piece by Valery Gavrilin, in which the performers evoked swinging bells. (''Perezvony'' obtained a Silver Clown at the [[International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo]] in 1993.) This act was later reproduced in Cirque du Soleil’s ''Alegria'' and ''Mystère'' productions, after Cirque du Soleil had hired Gneushev’s longtime associate, Pavel Brun. <br /> <br /> ''Cirk Valentin'' also featured the balancing act of [[Yelena Fedotova]] and Anatoly Stykan, The Russian Barre act of The [[Zemskov Troupe|Zemskovi]] in its original version, as well as their perch-pole act, and an act especially created for the occasion, ''Charlie'', a rola-bola act inspired by Chaplin's ''The Tramp'' and performed by Serguei Loskutov and his son, Serguei, Jr. Other Valentine's creations were Gennady Chijov's ''Rattango'',; Aleksandr Streltsov's ''Angel''; the juggler on rolling globe [[Yury Borzykin]]. <br /> <br /> For a few years, Gneushev continued to create acts for SoyuzGosTsirk, working in the organization’s illustrious [[Circus Studio]] in Moscow&mdash;where Piotr Maestrenko had built ''The Cranes'' and many other amazing aerial acts. But Paris’s Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain proved to be the platform on which Gneushev built his reputation and success. And after the fall of the Soviet Union, when individual Russian acts became available to the western market, many variety theaters and circuses, familiar with them though the Festival, began asking for “Valentin’s acts.”<br /> <br /> In 1992, Gneushev worked with a new clown duo, [[Jigalov]] and Alekseenko. He reached the peak of his career in 1993-1995, probably his most prolific years, intensifying at this time his collaboration with music composer Lev Zemlinski. Valentin completely revamped the hula-hoop act of one of his protégées, [[Yelena Larkina]], to the tune of ''Fata Morgana'', with an Arabian theme; he created the wonderfully decadent “expressionist” juggling act, ''Votre Pierrot'', for [[Evgeny Pimonenko]]; the very original slack wire act of [[Andrey Ivakhnenko]]; and ''The Little Devil'' for Anton and Leonid Beliakov.<br /> <br /> Valentin also changed the staging of The Zemskovi's Russian Barre act with a Zemlinski’s score inspired by the imagery of Adam’s classic ballet, ''Le Corsaire''&mdash;which would inspire a quantity of new Russian Barre acts. Likewise, the risley act he conceived for the [[Kurbanov Troupe]] in 1994, in which the performers, dressed as American bikers, used their motorcycles as ''trinkas'', became one of the most copied acts of the contemporary circus. That same year, he choreographed the juggling duo [[Duo Bondarenko|Bondarenko]] as a true piece of sensual, contemporary dance. Finally, in 1995, Valentin and a selection of his acts went to Japan, as the centerpiece of Bunichiro Matsumoto’s short-lived ''Musical Circus'', directed by [[Tandy Beal]].<br /> <br /> ===Final Bow: The Gneushev Studio=== <br /> <br /> During the early 1990s, while Valentin’s acts were beginning to invade the best circuses and variety theaters of the planet, his base remained the Circus Studio in Moscow. But in spite of his numerous international awards and his obvious success, his artistic vision still contrasted with the politics of SoyuzGosTsirk (which, after the fall of the Soviet regime would be renamed RosGosTsirk). Still reveling on memories of its past glory, the old central circus organization seemed unable to truly appreciate the changes that their own Valentin Gneushev was bringing to the international circus scene. <br /> <br /> [[File:Borodina.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Elena Borodina]]Not surprisingly, in 1993, Gneushev decided to become an independent producer and began to attract young performers away from the State circus company, and to create acts for them that could be offered individually to the western market. [[Maxim Nikulin]], son of the legendary clown and actor [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997), who had succeeded his father at the helm of the "Old Circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow (today [[Circus Nikulin]]) and had become one of the first Russian independent circus directors, offered Valentin a space in his circus to house the new Gneushev Studio. <br /> <br /> Not only did the Gneushev Studio become the main crucible of the post-Soviet circus experimentation, but Maxim Nikulin also expanded his association with Valentin, and asked him to stage two of his Circus’s productions, ''Sweet!... Love'' (1996) and ''The Fair of Miracles'' (1997)&mdash;highly innovative and creative shows, as could be expected, which gave to the "Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard" a definitely new look.<br /> <br /> The Gneushev Studio continued to produce original acts, each completely different from the other, always investigating new artistic paths. The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain again revealed the wonderful unicycle adagio of [[Diana & Yury|Diana Aleschenko and Yury Shavro]] (1996); the angular, neo-cubist hand-balancer, [[Aleksandr Veligosha]] (1997); and Valentin’s last creation, the superb hand-balancing act of [[Elena Borodina]], inspired by Isadora Duncan. This last act was presented in Paris in 2001; by then the Gneushev Studio had already ceased to exist.<br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev had never been an easy collaborator. Fiercely individualistic, perfectionist, weary of all forms of authority, he didn’t fit within the old Russian circus community. He had little patience for the lack of culture of many of those who criticized him. His armor was the public persona he created for himself, a haughty cigar-smoking cultural snob, dismissing anyone who didn’t agree with him. Although his friends knew better, his attitude didn’t endear him to many around him, and he made indeed more enemies than he needed.<br /> <br /> ===Epilogue===<br /> <br /> As the twentieth century ended, Valentin slowly took his interests away from the circus, turning to theater, movies, and television. Just as the new Russian government had finally recognized his exceptional contribution to the circus arts, making him "Art Worker Emeritus of the Russian Federation", he was burning bridges with the circus world. Sadly, his departing was of course the circus world’s loss.<br /> <br /> Yet, ten years into the twenty-first century, many of Valentin’s best acts could still be seen in the best circuses and variety theaters of the world. They still impressed by their amazing originality, their artistic perfection, and their unmatched creativity. Valentin’s influence spawned a plethora of new circus choreographers, who tried&mdash;a few successfully, many more, much less so&mdash;to shake up conventions and participate in the creation of a new circus language.<br /> <br /> But Valentin Gneushev had a rule that some of his later would-be successors often forgot: He used only highly skilled performers, who mastered their specialty. They were all superb technicians. Valentin never tried to compensate technical weakness with unconventional, eye-catching staging; on the contrary, he used the superior skills of his students to create a work of art that was unquestionably a true circus act&mdash;and therefore, unequivocally, not a piece of dance or movement theater. He took remarkable circus performers and turned them into extraordinary circus artists. This was his true genius and will be his true legacy.<br /> <br /> In his twilight years, Valentin's health began to decline, both physically and, to some extent, mentally: It is hard for someone who was at a time considered a genius (and a genius indeed he was) to be socially forgotten. In his last years, his appearance became that of an old eccentric character, which made him impossible to ignore, but also sometimes difficult to recognize. Then, in the week of March 9, 2026, his daughter, who took care of him, was worried by his sudden silence. On March 11, she went to his apartment in Moscow , and found him unresponsive: He had died of heart failure, alone. <br /> <br /> Valentin Gneushev has been buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery, near Moscow. He once told a friend: "I will speak someone else's words, but I like them. 'To be joyful is a necessity and a duty.' This was written by [Gabriel Marcía] Márquez. The meaning of life is in joy. And this is what I am telling you now, when I am tormented by people, the structure of the world, love. I will never give up joy. We should rejoice at everything. Rejoice at the funeral - when a person has finally died."<br /> <br /> == See Also ==<br /> <br /> * Video: [[Pavlenko_Video_(1990)|Nikolai Pavlenko, Tiger Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Vladimir_Tsarkov_BAC_1992_Video|Vladimir Tsarkov: ''The Red Harlequin'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Simonov's_Hommage_a_Leotard_Video_(1993)|''Hommage à Léotard'', Flying Act]]<br /> * Video: [[Evgeny_Pimonenko_Video_(1993)|Evgeny Pimonenko: ''Your Pierrot'', Juggler]]<br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_Russian_Barre_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Russian Barre]] <br /> * Video: [[Zemskov_-_Perch_Act_Video_(1995)|The Zemskov Troupe, Perch-Pole Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Ivakhnenko_Video_(2004)|Andrey Ivakhnenko, Slack Wire]]<br /> * Video: [[Gasser and Kreer Video 1995|Johnny Gasser & Yury Kreer, Hand-to-Hand Balancing]]<br /> * Video: [[Larkina_Video_(1994)|Yelena Larkina, Hula-Hoops]]<br /> * Video: [[Kurbanov_Video_(1994)|The Kurbanov Troupe, Risley act]]<br /> * Video: [[Diana_and_Yury_Video|Yury Shavro and Diana Aleshchenko, Unicycle]]<br /> * Video: [[Elena_Borodina_Video_2001|Elena Borodina, Hand Balancer]]<br /> * Video: [[Perezvony_Video_(c_2005)|''Perezvony'' Flying Act]]<br /> <br /> ==Image Gallery==<br /> <br /> <Gallery><br /> File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg|Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965)<br /> Image:Valentin_Gneushev.jpg|Valentin Gneushev<br /> Image:Vladimir_Tsarkov_as_Red_Harlequin.jpg|Vladimir Tsarkov<br /> File:CIRK_VALENTIN_(1991).jpg|Cirk Valentin Poster (1991)<br /> Image:Cirk_Valentin.jpg|Cirk Valentin Playbill Cover (1991)<br /> File:Borodina.jpg|Elena Borodina<br /> </Gallery><br /> <br /> [[Category:History|Gneushev, Valentin]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg&diff=45686 File:Valentin Gneushev Teens.jpg 2026-04-19T19:16:52Z

<p>Djando: </p> <hr /> <div>Young Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965) &mdash; ''Circopedia Archive''<br /> <br /> ==See Also==<br /> <br /> * Biography: [[Valentin Gneushev]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Photo Archive|Gneushev, Valentin]]</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=File:Valentin_Gneushev_Teens.jpg&diff=45685 File:Valentin Gneushev Teens.jpg 2026-04-19T19:15:43Z

<p>Djando: Young Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965) &mdash; ''Circopedia Archive''</p> <hr /> <div>Young Valentin Gneushev in his teens (c.1965) &mdash; ''Circopedia Archive''</div>

Djando https://www.circopedia.org/index.php?title=File:Young_Valentin_Gneushev.jpg&diff=45684 File:Young Valentin Gneushev.jpg 2026-04-19T19:11:23Z

<p>Djando: Valentin Gneushev as a teenager (c.1970) &mdash; ''Circopedia Archive''</p> <hr /> <div>Valentin Gneushev as a teenager (c.1970) &mdash; ''Circopedia Archive''</div>

Djando