Serious accident at the circus. During the rehearsal of a difficult number, trapeze artists Yulia and Alexander Volkov fell from a six-meter height. They always performed this number for the public without insurance, and, as it turned out now, they rehearsed without it too.
At their performance, the audience froze. Volkovs hovered under the dome, it seemed, on two thin threads. And invariably broke the standing ovation. This time they broke themselves.
Gulnara Gibadullina, arena inspector at the Nikulin Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard: "During the rehearsal, when performing a very complex element, this element was not performed accurately enough."
The circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard cannot say exactly how it all happened. And most importantly - why. Why highly experienced artists broke from under the dome. They refer to a tragic accident. Julia and Alexander Volkov have been performing their number for about 10 years. That is, they know him well. And, it would seem, it should be worked out to the smallest detail.
Last night, the Volkovs held their usual rehearsal, but at some point, Yulia could not keep her husband. They fell from a height of about 6 meters. Each other.
Gulnara Gibadullina, arena inspector at the Nikulin Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard: "She was fixed on these canvases with two legs, fixed with loops. Plus one safety loop on top. That is, in principle, some elements of insurance were present, but ... The partner did not keep her partner in her hands. She did not hold him, which provoked a fall. "
This number is considered one of the most difficult and dangerous in its genre. "Gymnasts on canvases". For five and a half minutes, the artists perform tricks without touching the arena, on weight. They hold on to the fabric with their hands or wind it on themselves. Without insurance.
Elena Olshanskaya, press secretary of the Nikulin Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard: "This genre of 'Gymnasts on Canvas' does not require insurance. Gymnasts hold on to their belts. Insurance is not provided for in the specifics of this performance. This is nowhere to be found."
Their numbers are like twins. On these shots - Natalia performs with her husband Sergei. They are also circus gymnasts, also the Volkovs, and the Volkovs from the circus on Tsvetnoy are family friends. In the event of a failure, they themselves are responsible for the consequences. Natalia gave such receipts dozens of times. So accepted.
Natalia Volkova, aerial gymnast: "In our work, of course, there is a trick that, frankly, must be performed with insurance. But this is already a matter of risk. Indeed, it is very difficult and this is the only trick in which there is no fallback."
Yulia and Alexander Volkov came to the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in 2007. She is a representative of a dynasty of acrobats, he is a former sports gymnast. Both are titled artists. TV viewers know them from the project of the First Channel "Circus with Stars". They received awards from prestigious circus festivals. And now they were just preparing for one of them. Perhaps they were rehearsing something amazing.
Natalia Volkova, aerial gymnast: "It's like a competition. Even something more. That is, you are going to the festival - you must surprise with something, show something that no one does at all, no one has seen. And even couldn't guess."
But why without insurance, veterans of the circus are perplexed. After all, even great artists have always used it at rehearsals.
Valery Glozman, academician National Academy circus art: "The rehearsal process is a rough job. I'm surprised that some specific safety points were not adopted."
Last night, both artists were taken to the emergency resuscitation department of the Sklifosovsky Institute. Alexander's legs are broken. Yulia has a broken leg, head injuries and a concussion.
Anzor Khubutia, director of the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after N.V. Sklifosovsky: "She was operated on. Nothing threatens her life."
The recovery of the artists will take from a month to three. But now doctors say that there is hope - Yulia and Alexander Volkov will be able to return to the circus. Soar under the dome again.
Aerial gymnastics, one of the types of circus gymnastics, is designed to demonstrate the skills of artists working on special equipment and devices. Many elements of gymnastics have been known since antiquity in various countries of the East, but the main basis modern technology aerial gymnasts was formed and consolidated by circus performers in the early twentieth century.
The arsenal of aerial gymnastics includes work with trapeziums, rings, canvases and other structures suspended at a certain height. Structures can be both static and moving.
Tricks in aerial gymnastics are performed either solo by one artist, or by a group of artists on various devices suspended above the circus arena. It is worth mentioning the main instruments of aerial gymnasts - bamboo, frame, trapezoid, rings, loops, etc.
The genre of aerial gymnastics also includes numbers with stunt flights of artists from trapeze to trapeze or from trapeze to the hands of a catcher. Aerial flights among aerialists are considered a difficult and risky part of aerial gymnastics, accessible only to true masters of their craft.
Voltigeurs must be able to evenly distribute muscular energy, have an ideal eye, finely feel the metro-rhythm, have professional courage, courage and impeccable plastique.
The genre of aerial gymnastics is based on the demonstration of outstanding body control skills, significantly exceeding the capabilities of an ordinary person.
The work of aerialists is akin to the work of stuntmen, because aerialists risk not only their health, but also their lives, showing the most daring tricks. Without risky tricks, the limit of human capabilities, the strength of the spirit and the plasticity of the body cannot be shown.
AT circus show the genre of aerial gymnastics is recognized as the most intense and spectacular. Spectators tickle their nerves and see everything with their own eyes here and now. Often high-class aerialists work without insurance, they are supported only by the disturbing roll of the snare drum in the orchestra. Fragile girls often show not only beauty and plasticity, but also perform complex power elements in the air that require significant muscular effort.
Spectacular performances of aerial gymnasts are preceded by a titanic work with material that the average person does not see and about which the audience only very vaguely guess. The daily training of gymnasts is associated with trauma, bruises and calluses, and only fanatics remain in the world of aerial gymnastics. gravity daily work, training, classes, tailoring of costumes, creation of special air props and rental of the venue, the artists decide at their own expense, which is very difficult to do in times of economic crises. Nevertheless, obstacles do not stop real artists and the best gymnasts break through to their fans in any way, presenting a class of work, despite hundreds of large and thousands of small, domestic, everyday problems and inconveniences.
Today, the possibilities of aerial gymnastics are that rare trump card that organizers of entertainment and entertainment events can use and use. Amateur dance at the pole and singing karaoke in last years surprise no one. A serious guest of a hotel, restaurant, exhibition will remember only the brightest performances of artists, everything else, "budget art" will only make a sophisticated audience, seriously versed in art, sports and show business, laugh.
At the service entrance to the Nikulinsky circus on Tsvetnoy, I stumble. “Be careful not to fall,” he immediately grabs my arm Stanislav Bogdanov, head of the issue "Air flight" Heroes ". Stas knows everything about flying. And about falling. About a year ago, while performing a trick at a daytime performance, a gymnast fell from under the dome.
Fall and rise
"Crashed" isn't quite the right word. Or rather, completely wrong. Darina Kuzmina performed the “Drop” number - this is when an artist, without insurance, flies vertically from under the dome of the circus upside down. For unknown reasons, the net, on which the circus performers fall from above, broke off. The girl managed to get up, finish the number to the end, bow and even smile. At the Research Institute Sklifosovsky was taken away like that - with a smile. Since then, she has been doing "The Drop" in rehearsals, even if it is not listed in the performance, about which she says: “It is important that fear does not appear. Purely physically, this number is simple, but morally it can be difficult to overcome oneself. Not all acrobats agree to such a trick. Adrenaline puts pressure on the psyche. At the last moment, you need to have time to “curl up” - in order to get into the net not with your head, God forbid, but with your shoulders. I am doing my best. We have all the guys in the room giving their best, and I will.”
“A fall cannot be simulated or predicted. The main thing is to remember that you need to land on your back, and this is often incredibly difficult. After all, while you are flying down, you are twisted and shaken from side to side. It is impossible to take and cross out the fear of heights, I have been flying for almost 20 years, but I still feel uncomfortable. Before, when I was younger, there was fearlessness, “recklessness” of adolescence. Now I try to do everything consciously, ”Stanislav throws up his hands. They are "from the inside out" all in black calluses from the trapeze. Despite the fact that the calluses are many years old, they still rush into the blood. “What makes me go up to the dome every day? I love the circus. I'm proud of what we guys do."
Fly even higher
The fact that he was born to fly, Stas learned for the first time at the age of 8 in France. The boy, most likely, suspected this before - watching the flights of his father, an aerial acrobat Nikolay Bogdanov. But he became convinced only when he was allowed to swing under the dome on a trapeze. At the age of 12, he already performed with his dad in Europe. At 15, I decided to go to Russia. Dad and mom let go - and Stas "from the threshold" got into the room to the famous Vladimir Garamov. It would seem that what else does a 15-year-old boy need: success, foreign tours, delight in the eyes of the audience? But Stas wanted to fly higher. I barely waited for the 18th birthday: the props were already ready and like-minded people were “knocked out” for their own number. And Darina Kuzmina, and the most important member of the team - lovitor Nikolai Sokolov(he still catches "heroes"!). It didn’t work out of the blue — in Moscow they said: “Too young. You're in too much of a hurry." Stas and the team agreed in Kazan on the possibility of rehearsals and the production of part of the scenery at the helicopter factory (!) They rented a room there, put on the most difficult tricks - and after that they were believed in the circus on Tsvetnoy. Dali director Elena Poldi, accepted the number, sent on tour. Since then they have been flying all over the world. “We are trying to be the best in order to once again raise the prestige of the Russian circus to a well-deserved height. We complicate the program - we have rare triple somersaults with a pirouette. Now the North Koreans have taken the lead - they are doing a very technically complex program. But the Russian circus has one more “trump card up its sleeve”: entertainment and beauty.”
Darina Kuzmina lists what helped her get back on her feet after a fatal fall: “Guardian angel. The desire not to let the guys out of the room. And what I needed to get in shape was a trip to Paris for the competition. ” The Heroes went to Paris. They arrived inspired, with medals. “Now we are finishing preparing a special prop for street performances, with which you can show our numbers on the central squares of cities. We want to travel all over Russia! - Stas smiles dreamily. - And we are also finishing work on the number “From the Cannon to the Moon”, no one has done it in our country for a hundred years! The acrobat will fly out of the 8-meter cannon under the dome of the circus!” One of the greats said: “Be sure to aim at the moon. Even if you miss, you will certainly hit the stars.”
Alas, falls from a height in the circus happen quite often ... And they do not always end as happily as our heroes. This is a huge risk! A photo: Frame youtube.com
Stas does not dream of flying, he dreams of ... being late: “As if I didn’t have enough time to go upstairs before the start of the number, or it seems that I didn’t have time to put on my circus costume.” ordinary dreams unusual person, who is late in a dream, but in reality he managed to see half the world from a bird's eye view.
The horse trampled the girl in Abrau-Dyurso
During the equestrian show "Kuban Cossacks" in the village of Abrau-Dyurso near Novorossiysk, 24-year-old Anastasia Maksimova, a native of the Chuvash Republic, died. She performed one of the horse riding tricks - she had to hang down from one side, pick up an object on the ground and return to the saddle. She never returned to her saddle. There was a version that the girl's leg was too rigidly fixed during the performance of the trick, so that she became entangled and could neither rise nor free herself.
The horse dragged the girl several circles: Anastasia received injuries incompatible with life from the horse's hooves and when she hit her head on the ground. She died in an ambulance.
Tragedy at the Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil performers go through the most rigorous training, but their work is still associated with great risk. In 2013, during the performance of "KÀ", 31-year-old aerialist Sarah Guillard-Guillot fell from a vertical platform, which played the role of a battlefield for good and evil, and fell from a height of 15 meters. Mother of two children and an artist with almost 20 years of experience died on the way to the hospital. Witnesses say that the music stopped, screams were heard. The gymnast's cable broke. According to a late investigation, the acrobat did not fall into the timing of the performance, her mistake led to her death.
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Sarah, like the rest of the participants in the performance, was on a safety rope.
“She screamed and started to fall. Everything was like in a movie, she tried to cling to at least something, ”says her colleague Arien Ramani.
North Korean gymnast dies while performing stunt
Korean O Yun Hyuk, a North Korean gymnast, died at the Vernadsky Circus during the Idol Circus Festival. He completed six somersaults, set a world record a minute before his death, but felt that the first time his landing was not clean enough, and decided to try again.
The second time he received a serious injury to the cervical spine. It was not possible to save the gymnast, he died.
Tiger kills trainer in Mexico
In 2012, in a circus in Mexico, a tiger attacked and killed a trainer. First, the predator tore off the trainer's pants, which caused laughter in the hall, but soon the giggling subsided, because the animal attacked the artist. The man died of pain shock.
The killer whale attacked the trainer
On February 24, 2010, 40-year-old animal trainer Dawn Branshaw entertained visitors at Sea World. Suddenly, the killer whale Telekom grabbed the woman by the scythe and pulled her under the water. An autopsy showed that the attack was so violent that Branshaw had a broken jaw, a fractured vertebrae, broken ribs, and a piece of hair torn off his head. This is not the first time that Kasatka Telekom has caused the death of a trainer: a few years ago, she had already killed her trainer in Canada, and before that, in 1999, a homeless man who fell into the pool.
Aerial gymnast fell from a height
In the Kirov circus in January 2016, an accident occurred: an aerialist performed a trick on canvases incorrectly and fell out from under the dome of the circus. Fortunately, the girl survived and announced her intention to continue participating in performances.