About the performance
Memory has a short shelf-life. We forget people who lived before us and they disappear into oblivion. As they go, they take away their knowledge, love and drama that we need so much these days if we want not only to remember, live and love as our true selves, but also retain links between generations.
Artists of Upsala-Circus explore the 90s (was this decade wild or free remains a question) in Feathers and try to remember what kind of characters their grandparents were, what they tried to teach them, what made them happy and what they are remembered for, how they grew up and who taught them how to love. The artists are trying to understand how all these memories affect their current life. Simply woven net of childhood memories brings all the participants of this art lab into a space of subtle knowledge, unsteady certainty and shy hope.
Beds and an aquarium that are made of plastic glass and lit with blue light turn into screens that show personal and collective memories; and then into a cage, so small that birds in it loose their feathers; and then into a gateway into our childhood, where there were cartoons, and garages and dachas and carelessness and that endless corridor of a shared apartment where grandma lived; and then into a train that takes the characters maybe to a dacha, but also maybe into an exile. Similarly, everything that surrounds us in real life can trigger memories. Whether to resist them or follow, remains our own choice.
Changeable, fragmented, birdish language of the performance with its plastics, its contemporary acrobatics, its Syr wheel and teeter drop with their precision, its parkour in its will and aerials with their lightness help the artists narrate their personal stories. And also, more broadly speaking, to reveal the layer of something collectively unspoken and forgotten and do it with the familiar language of body motion that is such a familiar backup in such an unfamiliar journey.
Artists of Upsala-Circus explore the 90s (was this decade wild or free remains a question) in Feathers and try to remember what kind of characters their grandparents were, what they tried to teach them, what made them happy and what they are remembered for, how they grew up and who taught them how to love. The artists are trying to understand how all these memories affect their current life. Simply woven net of childhood memories brings all the participants of this art lab into a space of subtle knowledge, unsteady certainty and shy hope.
Beds and an aquarium that are made of plastic glass and lit with blue light turn into screens that show personal and collective memories; and then into a cage, so small that birds in it loose their feathers; and then into a gateway into our childhood, where there were cartoons, and garages and dachas and carelessness and that endless corridor of a shared apartment where grandma lived; and then into a train that takes the characters maybe to a dacha, but also maybe into an exile. Similarly, everything that surrounds us in real life can trigger memories. Whether to resist them or follow, remains our own choice.
Changeable, fragmented, birdish language of the performance with its plastics, its contemporary acrobatics, its Syr wheel and teeter drop with their precision, its parkour in its will and aerials with their lightness help the artists narrate their personal stories. And also, more broadly speaking, to reveal the layer of something collectively unspoken and forgotten and do it with the familiar language of body motion that is such a familiar backup in such an unfamiliar journey.
From the Director of FEATHERS
Here is what's strange about my childhood memories: I do remember a lot, but it registers in my mind as if none of that had happened to me, as if I lived someone else's life. And I must admit, that's not the most pleasant thing to feel about yourself, I think we all wish to be wholesome, to feel that our childhood is our moral support and backup that gives us strength and energy. I can't say that I don't have any nice childhood memories, I do, but they definitely don't make the current me any stronger.
If you grow up in an ordinary family, like I did, you sometimes begin to invent "interesting" relatives. I wanted to stand out, so I began telling people that my father served in the German army during WW2, which he most certainly did not. But back then I thought it was a cool story. Yet, my father was quite an ordinary man from Siberia. Generally, Siberia is a place where most people are nothing but ordinary, there's definitely stratification in society that you don't see in St. Petersburg at all: people who served 20-25 years in jail and who didn't. I remember it struck me a lot when I first came to St. Petersburg.
I tried asking questions about my grandparents, but nobody could tell me anything meaningful. Some people said my grandpa was a soldier, some said he guarded prisoners of war. Which prisoners and where? Nobody could tell me that. That was the situation with my mother's parents.
My father's family were Old Believers. They were deeply religious, but their children didn't take after them. Yet, my grandmother kept her faith. I remember her funeral; all the rituals were followed. They wrapped her body in a cloth and put her in a coffin that had been cut out of a tree-trunk. According to traditions of Old Believers when someone dies the family should hold vigil day and night near the coffin. So the priest kept burning incense in our village house and it was completely covered in smoke and my parents didn't let me go to sleep and it all looked so theatrical to me. I also remember that particular smell of candles. I was a little girl back then. It's really hard for me to talk about my family. They were very ordinary and yet there's something intangible about them, memories don't stick, you try to find something to hold on to and it all just vanishes into thin air. But I want to remember, I want to understand where I come from, who I am.
This is why my work for Feathers turned into the quest in search for childhood, attempt to find and accept myself and my family for who we truly are. We cannot separate our lives into the "then" and the "now". I'm trying to bring it all together, come to terms with myself, one can call it therapy of some sort, but I hope that I gave the co-authors and the artists the opportunity to do the same.
If you grow up in an ordinary family, like I did, you sometimes begin to invent "interesting" relatives. I wanted to stand out, so I began telling people that my father served in the German army during WW2, which he most certainly did not. But back then I thought it was a cool story. Yet, my father was quite an ordinary man from Siberia. Generally, Siberia is a place where most people are nothing but ordinary, there's definitely stratification in society that you don't see in St. Petersburg at all: people who served 20-25 years in jail and who didn't. I remember it struck me a lot when I first came to St. Petersburg.
I tried asking questions about my grandparents, but nobody could tell me anything meaningful. Some people said my grandpa was a soldier, some said he guarded prisoners of war. Which prisoners and where? Nobody could tell me that. That was the situation with my mother's parents.
My father's family were Old Believers. They were deeply religious, but their children didn't take after them. Yet, my grandmother kept her faith. I remember her funeral; all the rituals were followed. They wrapped her body in a cloth and put her in a coffin that had been cut out of a tree-trunk. According to traditions of Old Believers when someone dies the family should hold vigil day and night near the coffin. So the priest kept burning incense in our village house and it was completely covered in smoke and my parents didn't let me go to sleep and it all looked so theatrical to me. I also remember that particular smell of candles. I was a little girl back then. It's really hard for me to talk about my family. They were very ordinary and yet there's something intangible about them, memories don't stick, you try to find something to hold on to and it all just vanishes into thin air. But I want to remember, I want to understand where I come from, who I am.
This is why my work for Feathers turned into the quest in search for childhood, attempt to find and accept myself and my family for who we truly are. We cannot separate our lives into the "then" and the "now". I'm trying to bring it all together, come to terms with myself, one can call it therapy of some sort, but I hope that I gave the co-authors and the artists the opportunity to do the same.
Larisa Afanaseva
Co-founder and artistic director of Upsala-Circus.
ANTHROPOLOGY
Work on this project started when we began collaborating with anthropologists. We wanted our artists to start seeing themselves as part of their family rather than their own self. We wanted them to realize that they are someone's children and grandchildren, that their ancestors live on in them and that they carry their family history, which is sometimes rather dramatic since it's been affected by horrors of the 20th century.
We collaborated with Proppovsky Center, an NGO that mainly researches and aims to preserve Russian traditional culture and its social heritage. They told our artists and Upsala-Circus team about old rituals and how they evolve and live on in our society.
We collaborated with Proppovsky Center, an NGO that mainly researches and aims to preserve Russian traditional culture and its social heritage. They told our artists and Upsala-Circus team about old rituals and how they evolve and live on in our society.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Photography is a very common tool for storing memories. At the same time, what often happens is that we keep photographs and this allows us both to remember and to set aside, forget, discard our loved ones who are long gone. This is why we used several photo archives with very different range of topics and sources for the video-mapping in our performance.
First of all, we used the photo archive made by Dmitriy Markov who is a social photographer and volunteer. He's been photographing life of small Russian towns (mainly Pskov) since 2007. Back then he came to volunteer at a children's home for children with mental disorders in Fedkovo village and stayed to live there.
Characters in his radiant photos live their ordinary lives: children fool around, jump off garage roofs, swim in a local river and chase off pigeons. Dmitriy shows love and tenderness that live in each and every one of us, slight chaos and then also emphasizes that stability can only be provided by family.
First of all, we used the photo archive made by Dmitriy Markov who is a social photographer and volunteer. He's been photographing life of small Russian towns (mainly Pskov) since 2007. Back then he came to volunteer at a children's home for children with mental disorders in Fedkovo village and stayed to live there.
Characters in his radiant photos live their ordinary lives: children fool around, jump off garage roofs, swim in a local river and chase off pigeons. Dmitriy shows love and tenderness that live in each and every one of us, slight chaos and then also emphasizes that stability can only be provided by family.
The second set of photographs was taken by Vasily Staheevich Marinichev back in 1950s and 1960s. He was born on May 9, 1926 in a family of Old Believers from Nizhny Novgorod and died in St. Petersburg on December 21, 2002. He was too small to be recruited as a soldier in WW2, but his father helped him to get recruited as a signalman. When the war was over he stayed in the army and focused on aerial photography till he retired in 1955 and joined a photo lab in Hydropribor Research Institute. He also participated in two expeditions to the Arctic.
His photographs bring us into a world with a lot of "connections", where people don't exist separately, but are all part of a family and a community. Every person is surrounded by society he lives in, but also takes care of. It's a world of traditions, where birthdays and days of saints and anniversaries are celebrated and everyone knows how people should be remembered and prayed for.
His photographs bring us into a world with a lot of "connections", where people don't exist separately, but are all part of a family and a community. Every person is surrounded by society he lives in, but also takes care of. It's a world of traditions, where birthdays and days of saints and anniversaries are celebrated and everyone knows how people should be remembered and prayed for.
Another archive of Proppovsky Center was also used in the visuals for the performance, with photographs that mostly focus on daily life of Russian people starting from the beginning of the 20th century and to current time.
The third block of photographs consisted of the family archives of the creators and the artists. This did not just add to the visuals of the performance, but helped everyone involved to start talking and opening up about their family, finding out where they came from and where they belong and eventually learn more about themselves.
The third block of photographs consisted of the family archives of the creators and the artists. This did not just add to the visuals of the performance, but helped everyone involved to start talking and opening up about their family, finding out where they came from and where they belong and eventually learn more about themselves.
Part of childhood photographs were made by Evgeny Mohorev, who began filming rehearsals of Upsala-Circus back in 2000, so he watched most of the artists of the current professional team grow as he kept photographing and researching such a delicate topic as transition from childhood into adolescence.
Photographs from Sergey Maksimishin's collection also became part of the performance. He started collecting old photographs a while ago and is currently working on a book that will show the evolution of Russian photo portrait since 1860.
SCENOGRAPHY AND COSTUMES
Work on this performance started with a series of creative workshops. Larisa Afanaseva invited Nikolay Khamov, a scenographer who had worked with such renowned projects as ACHE and DEREVO, to run a workshop on stage sets and show the team some possible ways to search for the scenic image of the performance. Nikolay was inspired by a series of installations made by Christian Boltanski, a French contemporary artist whose works also explore the concept of memory and its fragility. Objects and memories from the past fade into becoming abstract elements in our mind.
Many scenographers quite often begin their work on a project by building plexiglass models. Through this process, inspired by works of Boltyanski, Nikolay built modules that resembled beds of some sort or concrete blocks. Being set up directly, they resemble beds, horizontally — a wall, if you put them in a circle they look like Stonehenge. This transparency, inability to hide behind this set prop became yet another metaphor for diving into the past and for sketchy clarity that time grants us through our memories.
Anna Simakova, Costume Designer for Feathers, used the idea of a "uniform" to create the costumes. Artists in anti-utopian performances often wear such outfits as they perfectly illustrate the world where everyone is the same and has to obey the rules and stress the idea of a "weird world". In Feathers this image is completed with masks that look like a strange mix between a beak of a bird and a mask of a plague doctor, alluding to quarantine times of the present.
Many scenographers quite often begin their work on a project by building plexiglass models. Through this process, inspired by works of Boltyanski, Nikolay built modules that resembled beds of some sort or concrete blocks. Being set up directly, they resemble beds, horizontally — a wall, if you put them in a circle they look like Stonehenge. This transparency, inability to hide behind this set prop became yet another metaphor for diving into the past and for sketchy clarity that time grants us through our memories.
Anna Simakova, Costume Designer for Feathers, used the idea of a "uniform" to create the costumes. Artists in anti-utopian performances often wear such outfits as they perfectly illustrate the world where everyone is the same and has to obey the rules and stress the idea of a "weird world". In Feathers this image is completed with masks that look like a strange mix between a beak of a bird and a mask of a plague doctor, alluding to quarantine times of the present.
MUSIC
Daniil Koronkevich, Sound Designer of the performance, is certain that we live our daily lives to a soundtrack, but are unaware of it. This soundtrack determines our behavior: just look at the difference between people on a subway in a rush-hour and someone strolling in a forest. Similarly, a soundtrack to a performance shouldn't stand out, but rather be organically integrated into it, become a whole art piece with the show. So positive comments on the soundtrack separately, sound like criticism to him because it means that he had failed to blend it in to the point it became unnoticeable for the audience. Daniil fundamentally believes that since this show touches a lot of personal stories of the artists, the sound should complement them. So he uses a lot of sounds that organically originate from the narrative: a train, a disco, folk wailing and funeral songs, all gets mixed like the sounds of a city that you feel, but never notice.
Coming from a professional world of sound design for a drama theater, this performance became a professional challenge for Daniil with its tempo-rhythm of acrobatics and contemporary choreography. But dusty-industrial sound and folklore wailing made it possible to achieve the rhythmical clarity. The visual imagery of the performance is based on images that are familiar to each and everyone, which allowed Daniil to apply his favorite technique of searching for natural sounds and mixing them so that everything on stage begins to have its voice: beds squeak, feathers rustle and the screen-aquarium bubbles.
Coming from a professional world of sound design for a drama theater, this performance became a professional challenge for Daniil with its tempo-rhythm of acrobatics and contemporary choreography. But dusty-industrial sound and folklore wailing made it possible to achieve the rhythmical clarity. The visual imagery of the performance is based on images that are familiar to each and everyone, which allowed Daniil to apply his favorite technique of searching for natural sounds and mixing them so that everything on stage begins to have its voice: beds squeak, feathers rustle and the screen-aquarium bubbles.
ARTISTS
Upsala-Circus started 20 years ago as a "circus for rebels", a social project that taught circus arts to children from troubled families. Throughout these 20 years the circus has toured Russia and Europe, got a prestigious "Golden Mask" award amongst many others, helped dozens of children and teenagers, and on top of all that "raised" its own professional team. Feathers is their second performance. We asked the artists to say a few words about who they are, what they are proud of, why they still need Upsala-Circus now that they are adults, how they survived COVID home lockdown and what they've learned about themselves. Here we list their words that you can hear during the performance.
Nikolay Groudino
"Back in childhood, I used to spend every summer in the village where my grandparents lived and used to ride horses there"
Nikolay was born in St. Petersburg and is a graduate of Upsala-Circus. He says his main achievement is his work as an artist in the professional circus troupe that gives him the opportunity to discover new things about himself and the world around him through different performances and also develop his artistic skills. He's an unstoppable optimist and even saw home lockdown as an opportunity to spend more time at home with his wife and a newborn baby.
Alexey Popov
"Everything is constantly changing, nothing stays still."
Alexey was born in Novosibirsk and raised by three women: his mother, grandmother and godmother. He is proud to have moved to St. Petersburg where he got the opportunity to become a physical artist, whose function, as he sees it, is to create an abstract image onstage whilst remaining meticulously precise in his moves during the process. He greatly appreciates the fact that Upsala-Circus gave him the opportunity to work in the genre of physical theater. He says that during home lockdown he experienced a sense of déjà vu, went back to the time when he first came to St. Petersburg and staying at home and doing nothing was his lifestyle. It also made him realize how fragile and fleeting human life is.
Pavel Rybkin
"I generally love life and contemporary life as well."
Pavel is from St. Petersburg, but he knows his ancestors came from Poland and from Siberia. For him Upsala-Circus is a home, a place that gives him strength, provides with opportunity and teaches new skills. COVID home lockdown gave him time to touch base, reconsider his goals and focus on their achievement.
Stanislava Vashkevich
"They think they are running a puppet theatre. But we are no puppets, we are living and breathing humans and each of us runs a theater of their own".
Born and raised in St. Petersburg, she knows that her grandfather was a prisoner of war during Russia's war with Japan and even managed to get rich on that, according to what her grandmother has told her. Her mother's line covers basically all counties of former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: from Poland to Latvia to Belorussia.
She is proud of the fact that a few years ago she made a decision not to have a surgery on her back, even though some people later claimed they made that call. She thinks that her main professional achievements are yet to happen and appreciates that Upsala-Circus gives her an opportunity to have fun whilst doing good, bringing joy to people and developing as an artist. Global pandemic showed her that she doesn't always have to stay strong, that's it's okay to sometimes allow herself to be vulnerable and share her feelings. It also made her realize that time is fleeting, so if you want to do something, create something, produce something you have to act upon it here and now because there may be no right moment in the future.
She is proud of the fact that a few years ago she made a decision not to have a surgery on her back, even though some people later claimed they made that call. She thinks that her main professional achievements are yet to happen and appreciates that Upsala-Circus gives her an opportunity to have fun whilst doing good, bringing joy to people and developing as an artist. Global pandemic showed her that she doesn't always have to stay strong, that's it's okay to sometimes allow herself to be vulnerable and share her feelings. It also made her realize that time is fleeting, so if you want to do something, create something, produce something you have to act upon it here and now because there may be no right moment in the future.
Elnara Evdokimova
" I clearly realize that I alone won't be able to make any changes in this country"
Elnara comes from an ordinary family, her mother was born in St. Petersburg back in the days when it was still called Leningrad and her father came from Azerbaijan. She says her most important decision in life so far was to stay in Upsala-Circus as a professional artist and that the circus for her has evolved from being a hobby into something that changed her life, became a career, taught her to help and support others and gave her hope towards the future. She loves being a part of the team and discovering new things with them, it's important for her to see that she's not alone and she's surrounded by people who share the same values. She says that the global COVID-pandemic definitely taught her some lessons, which are yet to crystallize into ideas in her head.
Tatyana Goryacheva
"Since I was a kid, I've always loved swings. This feeling of freedom, fight, inspiration — nothing compares to it".
Born in St. Petersburg, just like her parents, Tatyana says she's a typical big city girl, even though most of her relatives from her father's line are village people. She loves and appreciates Upsala-Circus for its novelty and its team for mindfulness and personal involvement in the creative process. She's known many people from the team for a while and initially was supposed to join the project as a trainer, but ended up on stage as an artist. The home lochdown became the ultimate time for personal achievement for her since she spent a lot of time working on her online projects, studying and training.
CREATORS OF THE PERFOMANCE
In 20 years of its work, Upsala-Circus has gathered an amazing team. Artists and technical professionals who worked together to create Feathers had collaborated with such renowned projects like ACHE engineer theater, Grand Opéra de Paris, Alexandrinsky theater, Pavel Lungin and other notable people and projects.
Larisa Afanaseva
Director
Education: East-Siberian State Academy of Arts, theater director. Co-founder, Director and Artistic Director of Upsala-Circus. Since 2000 she has been working with children and teenagers from at-risk social groups and children mental and behavioral disorders. Directed 10 performances such as Ping-Pong Ball Effect that participated in the Fringe art festival in Edinburgh and Pirosmani Dreams that got an "Arlekin" award in 2019, Tochka, Nephew, SOBAKI, Dreams' Guardian and more. The author of circus pedagogy method that teaches how to work with children from at-risk social groups.
On her routes: I created Feathers to explain my routes to myself.
On her pride: If we talk about immersion, understanding, change and love, I'm fond of our Pirosmani Dreams project. We started working on it during our trip to Georgia when we were learning about that world and people, making friends, love was in the air, it was amazing. With Feathers, the thing is it's still work-in-progress, I'm still very much in the midst of the creating process, so it's not yet time to say that I love this performance. It's a tough one, for the first time actually.
On Upsala-Circus: I work here because back when I was child I met a person who whispered a fairytale about it in my ear. She told me my world could be like that, I had not thought such world existed before I met her. She made me believe in myself. There would be no Upsala-Circus if it hadn't been for her.
On lessons learned from the global pandemic: It took some time to come to terms with it. You think you're in control of everything: obstacles aside, you follow your goal and then one day the world teaches you a lesson, reminds you that there are things beyond your control. And you have to stay humble, slow down, breathe, do some yoga, read a book, listen to music, walk the empty streets of St. Petersburg. This was a story of taking a break and getting aquatinted with yourself.
On her routes: I created Feathers to explain my routes to myself.
On her pride: If we talk about immersion, understanding, change and love, I'm fond of our Pirosmani Dreams project. We started working on it during our trip to Georgia when we were learning about that world and people, making friends, love was in the air, it was amazing. With Feathers, the thing is it's still work-in-progress, I'm still very much in the midst of the creating process, so it's not yet time to say that I love this performance. It's a tough one, for the first time actually.
On Upsala-Circus: I work here because back when I was child I met a person who whispered a fairytale about it in my ear. She told me my world could be like that, I had not thought such world existed before I met her. She made me believe in myself. There would be no Upsala-Circus if it hadn't been for her.
On lessons learned from the global pandemic: It took some time to come to terms with it. You think you're in control of everything: obstacles aside, you follow your goal and then one day the world teaches you a lesson, reminds you that there are things beyond your control. And you have to stay humble, slow down, breathe, do some yoga, read a book, listen to music, walk the empty streets of St. Petersburg. This was a story of taking a break and getting aquatinted with yourself.
Yaroslav Mitrofanov
Stunt Director
Education: Baltic Institute of Ecology, Politics and Law, majored as Theater and Cinema Artist, St. Petersburg Music-Hall School, majored as Artist of an original genre. Assistant Director, Trainer in Acrobatics, Stunt Director in Upsala-Circus since 2008.
On his routes: I come from St. Petersburg, I was born in the family of Artemiy, my father and Eleonore, my mother. I have five brothers and one sister. My father was born and raised and St. Petersburg and my mother was born in Chelyabinsk and later moved to St. Petersburg together with my grandfather Georgy.
Оn his pride: I work with the most creative project, I do what I really love. I think if you really love your job you always get great results.
On Upsala-Circus: it has all come together here — the idea, the wish, what I would like to do, what I love to do. I love the atmosphere of this place: the way people interact, treat each other, work together, it feels like one big family, kind and eternal.
Оn lessons learned from the global pandemic:
Yes, we got a lot of extra time to come up with new ideas and immediately bring them to life. But on the other hand, I wish we had more time to spend on rehearsals. I think we would have a completely different result if it hadn't been for the quarantine period. In the end, I hope we have created a great story for our audience.
On his routes: I come from St. Petersburg, I was born in the family of Artemiy, my father and Eleonore, my mother. I have five brothers and one sister. My father was born and raised and St. Petersburg and my mother was born in Chelyabinsk and later moved to St. Petersburg together with my grandfather Georgy.
Оn his pride: I work with the most creative project, I do what I really love. I think if you really love your job you always get great results.
On Upsala-Circus: it has all come together here — the idea, the wish, what I would like to do, what I love to do. I love the atmosphere of this place: the way people interact, treat each other, work together, it feels like one big family, kind and eternal.
Оn lessons learned from the global pandemic:
Yes, we got a lot of extra time to come up with new ideas and immediately bring them to life. But on the other hand, I wish we had more time to spend on rehearsals. I think we would have a completely different result if it hadn't been for the quarantine period. In the end, I hope we have created a great story for our audience.
Elena Rousina
Choreography
Education: Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique in Paris (acting course). Actress and dancer in a number of leading theaters in France: Théâtre Lucernaire, Théâtre de l'Intranquil, Auditorium du Louvre, Grand Opéra de Paris, Cirque Les Noctambules, Théâtre Trama, Théâtre La Jonquière. Choreographer in Upsala-Circus.
On her routes: I come from St. Petersburg, my mother's parents were scientist: grandma was a biologist and grandfather was a linguist. They left Vologda region for St. Petersburg after the revolution. My ancestors from my father's side were in the military and came from a village of Old Believers in Irkutsk region. And my parents were engineers.
On her pride: my main pride for today is my collaboration with Anton Adasinsky. To me he's the role-model for discipline, demand, challenge and creativity. I'm also proud of my directing work with Alexandrinsky Theater and The Hermitage Theatre. And obviously with Upsala-Circus that combines creative freedom with utmost degree of responsibility.
On Upsala-Circus: it allows me to be part of the team whose taste, style and professionalism I trust completely. It's a combination of relative creative stability and message of enlightenment ideas. This team can influence how contemporary dance and new circus develops in St. Petersburg and am honored to be part of it and contribute.
Оn lessons learned from the global pandemic:
Clarity: don't hold on to anything, learn to let go. I came to realize that people and their relationship is they keystone to everything. I learned who I can rely on in the times of need.
On her routes: I come from St. Petersburg, my mother's parents were scientist: grandma was a biologist and grandfather was a linguist. They left Vologda region for St. Petersburg after the revolution. My ancestors from my father's side were in the military and came from a village of Old Believers in Irkutsk region. And my parents were engineers.
On her pride: my main pride for today is my collaboration with Anton Adasinsky. To me he's the role-model for discipline, demand, challenge and creativity. I'm also proud of my directing work with Alexandrinsky Theater and The Hermitage Theatre. And obviously with Upsala-Circus that combines creative freedom with utmost degree of responsibility.
On Upsala-Circus: it allows me to be part of the team whose taste, style and professionalism I trust completely. It's a combination of relative creative stability and message of enlightenment ideas. This team can influence how contemporary dance and new circus develops in St. Petersburg and am honored to be part of it and contribute.
Оn lessons learned from the global pandemic:
Clarity: don't hold on to anything, learn to let go. I came to realize that people and their relationship is they keystone to everything. I learned who I can rely on in the times of need.
Daniil Koronkevich
Sound Design
"Things won't normalize here until evening completely falls into decay"
"Things won't normalize here until evening completely falls into decay"
Education: St. Petersburg ITMO, Sound Designer and Sound Engineer. Worked as a Sound Designer for Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg for shows such as Birthday of a Fairytale (directed by Ivan Kourkin), The Twelve (directed by Anton Okoneshnikov), Chouk and Gek (directed by Mikhail Patlasov), There's no Sun (directed by Anton Okoneshnikov). Has been working with Upsala-Circus since 2013.
On his routes: I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, my father comes from Kiev and my mother is from St. Petersburg.
On his pride: I think it's Chouk and Gek performance because it's my most meaningful project, I clearly understand why it exists. And I still use a lot of things that got created whist we were working on it. It taught me how to work with different sound objects. I would also mention my album from last year, I had been thinking of releasing it for a long time.
On Upsala-Circus: It's a place where one works exactly to a point and at a level they can afford. Basically you decide for yourself how much responsibility you're willing to take on, which is great because you don't feel pressured into anything by your team.
On lessons learned from the global pandemic: Quarantine gave me an opportunity to focus more on my music, to slow down and think about what I want to do next. I can't say it took something away from me other than extra fuss and some jobs I didn't really need. It turned out one can actually sometimes stop and do nothing.
On his routes: I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, my father comes from Kiev and my mother is from St. Petersburg.
On his pride: I think it's Chouk and Gek performance because it's my most meaningful project, I clearly understand why it exists. And I still use a lot of things that got created whist we were working on it. It taught me how to work with different sound objects. I would also mention my album from last year, I had been thinking of releasing it for a long time.
On Upsala-Circus: It's a place where one works exactly to a point and at a level they can afford. Basically you decide for yourself how much responsibility you're willing to take on, which is great because you don't feel pressured into anything by your team.
On lessons learned from the global pandemic: Quarantine gave me an opportunity to focus more on my music, to slow down and think about what I want to do next. I can't say it took something away from me other than extra fuss and some jobs I didn't really need. It turned out one can actually sometimes stop and do nothing.
Tatyana Mishina
Lighting Designer
Lighting Designer with focus on dance and physical theater. Worked for Four Seasons of the Year dance performance in the State Theater of Voronezh, Mirror dance performance in Chamber Theater of Voronezh and many more. She collaborated with such renowned directors as Pavel Glukhov, Olga Labovkina, Sony Ovsepyan, Anton Adasinsky and Anna Berezina. Performances she helped to created were shown at Context festival organized by Diana Vishneva. She also worked for the New Stage of Alexandrinsky Theater.
On her routes: My parents came from the south of the Urals, my dad served in the border security forces and I was born in the Moscow region and lived in several small military settlements that sprang around small centers.
On her pride: I never work where I don't grow, where I have no interest in what I'm doing.
On Upsala-Circus: I love the way boundaries are treated here. They turn into small obstacles that are very graciously overcome. I love people who never stop searching, love to surprise and are ready to be surprised.
On lessons learned from the global pandemic: It made me realize what I really want and what's not important. Once you've understood "why" you can handle pretty much any "how".
On her routes: My parents came from the south of the Urals, my dad served in the border security forces and I was born in the Moscow region and lived in several small military settlements that sprang around small centers.
On her pride: I never work where I don't grow, where I have no interest in what I'm doing.
On Upsala-Circus: I love the way boundaries are treated here. They turn into small obstacles that are very graciously overcome. I love people who never stop searching, love to surprise and are ready to be surprised.
On lessons learned from the global pandemic: It made me realize what I really want and what's not important. Once you've understood "why" you can handle pretty much any "how".
Anna Ampleeva
Video
Education: Graduated from the University of Cinematography and Television majoring in construction of the set equipment and from Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography majoring as director of photography. Anna has worked in the film industry since 2002 and participated in a number of renowned projects such as Cuckoo directed by V. Rogozhkin, And the Punishment directed by Pavel Mirzoev, Beslan. The right to live directed by O. Stefanova, A Branch of Lilac directed by Pavel Lungin, A Game of Words directed by Pavel Mirzoev.
Between 2010-2011 Anna worked in Comrades.Pro and Andy Fyord studio advertising and fashion agencies. Between 2011-2017 she lived in the USA where she focused on her own projects and created a program of therapeutic photography. She directed and filmed the Village documentary series. Anna collaborates with the Perspectivy NGO participating in inclusive events and video projects. Since 2018 she's collaborated with the leading museums and theaters of the city and also recently started teaching. Co-founder of TAC: Theater, Animation, Cinema school.
She's a cinematographer, photographer and a media artist
On her routes: There's at least one creative searcher per generation in my family. Everyone else will have a "stable" career of a doctor or an engineer or serve in the military, but one will be a black sheep. For example, in the generation of my proper grandparents one was a poet, an artist and a scientist (space biotechnology). In my parent's generation my aunt had quite a long search for what she wanted to be and finally found herself professionally in psychology and now teaches at university. In my generation I turned out to be that searcher.
On her pride: I think my main project is "therapeutic photography". It started as a process of self-identification and later evolved into photo shoots with people who went through some psychological or age-related transformations. It finished with my personal photo exhibition that I called Simply Female in 2018. As for projects that involved collaboration with other people, it's TAC: Theater, Animation, Cinema — a cultural and educational project for teenagers.
On Upsala-Circus: I love these people, their energy, I share their values. I'm absolutely happy to be creating something together.
On lessons learned from the global pandemic: The previous year was really intense for me, so the quarantine gave me an opportunity to slow down and make more relaxed, thought-through decisions. And I also got to have a lot of extra time for myself.
Between 2010-2011 Anna worked in Comrades.Pro and Andy Fyord studio advertising and fashion agencies. Between 2011-2017 she lived in the USA where she focused on her own projects and created a program of therapeutic photography. She directed and filmed the Village documentary series. Anna collaborates with the Perspectivy NGO participating in inclusive events and video projects. Since 2018 she's collaborated with the leading museums and theaters of the city and also recently started teaching. Co-founder of TAC: Theater, Animation, Cinema school.
She's a cinematographer, photographer and a media artist
On her routes: There's at least one creative searcher per generation in my family. Everyone else will have a "stable" career of a doctor or an engineer or serve in the military, but one will be a black sheep. For example, in the generation of my proper grandparents one was a poet, an artist and a scientist (space biotechnology). In my parent's generation my aunt had quite a long search for what she wanted to be and finally found herself professionally in psychology and now teaches at university. In my generation I turned out to be that searcher.
On her pride: I think my main project is "therapeutic photography". It started as a process of self-identification and later evolved into photo shoots with people who went through some psychological or age-related transformations. It finished with my personal photo exhibition that I called Simply Female in 2018. As for projects that involved collaboration with other people, it's TAC: Theater, Animation, Cinema — a cultural and educational project for teenagers.
On Upsala-Circus: I love these people, their energy, I share their values. I'm absolutely happy to be creating something together.
On lessons learned from the global pandemic: The previous year was really intense for me, so the quarantine gave me an opportunity to slow down and make more relaxed, thought-through decisions. And I also got to have a lot of extra time for myself.
Nikolay Khamov
Stage Engineer
Stage engineer, actor. Collaborates with ACHE Engineering Theater, DEREVO Theater, Maxim Didenko, projects of Slava Polounin, Mikhail Shemyakin and others. Stage Engineer of I am Bashō performance at Upsala-Circus.
On his routes: I was born in Ufa and descent from a family of craftsmen and engineers. Some say my ancestors were archers from Moscow, others say we descent from Turkish janissaries. I spent my childhood in the mountains because towns in that region are a mix between factories and prison settlements. One of my childhood memories is an abandoned prosthetics factory with a pile of artificial arms sitting in the middle of it.
On his pride: Faust 3.0 performance that I did for ACHE Engineering Theatre. It is my project and I'm still working on it. I'm particularly proud of the street version of it because it was an amazing challenge to adjust 20 meter set decorations for the street format. I still keep coming up with ideas how to improve it, to create new machines. And I have to multitask and collaborate with the team, with light, with sound, seek funding for it too, it is a pinnacle of all my skills and talent.
On Upsala-Circus: First of all, I must say I love the idea of the new circus with no animals and with acrobats and jugglers. Second of all, my personal ambitions as an artist correspond with it as well. I have a few acrobatic numbers, there's always some degree of risk in my performances, in my creative solutions. I don't have a single performance where there's no circus or acrobatics or risk.
On lessons learned from the global pandemic: You know, there's a saying "Gloria transit". That's exactly what happened: in a blink of an eye a bunch of really great projects that had been in the works just got dropped. So even though I thought "I got it, that's it!", but no! Gloria transit. Fame goes away. I was amazed at how quickly it happened. But I also liked the lockdown because it was some sort of a restart.
Bam, and here we go again from scratch.
On his routes: I was born in Ufa and descent from a family of craftsmen and engineers. Some say my ancestors were archers from Moscow, others say we descent from Turkish janissaries. I spent my childhood in the mountains because towns in that region are a mix between factories and prison settlements. One of my childhood memories is an abandoned prosthetics factory with a pile of artificial arms sitting in the middle of it.
On his pride: Faust 3.0 performance that I did for ACHE Engineering Theatre. It is my project and I'm still working on it. I'm particularly proud of the street version of it because it was an amazing challenge to adjust 20 meter set decorations for the street format. I still keep coming up with ideas how to improve it, to create new machines. And I have to multitask and collaborate with the team, with light, with sound, seek funding for it too, it is a pinnacle of all my skills and talent.
On Upsala-Circus: First of all, I must say I love the idea of the new circus with no animals and with acrobats and jugglers. Second of all, my personal ambitions as an artist correspond with it as well. I have a few acrobatic numbers, there's always some degree of risk in my performances, in my creative solutions. I don't have a single performance where there's no circus or acrobatics or risk.
On lessons learned from the global pandemic: You know, there's a saying "Gloria transit". That's exactly what happened: in a blink of an eye a bunch of really great projects that had been in the works just got dropped. So even though I thought "I got it, that's it!", but no! Gloria transit. Fame goes away. I was amazed at how quickly it happened. But I also liked the lockdown because it was some sort of a restart.
Bam, and here we go again from scratch.
Anna Simakova
Costume Designer
Education: College in Syzran where she got a diploma of Artist-technologist. Graduated from Russian State University of Tourism and Service majoring as a technologist in clothing manufacturing. Anna worked in a number of clothing companies of mass production and also several fashion design studios. She designed costumes in Upsala-Circus for Zaichestvo and Pirosmani Dreams performances and collaborates with ACHE theater.
Оn her routes: Partially my routes stretch to Povolzhie, partially to the village of Kivalitza, where there was a Finnish-Savvokot settlement. That's where my father's mother came from.
On her pride: I think my main professional achievement is yet to happen. I always look forward to new things, as soon as one project comes to an end I try to move on, learn from my mistakes and avoid them in the future.
Оn Upsala-Circus: It has already become a part of me, it's a place where I can be my true self, where nobody limits you and everyone trusts you.
Оn lessons learned from the global pandemic: I focused a lot on looking after my close ones. It made me realize how much I value them and all small troubles and worries lost their importance.
Оn her routes: Partially my routes stretch to Povolzhie, partially to the village of Kivalitza, where there was a Finnish-Savvokot settlement. That's where my father's mother came from.
On her pride: I think my main professional achievement is yet to happen. I always look forward to new things, as soon as one project comes to an end I try to move on, learn from my mistakes and avoid them in the future.
Оn Upsala-Circus: It has already become a part of me, it's a place where I can be my true self, where nobody limits you and everyone trusts you.
Оn lessons learned from the global pandemic: I focused a lot on looking after my close ones. It made me realize how much I value them and all small troubles and worries lost their importance.
Masha Mikhelson
Assistant Director
Graduated from St. Petersburg State University majoring in culture study and linguistics; continued her education in French University College in Moscow and Fondation Marcel Hicter in Brussels where she studied management of cultural projects. Whilst living in Brussels, Masha fell in love with European theater and later in the concept of a new circus when she came to work for Slava Polounin. She still teaches in several schools in St. Petersburg and participates in a number of renowned educational projects such as Apelsin private school, Teacher for Russia, Upsala-Circus and projects of Slava Polounin.
Оn her routes: I was born in Leningrad, but if you look deeper my routes stretch to Estonia and even a bit to Udmourtia.
Оn her pride: I'm lucky to be able to find amazing projects and wonderful people to work with, be it in education, theater or circus in different parts of the world. Ten years ago I came up with an idea of a theater in French language and considering how many projects sprouted from it, it was a great idea.
Оn Upsala-Circus: This place and people here encompass many things that resonate so much with me: children, adults, new circus, social context, creativity, freedom, love, but also help, support and travel.
Оn lessons learned from the global pandemic: It reminded me of how fragile human life and the world around us is, how precious true simple things and relationships are.
Оn her routes: I was born in Leningrad, but if you look deeper my routes stretch to Estonia and even a bit to Udmourtia.
Оn her pride: I'm lucky to be able to find amazing projects and wonderful people to work with, be it in education, theater or circus in different parts of the world. Ten years ago I came up with an idea of a theater in French language and considering how many projects sprouted from it, it was a great idea.
Оn Upsala-Circus: This place and people here encompass many things that resonate so much with me: children, adults, new circus, social context, creativity, freedom, love, but also help, support and travel.
Оn lessons learned from the global pandemic: It reminded me of how fragile human life and the world around us is, how precious true simple things and relationships are.
Sergey Shakhov
Set, props, equipment
Education: Sergey didn't get any formal education and learned everything on the job working as a stage technician in the Drama Theater named after Komissarzhevskaya and then in one of Ginza Project restaurants. In 2016 he started working in a carpentry shop and also worked as an actor at the Improsto improvisation theater and ran the Time to live art studio. Sergey joined Upsala-Circus in 2018 because it's a place where two of his passions, culture and carpentry came together. He is in charge of the set and continues to grow as a private carpenter.
Оn his routes: I come from Ivanovo region, from the town of Teikovo. It's your typical provincial town, straight out of an art-house movie.
Оn his pride: Once I made a mustache for an actor who had lost his one two minutes before he was supposed to go on stage. If we are talking outside the circus, I finally managed to gather up my own music band and record a few songs. It's really quite an achievement because it requires a lot of organizing. First it just sits in your head like a dream and then you start doing things slowly, step by step and before you know it some people join you and something grows out of it, it's amazing.
On Upsala-Circus: I've had a lot of jobs being an employee and it's for the first time that I can feel ultimate respect, I know that I'm not treated as a tool, but rather as an important part of the project. Mindset and ideas here resonate with what I believe in.
Оn lessons learned from the global pandemic: It showed me that it was not the lack of time that made me postpone some important projects. It also gave me an opportunity to spend more time with my family, which I think is a positive side-effect.
Оn his routes: I come from Ivanovo region, from the town of Teikovo. It's your typical provincial town, straight out of an art-house movie.
Оn his pride: Once I made a mustache for an actor who had lost his one two minutes before he was supposed to go on stage. If we are talking outside the circus, I finally managed to gather up my own music band and record a few songs. It's really quite an achievement because it requires a lot of organizing. First it just sits in your head like a dream and then you start doing things slowly, step by step and before you know it some people join you and something grows out of it, it's amazing.
On Upsala-Circus: I've had a lot of jobs being an employee and it's for the first time that I can feel ultimate respect, I know that I'm not treated as a tool, but rather as an important part of the project. Mindset and ideas here resonate with what I believe in.
Оn lessons learned from the global pandemic: It showed me that it was not the lack of time that made me postpone some important projects. It also gave me an opportunity to spend more time with my family, which I think is a positive side-effect.
Sofia Krylova
Production Assistant
"We are looking into the mirror here and now. What was in the past stayed there and the future hasn't arrived yet."
"We are looking into the mirror here and now. What was in the past stayed there and the future hasn't arrived yet."
On her routes: I was born in St. Petersburg in the beginning of the 21 century, my parents are from here too. My father's ancestors come from the south of Russia, from Abkhazia, my mother's ancestors come from Ukraine. Back in the days some of my ancestors were officers. It's hard to say what kind of people they were when you look at their photos. And I don't think I want to know. I'm not ready to learn that someone of them could have been a prison guard in concentration camps or maybe worked as an executor.
On her pride: I think it is the fact that now I work as a technician in a different theater. It feels somewhat close to what a child might feel when she leaves school, looks around and thinks "What?! Where?! Where am I and who are all these people?!". You come to a new place, you don't know anyone, you work three months without a break, new tasks keep coming in, you learn a lot, you are exhausted, but it is all so exciting!
Оn Upsala-Circus: Upsala-Circus stands for growth for me. I currently cannot perform, but I grow as a technician, I'm in charge of light and sound and it's amazing, not many other places would offer me such an opportunity. Upsala-Circus is also my family that made me more sensible, taught me many things. It's here that I started to show interest in politics and other deeper things that do not usually interest my peers.
Оn lesson learned during the global pandemic: I started showing interest in music, learned to play the guitar, spent more time on self-care, which is not typical for me. I think one has to learn to adjust to the situation because if you complain that something has been taken away, nothing good is gonna come out of it. Of course a lot of offline projects got cancelled, but on the bright side, people learned to work online, to stay in the moment and I think that's the right thing to do now and people have no right to do otherwise.
On her pride: I think it is the fact that now I work as a technician in a different theater. It feels somewhat close to what a child might feel when she leaves school, looks around and thinks "What?! Where?! Where am I and who are all these people?!". You come to a new place, you don't know anyone, you work three months without a break, new tasks keep coming in, you learn a lot, you are exhausted, but it is all so exciting!
Оn Upsala-Circus: Upsala-Circus stands for growth for me. I currently cannot perform, but I grow as a technician, I'm in charge of light and sound and it's amazing, not many other places would offer me such an opportunity. Upsala-Circus is also my family that made me more sensible, taught me many things. It's here that I started to show interest in politics and other deeper things that do not usually interest my peers.
Оn lesson learned during the global pandemic: I started showing interest in music, learned to play the guitar, spent more time on self-care, which is not typical for me. I think one has to learn to adjust to the situation because if you complain that something has been taken away, nothing good is gonna come out of it. Of course a lot of offline projects got cancelled, but on the bright side, people learned to work online, to stay in the moment and I think that's the right thing to do now and people have no right to do otherwise.
SPECIAL THANKS
