Rectangle 1 Rectangle 16 Rectangle 116 Slavas Beginnings I love happy people, I am so lucky that every night I can see a thousand joyful faces. I believe that clowning is a much broader notion than just a circus genre or a form of entertainment. Once you start, you cannot stop. I was born in Russia, in the city of Oriol, in a family that has never come close to art or show business. It was a simple childhood of an ordinary little boy who loved to run into the forest or to a river, listen to birds singing or go fishing, play wi As a child, I watched The Kid, by Charlie Chaplin, and it impressed me to a great extent. I immediately made a cane for myself and started copying Chaplins walk, which made my classmates and friends laugh. Probably, the idea of my future occupation unwitt It was not me who discovered that I was to become a clown. One remarkable theatre director and scholar once told me: you know, you have such a powerful grotesque manner, and you appear so natural that you are not just a mime now, you are a real clown. I st Your story begins in Soviet Russia, in the heart of a strict and crushing regime, from which you went on to engage on a long journey, chasing your dreams. Tell us more about this journey. Speaking of the art we were practicing, it was never an officially What are the most gratifying aspects of your work? What motivates you keep sharing your poetry with people around the world? The art of clowning cannot exist in solitude. Its not like writing. You can only create something when you have an audience on th Have you ever thought that clowning would become your permanent occupation? How long have you been doing this? How did you become a professional clown? Maybe Ive never asked myself that. I just loved what I was doing. At first, it was an eccentric pantom What kind of tasks have you accomplished? I have done a lot of things. From the scrupulous training in plastique to make my body eloquent, through to the serious study of the classic theatre, circus, entertainment, cabaret, cinematography and other experi Clowns always appear to be happy and joyful on stage. What kind of things make you unhappy? Of course, there are things that sadden life, but I try to see them as lessons that one has to learn. Its not difficult to amuse me for I am very seldom in despai What plans do you have for the future? Starting from a certain moment, I stopped separating my life from my art, so everything that happens to me - whether important or not - is equally valuable to me, because it is my life. And it is full of events. Toda Is Slavas Snowshow more than just a clown performance? To me, the very concept of a clown is so huge, so all-encompassing, so endless that it is hard to imagine anything bigger. Many great artists and directors like Federico Fellini believed that a clown Why did you choose to use the element of snow in the show? Whats the magic about it? Many things in the show come from childhood memories, like the image of snow, for example. What I love most about theatre is the magic. Initially, theatre consisted of r Slava Polunin Momix ALICE 9-17-21 pc Sharen Bradford-1308S Quotes from his interviews Slava Snowshow 3 clowns in bubbles by Aya Rufin Slava Snowshow Yellow on the telephone by Anna Bogodist Roman Boldyrev PHOTO roman.boldyrev@gmail.comoleg-lugovskoy-and-dima-merashchi-toronto-2023---43_53478500012_o
© Anna Hannikainen
© Vincent Gailhac
Rectangle 1 Rectangle 7 I was born in Russia, in the city of Oriol, in a family that has never come close to art or show business. It was a simple childhood of an ordinary little boy who loved to run into the forest or to a river, listen to birds singing or go fishing, play wi It was not me who discovered that I was to become a clown. One remarkable theatre director and scholar once told me: you know, you have such a powerful grotesque manner, and you appear so natural that you are not just a mime now, you are a real clown. I st Rectangle 6 Your story begins in Soviet Russia, in the heart of a strict and crushing regime, from which you went on to engage on a long journey, chasing your dreams. Tell us more about this journey. Speaking of the art we were practicing, it was never an officially What kind of tasks have you accomplished? I have done a lot of things. From the scrupulous training in plastique to make my body eloquent, through to the serious study of the classic theatre, circus, entertainment, cabaret, cinematography and other experi What plans do you have for the future? Starting from a certain moment, I stopped separating my life from my art, so everything that happens to me - whether important or not - is equally valuable to me, because it is my life. And it is full of events. Toda Momix ALICE 9-17-21 pc Sharen Bradford-1308S Slava Polunin Quotes from his interviews Slavas Beginnings I love happy people, I am so lucky that every night I can see a thousand joyful faces.
Slava Snowshow 3 clowns in bubbles by Aya Rufin
Slava Snowshow Yellow on the telephone by Anna Bogodist
I believe that clowning is a much broader notion than just a circus genre or a form of entertainment. Once you start, you cannot stop. Roman Boldyrev PHOTO roman.boldyrev@gmail.comoleg-lugovskoy-and-dima-merashchi-toronto-2023---43_53478500012_o
© Anna Hannikainen
© Vincent Gailhac