The fairy-tale forest creature juggled with balloons, catching them with its knees, neck, picking them from hands miraculously emerging from beneath the surface of the earth... The youthful forest creature seemed surprised to see the surrounding world, to perceive it as well as its own body... A bold gladiator, suspended from ropes, twisting his body, wrapping his own destiny round them... Two white birds, likewise suspended, soared above the audience, seemingly oblivious of gravitation... Two brother went through the motions of a duel, wielding their swords with acrobatic prowess... Tchaikovsky’s dying swans were caught in a break dancing...
All these wonders, metamorphoses performed by graduates of the Kyiv State Variety and Circus College, among them Kateryna Luchko, Iryna Bondarenko, Oleh Pospielov, Yevhen Shchukin, Valery Yemets, Oleksandr and Vyacheslav Oroshnykov, Yevhen Kyrylov, Yury Petrov, Oleksiy Zhydchenko, along with 78 colleagues and friends, in a show titled Spovid [Confession]. In fact, shows like this, considering their professional level, should be staged on the small stage of the Kyiv Operetta, but at the Ukraine Palace, for at least a week, selling costly tickets, for the show is well worth it.
The show was staged by Mykola Baranov and his production turned out both logical and spectacular, linking numbers to human relationships. Thus, a group of actors wearing masks, warily watching the first stunts pulled by their colleagues, among them the juggling Harlequin (Ihor Petskovych), then, seeing that the man was all right, leaving him to face the audience. In fact, all the show’s numbers were linked in a such a variety action manner. In the end, the cast performed a modern dance (choreographed by Oleh Kapustin) and shed their masks, so the audience could remember them, leaving one wondering where they would turn up in Ukraine next.
The Kyiv State Variety and Circus College has won acclaim the world over. Its artistic director is Prof. Oleksandr Chukhnikhin, Meritorious Artiste of Ukraine. Here every number consists of first-class stunts and also makes a small drama complete with intrigue, feelings, and relationships, above all with a clear message to the audience which is truly humane. Thus people leave the show, admiring the cast’s skill, beautiful young bodies, and charming faces. Also, the audience is left with a definite sense of empathy and the philosophical truth that man is born to be perfect with limitless opportunities.
