17 days until the Festival
Parade of Circus Stars at the “International Circus Festival – City of Latina”: from Russia, non-competing “Special Guests”, world-class Circus legends, the Zapashny Brothers.
This year’s line-up of national and international Special Guests for the “Special Anniversary Edition” of the “International Circus Festival – City of Latina” from October 17th to 21st 2013 is turning out to be pretty extraordinary. Participants already announced are: hilarious ventriloquist Willer Nicolodi, rising star clown Davis Vassalo (Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus) and animal trainers Redy and Deny Montico with one of the biggest cage numbers ever to have been presented in Europe. As if that wasn’t enough, today we can announce yet another guest performance: the legendary Zapashny Brothers are coming to the Festival from Russia, and will be presenting a number with their magnificent horses. This star-studded cast of performers really is a gathering of the best of the best from the Circus world.
Edgard e Askold Zapashny are brothers and working partners. Born in the Ukraine, respectively in Yalta (1976) and Kharkiv (1977), the Zapashny Brothers represent the fourth artistic generation of their family. Acrobat Mikhail Zapashny, their grandfather, married Lidia, horsewoman and gymnast, and daughter of German clown Karl Thompson. Their son, the late Valter Zapashny, a “People’s Artist of Russia”, married Tatiana Zapashnaya, who is currently Director General of the Zapashny Brothers’ Circus, Principal Vice-Director of the Great Moscow State Circus, and also a member of the International Technical Jury at this year’s edition of the Festival. Valter and Tatiana are the parents of Edgard and Askold, and the Zapashny family is considered to be a real “Dynasty” of the Russian Circus. This is a rarity in Russia, where the big Circus families, whilst still working, have rarely retained their legendary fame. The Zapashny Brothers, on the other hand, have managed to raise their profile significantly, working in cinema and television, and are currently without doubt Russia’s most popular Circus performers. Having been born into a Circus family, Edgard and Askold started to learn a series of circus disciplines at a very tender age, and in particular acrobatics and tightrope-walking. Following a period of work in China which began in 1991, at the end of the ‘90s they returned home and started working as animal trainers under the name of the “Zapashny Brothers”. Since then, they have created some extraordinary shows; owing much to their rich family background, they insert innovative elements into traditional Circus performances, which become more of a continuous show that develops in a narrative manner, using Circus arts as a part of the whole, rather than simply performing a series of separate unconnected numbers. As a result, their performances are considerably longer than the average Circus number, and involve an enormous troupe of 250 performers, 25 horses, 11 tigers, 17 dogs, 4 lions, 8 parrots, and 3 monkeys. Amongst their most famous productions are: “Zapashny Brothers Circus” and “Camelot” (2008), “Sadko” (2009), “Camelot-2” (2010), “Legend” (2011), “K.U.K.L.A.” (2012). The awards they have received are impressive: they have won gold in Circus Festivals all over the world, and have been made “People’s Artist of Russia”. Edgard, having gained a degree at the Institute of Business and Law at Moscow, is also Director General of the Great Moscow State Circus (Bolshoi). Askold, having gained a degree at the Russian Academy of Theatre and Arts, is Artistic Director of the Great Moscow State Circus (Bolshoi). In the “Special Anniversary Edition” of the “International Circus Festival – City of Latina” the Zapashny Brothers are presenting a performance that has been created ad hoc. The big equestrian performance entitled “Hellas” features 21 artists and 10 horses, under the direction of Askold Zapashny. In 2011 an extract from this number was included in the “Guinness Book of Records” under the title “highest human column on two horses”. In a recent interview the Zapashny Brothers said, “Our ambition is to become a part of the history of our country”: a big ambition, but the Finale of the Festival will surely help them reach towards that goal, when they will be performing a key piece from their lavish and amazing repertoire for the audience at Latina.
