What is a balancing act, who are a balancing act? You will learn this by reading the article.
We will deal with terminology
The statement that the balancing act is those who are engaged in balancing act naturally sounds. There is no mistake in this statement, but it explains absolutely nothing. Therefore, to begin with, we learn what balancing is.
This is a genre of circus art, whose artists perform while maintaining the balance of the body in the most difficult situations and on the most unstable objects, for example, on a ball, wire or rope, bottles, a pyramid from chairs, a pole, a vertical ladder without fastenings, a bicycle and other things. The genre is combined with juggling and acrobatics.
History
Balancers are an ancient profession, as evidenced by the drawings of tightrope walkers on stones, which have come down to modern times from primitive China. It is known that Chinese artisans who wove jute ropes for sale tested their strength in a special way. They stretched the product between the trees, and then stood on it, walked on it, holding on to a long stick. Gradually, these tightrope walkers developed a sense of balance and self-confidence. The most dexterous ones already jumped onto the rope and walked along it without a stick, some even learned to run and jump on it without insurance, which was very spectacular. Later, a competition appeared in China, during which tightrope walkers competed among themselves: who will stand longer, who will jump higher or do the most difficult trick on a rope.
From China, this art spread to other Asian, and then to European countries. There, wandering artists at festive games, fairs and sports events, besides walking on a rope, showed another remarkable number: they held with their feet, in their hands, in their mouths or on their heads a long stick on which a girl or a boy was balancing. Nowadays, also in many circus numbers, the pole of a balancer, called persh, is used.
And what surprised the Russian balancers? These are real virtuosos who demonstrated incredible abilities.
Milaev Evgeniy Timofeevich
He is a famous Soviet balancer. He created a unique number: he balanced the legs of the staircase on top of which his partner was lying and balanced the legs of the second staircase, on which the third artist performed complex figures. Evgeni Milayev himself also performed dizzying and very difficult gymnastic tricks. Together with the group he toured a lot abroad.
Pavlov Sergey Alexandrovich
Many remembered him in the image of a cheerful clown Lalakin. This artist in 1984 presented a trick of the highest complexity, which no one had ever performed before, moreover, it was believed that the trick could not be performed at all. Pavlov carried out a revolution in the circus genre, rehearsing jumping rope on a wire. At first he performed three jumps, then four, his record - seven consecutive jumps at a fast pace through a rope on a wire.
Slavsky Rudolf Evgenievich
Talented Soviet artist. The first began to perform plot circus numbers, paving the way for a new genre. In 1934, together with Alexandra Vorontsova, he prepared an equilibristic lyric number with a comedic tinge: “Date at the Yacht Club”. Then he put sketches "In the morning", "Sailor" and others that looked easy, but technically were very complex.
Molodtsov Fedor Fedorovich
Russian tightrope walker, whose peak career came at the end of the 19th century. He performed very difficult tricks: he walked the rope on stilts, skates, with weighting materials in his hands, blindfolded, danced a lezginka and a lady on a wire, while accompanying himself on a balalaika, stood on his head and sat on the back of a chair. Nobody has been able to repeat his number “Fire Knight” so far. He toured a lot, he was nicknamed "Russian Miracle" abroad.