Valdis Yanovskis
From Circopedia
Juggler, Acrobat, Aerialist
By Dominique Jando
Valdis Yanovskis was born February 10, 1969 in Moscow to a circus family. His father was an acrobat who later converted to clowning. His mother was a trapeze artist. He joined the State College for Circus and Variety Arts in Moscow, where, under the tutelage of Tamara Babayan, he specialized as a juggler. In 1987, he graduated with a group-juggling act, Carnaval, which included Elena Drogaleva, Andrey Ivanko, Kyril Balan, and Alek Novosolov.
From 1990-94, he competed in sports-aerobics and was a member of the Russian National Team. He was European champion twice, in 1990 and 1991. Valdis then partnered with Vasily Gratchov, Arkady Burdnestsky, and Natasha Sarygina, with whom he re-created his group juggling act, now titled Original Jugglers. They performed in the U.S. with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey from 1995-97, and appeared for the last time together at the Big Apple Circus in 1999, before parting ways.
Valdis remained at the Big Apple Circus and became a member of its resident company. He performed in several acrobatic acts and in an aerial "bambou(French - Russian: Bambuk) Aerial apparatus, generally a hanging perch, from where the performers hang with the help of hand or ankle loops. See also: Aerial perch." (aerial perchA hanging perch, from where the performers hang with the help of hand or ankle loops. (French: Bambou - Russian: Bambuk)) act with Regina Dobrovitskaya. He has also partnered with clowns Bello Nock, Vallery (Serebriakov), Fumagalli, and mime Olivier Taquin. He left the Big Apple Circus in 2010.
See Also
- Video: Valdis Yanovskis's Original Jugglers in the Big Apple Circus production of Bello & Friends (1999)
- Video: Valdis Yanovskis, Jeff Gordon, Tom Dougherty, The Baseball Match in the Big Apple Circus production of Clown Around Town (2000)
- Video: R. Dobrovitskaya, V. Peyramaure, A. Mantchev, V. Yanovskis (Comedy acrobatic act), in the Big Apple Circus production of Dreams of a City (2002)
- Video: Valdis Yanovskis & Regina Dobrovitskaya, Aerial Bambou act, in the Big Apple Circus production of Picturesque (2004)
- Video: Andrey Mantchev, Virgile Peyramaure & Valdis Yanovskis (Acrobatic Act) in the Big Apple Circus production of Picturesque (2004)
