Evelyn and André

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1 Aerialists, acrobats
- 1.1 Birth of an Act
- 1.2 Triumphs and Tragedies
2 See Also
3 Image Gallery

Aerialists, acrobats

During the communist era in Eastern Europe, circus arts experienced a spectacular evolution in terms of quality and originality, spearheaded by the Soviet Union, where this renaissance had started in 1928 with the creation of the State College of Circus and Variety Arts in Moscow. If the achievements of the Soviet circus were well known in the West thanks to the international tours of the Moscow Circus that started in the 1960s, top performers of the Eastern Bloc countries are often overlooked. However, Hungary, amidst other Eastern bloc states, had a strong independent spirit, and the Hungarian State Circus (as well as, individually, many Hungarian acts) had done countless forays in Western Europe and the U.S. The husband-and-wife duo of Evelyn & André are among those who managed to pursue a brilliant international career.

The duo consisted of Éva Páviács (1941-2021) and Endre Takács (b.1933). Both came from families that had no ties with the circus world. Éva (Evelyn) was born on March 10, 1941, in Budapest, the Hungarian capital. She was a very physical kid, and she soon enrolled in the Ferencváros Torna Club, Budapest's gymnastics clubA juggling pin.. As soon as she became a teenager, she joined Baross Imre Artistaképző (Imre Baross school for Circus and performing arts) where she continued high schoolA display of equestrian dressage by a rider mounting a horse and leading it into classic moves and steps. (From the French: Haute école) while training in various circus disciplines. She graduated in 1960, and began her professional circus career, first in a parallel bars act, The 4 Hunor with three partners (Károly Deltai, Gábor Hunfi, and Imre László), then in an acrobatic act named the Trio Evelyn, with Károly Deltai and Gábor Hunfi.

Birth of an Act

Born in Pàpoc, a village in the Western Transdanubia region of Hungary, on April 28, 1933, Endre Takács (André) trained in gymnastics, and joined the Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre (MTK) clubA juggling pin. in Budapest, with which he competed in acrobatic gymnastics. He and his team won a silver medal at the 1952 Hungarian Acrobatic Gymnastics Championships. For a living, Endre worked as a mechanic, but after his competitive career had reached an end, he was encouraged to join the circus by his friend, the artistic gymnast and Olympic champion (1948) Ferenc Pataki—or "Szefi bácsi" (Uncle Szefi) as he was affectionately called— who was a teacher at the Baross Imre Artistaképző.

Hence Endre converted to circus arts, and in 1960, debuted with a partner, János Molnár, in an acrobatic duo, the Aramis, in the variety circuit that had been created by the Artista Szakszervezet, the Hungarian Performers Union, in movie houses around the country. (They also performed a perch-poleLong perch held vertically on a performer's shoulder or forehead, on the top of which an acrobat executes various balancing figures. act known as the Duo Molini.) Now called André, he subsequently performed an acrobatic adagioAcrobatic act, generally involving a man and a woman, presented in a slow or romantic mood. (Léna and André) and an aerial act (Maria and André) with other partners. He was introduced to Éva in 1960 by Ferenc Pataki, who told him that if he wished to create a truly outstanding act, he should consider partnering with Éva. This didn't happen immediately, but two years later, in 1962, they toured together, albeit in separate acts, with the Vidám Cirkusz. There they fell in love, and their romantic relationship led in 1963 to a lifelong partnership and a marriage that lasted until Éva's passing in 2021.

Éva and Endre became Evelyn & André and created an original and spectacular aerial perchA hanging perch, from where the performers hang with the help of hand or ankle loops. (French: Bambou - Russian: Bambuk) ("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.") act, replete with spins from neck-hangs and iron-jaw hangs, and a handstand of Éva in André's hands that made it unique—and dangerous, since it was performed without any safety or protection. They soon embarked into a brilliant international career in some of the world's most prestigious circuses and variety stages—including, of course, the Fővárosi Nagycirkusz of Budapest, and also the Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. They performed in Italy, Sweden, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, the Eastern Bloc countries and the Middle East. In 1963, they performed their act for Hungarian television hanging from a helicopter flying above City Park and Heroes’ Square in Budapest.

Triumphs and Tragedies

In 1979 and 1980, billed as "Duo Evelyn," Evelyn & André were featured over the center ring of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (Red Unit) in the United States, in an aerial display that included Dolly Jacobs and The Armon. Evelyn fell in 1979 in Baltimore, an accident that resulted in serious injuries; she had already been victim of a fall in 1969 at Circo Medrano-Casartelli in Italy: Each time, notwithstanding the seriousness of her injuries, she returned to her act as soon as she was able to. If their 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. act was what they were renown for, Evelyn and André also performed a hand-to-handAn acrobatic act in which one or more acrobats do hand-balancing in the hands of an under-stander. adagioAcrobatic act, generally involving a man and a woman, presented in a slow or romantic mood., called the Toldi Duo, as a second act. They did their final performance at Budapest's Fővárosi Nagycirkusz in 1990, performing above a pool in a water show in which they were the final act.

Evelyn and André then retired to their house in Budapest. Sadly, Evelyn unexpectedly passed away in Budapest on June 4, 2021, at age eighty.Soon after, André, who was then eighty-eight years old, was honored by his native country and the Hungarian Circus and Variety Organization (MACIVA) during a ceremony at the Fővárosi Nagycirkusz: He was presented with the Tihany Lifetime Achievement Award (name after the legendary Hungarian illusionist and director Franz Czeisler, better known as Tihany, while a film retracing Evelyn & André's illustrious career was presented to the audience.

It was a long overdue tribute to an exceptional duo of Hungarian performers. Then André when to live with his daughter (also called Evelyn) in Italy, in a picturesque village called Piverone, on Lake Viverone, between Milan and Turin. It is a country where André and Evelyn had performed many times, notably with Circo Medrano-Casartelli, Circo Città di Roma (of the Bizzarro Family), and with Circo Darix Togni in a show titled Festivale Mondiale del Circo (1968), which was a sort of itinerant international circus festival in which Evelyn & André represented Hungary. In each city the circus visited, the audience formed the jury, and Evelyn & André won Gold in Turin, Vicenza, Padua, Treviso, Pesaro, Urbino and Como.