Vagif Khamdoulaev/Вагиф хамдулаев

Sunday, 14 November 2010

BIG TOP DISPELS THE GLOOM OF BOMBS

Sunday Express

July 10, 2005

Jeffery Taylor

THE MOSCOW STATE CIRCUS Streatham Common, London SW16, then touring the UK (Tickets: 07030 150 150; £7-£25)

DETERMINED to stand by their host country, the artists of the Moscow State Circus opened for business as usual on the bloodiest day in London history since the Blitz.

A t last Thursday's 5pm show, a spokeswoman said: "People may be frightened and stay away but we are here if anyone wants us."

The band cheerfully thumped its way through the Russian version of Those Were The Days as local families who did want them filtered into the 1,000-seater big top, determined not to deprive the children of their treat.

Aerialist Natalia Egorova, a healthy blonde with legs like a ballerina and the shoulders of a contender, led the campaign to banish the gloom, followed by clowns Forma and Erema covering the setting up of the high-wire act. The Moscow presentation style is relaxed with nothing disguised, the riggers move around in the background highlighting the artists' casual brilliance, such as father and son wire-walkers the Khamdulaevs.

There is so much goofing about by son Vaguif, it comes as a shock to see father Gusein, 49, on his way to the roof via steeply inclined wires.

The show is heavily choreographed in that mechanical style favoured by Seventies' Soviet gymnasts but it is the ultra-professional Moscow skills that count - not least the clowns who stick to the basics, such as snogging the front row and the one with the bucket of water, but whose honest enjoyment is irresistible. There's also one for the ladies - a handsome cove with white satin pants and an impressive bare torso - strongman Bakhrom Akhnazarov, who juggles weights and lets a Jeep run over him.

The show closes with a sensational 10-man springboard act, the Slavos, with youngster Andrey Belyaev only coming alive when hurtling through the air pretending to be an Exocet missile and Denis Pirogov executing an unbelievable five back somersaults without obvious damage.

Thanks to the Russians, there were a few smiles in Streatham at least that dreadful night.

Monday, 8 November 2010

My own story

Where to start...

Well, for details of what was going on in my life at the time, please read Me Me Me! on Malignant Narcissism; it will give you a bit of background info.

March 2003. I was living with Peter and Sarah-Jane in Swansea. They were grads. I was in my final year of my BA. I'd just moved back from Los Angeles. I was getting into a very destructive relationship that had the potential to ruin my life. The circus was in town and Sarah-Jane invited me along. I said no because, as a vegan, I could not go to anywhere that would exploit animals (the usual). She said OK. Came back an hour later with a ticket for me. "I found out there are no animals and they're all Russian". So I go down with a bunch of her friends. It was the first time I had been to a circus (I would have been 21 at the time, just days before my 22nd birthday), purely because my mother feared them after visiting one as a child and the lion got free and had mauled someone in the audience...

Didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. It included a lot of very talented people and aside from the scary clowns and even scarier contortionists, I really enjoyed it.

So there was this high wire act. Two men. One was absolutely stunning. I didn't really notice the other. Me and Sarah-Jane were totally perving on this one guy though. It was Goussein... I truly did not notice Vagif. Well, I saw him but he did not grab me as the stunning babe he is. At least not on the wire...

There was a balancing act (the Popovs?) and they had a very very very handsome assistant. He would be in the background, ensuring that the girls did not hit the floor if anything went wrong and also helping with equipment swap overs, etc. Now he was amazing. Sarah-Jane and I were actively heckling him whenever we got glimpse of him. And who was he? Vagif.

I guess I just preferred him in a suit to the Valentino-esque high wire outfits.

We went home that night absolutely delighted with what we had seen (I also had a thing for one of the Roubstov Troupe til I discovered he was bald). We decided to go back the following day with different friends.

Again, we were perving on Vagif when he was with the balancing act and then I realised he was also the guy on the high wire. Well that was it for me. We had gone towards the end of the run and the following day was the last so I went to the two performances and got a couple of smiles out of Goussein.

I mean, Vagif. This guy could do back flips and the splits on the high wire! Come on!

So the tour headed to Cardiff a few weeks later so I took the kids and again did my usual perving. Then it went off elsewhere and then back to Croiseceiliog (about a twenty minute drive from where I now live). Came to the high wire and I was all ready for them but... no Vagif. I later discovered he was off with an injury (I believe he broke something in a fall). Goussein was very good on his own, though. He did the back flip instead, plus headstands, etc.

That was actually the last time I saw either of them perform.

When the tour next came to Wales, the high wire was gone. Soslan Suanov did kind of make up for it though...

I never got to see Vagif as ringmaster.

I would sometimes see Goussein in Swansea (where he lives) but then I moved away and rarely have time to go back. I also kept an eye on TV appearances and have a few on video. But then there was no mention of either of them online. I searched in various languages and nothing came up.

Then a few months ago, I found a Vagif Khamdoualev on Twitter (I had always known him as Vaguif). I did not have a Twitter account at that point so could not see any pictures. I took a leap of faith and signed up, even though I was so vicious about any social networking sites. Well, it was him. So he is the one you can thank for my almost 4000 tweets in the last 6 months...

A bit of investigation brought up that he was living in Venezuela and was running a transport company of some sort. Still nothing known about Goussein's latest endeavours.

Vagif has previously done some acting and I still maintain he would be perfect for the screen play I have written. After all, he's my Valentino.

So why this?

I like things to be organised. If no one else has done it, I'll do it myself. And why so much on Goussein when it is supposed to be about Vagif? Well, I find it difficult to separate the two and Goussein deserves a lot of recognition too.

This is very much a work in progress so I hope you will stick around for some time to come to see where this ends up.