Reviews of Vova's appearance at BJC 2001 (Cardiff)

"The organising team would like to say that we thought their show was great and well worth the hassle of chasing visa's and the cost of getting them over here. But Also the lads were perfect guests, very well behaved and always willing to help out with the media. It was great to have them here..."
(Ali Williams, the main organizer of the convention)

"I thought they were very good - exceedingly good – absolutely fantastically good. (Get the idea??). I didn't get to see them in the halls, but I hear they were just as impressive in practice as they were on stage..."
(Ali Close)

"The Russian lads show was amazing. The only thing that's going to stop them growing up into international superstars is if they get bored and take up landscape gardening instead..."
(Glyn Hanton, Loaded Dice Design and Media, tel.: 01727 757650, mob.: 07957 303251, www.loadeddice.co.uk)

"They were great, if a little short, judging by the ovation they received doing the whole act again would have been a good idea..."
(Dave Law, dave@mlaw.freeserve.co.uk)

"We thought their act was fantastic. They looked as if they were enjoying it and it flowed really well. The combinations of height looked great and the way moved between patterns was effortless. On top of that I'd like to say a really big thank you to them for the time they spent passing with my son, Joe. They were patient and excellent teachers despite the lack of Joe's Russian.... He is still buzzing from the experience and we're having to practice every night at the moment - great having a partner without having to go out ! It capped a great BJC."
(Tim, Tess and Joe Murray)

"To the final act. The four boys known only as "The Russians"... Aged 12 to 13, they are some of the best club passers I have ever seen of any age. They made 9 clubs between two of them look easy. And here is a video of their finale... 16 clubs between the 4 of them. I loved their use of platforms to create different heights and levels throughout the act. All round amazing juggling and they even put in a bit of dancing too... Have you watched that video yet? Well, I cut off the standing ovation."

(Luke Burrage, http://lukeburrages.thingonthe.net/juggling/bjc014.html)

"We ended with The Russians, they were billed as four young lads, I was expecting a group of 18 or so yearolds, I wasn't expecting two 11 & two 13 year olds, I was even more shocked by how good they were. Again the pace of their act was frenetic, they hurled their clubs at each other VERY hard & fast, & they changed formation & clambered up & down the ladders to their podiums as if they were on fast forward. It really was genuinely difficult to work out how many clubs they were juggling, especially the finale which we think was a nine club pass over a seven, but could have been ten over eight."

(Jon Relf, http://www.twjc.co.uk/cardiff.html)

"Then the Russian kids came on at the end and wowed everyone."

(Danny Colyer, http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/juggling/jugcons.html#bjc14)

"They were all very polite, and everyone who I have spoken to (both organisers, and visitors to the Convention were full of praise for them. I was honoured to meet your son, and humbled by his skills... Their performance in the Public show was outstanding in the first show, and very good in the second (although it did go wrong for a few seconds - but was quickly recovered). I have never seen an audience reaction like it at a convention public show. Especially in the first show. They received a five minute standing ovation. This has never happened before. It was very hard for me to walk back on to the stage. The audience were making so much noise, I felt that anything I did would be a failing after what had just happened. Fortunately I have a big head, so I recovered myself quickly, and finished the show.
The second show also received a standing ovation but only two minutes! I must say that all the skill acts in the second show dropped equipment. It was OK for this to happen as all the acts were doing tricks of great skill. When you are pushing the boundaries, the occasional mistakes are allowed. Your boys were doing a routine that many adults could not do. They are very talented... I hope Vova and the others had a good time."
(From the letter to our parents, Andy Kenny, one of the organizers, Fplay98@aol.com, tel.: 0044(0)29 20653079)

After that convention Vova was sent down from the Circus School. One of the formal reasons was the bad performance on the BJC Public Show, another formal reason was kids' bad behavior at the Convention. :-) Olga was sent down in a month just because she kept practice with Vova out of the Circus School.

Act, which was performed in Cardiff by Vova & his former partners (37.1 Mb)

Autumn 2000

Vova is always on the floor