Every working day, Oxana Zinchenko takes her life in her hands - and her arms, legs and feet. The aerial silk performer in the Great Moscow Circus practises for at least an hour a day, perfecting her act and strengthening her body. When she rehearses, there's padding below, but at performances, there's nothing but a thin mat between her and the hard ground.
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''You have to be very careful,'' she said. ''You have to think about every move you make, every time.''
Zinchenko, 32, grew up in a Russian circus family.
''My father worked with horses and my mother was a ballet dancer,'' she said.
''My parents taught me to do everything - when I was six I could do many different kinds of work.''
She is married to Yuriy Abrosimov, 36, who is a clown in the circus and is also its artistic director.
''Usually there is one person crazy in a family - it is me!'' he said.
Abrosimov's was a military family going back many generations but he found he wanted to make people happy.
''My father, he is a general, he is very clever and smart. He told me, 'It's your life, your destiny.'''
The family was on a posting to Uzbekistan when he began attending a circus school at the age of 11, with a particular focus on clowning and the rollo-bollo cylinder. He began performing 22 years ago. He and Zinchenko have been together for 10 years and married for five.
Abrosimov has worked with many different circuses - this is his third time performing in Australia and his first with the Great Moscow Circus, now in its second year of a three-year tour. Michael Edgley has been bringing the circus to Australia for more than 40 years.
More than 2000 performers were auditioned in Russia, he said: ''We found the best of the best.''
Abrosimov said one of the things that made this tour special was that it was designed as a pageant of Russian history, with each act representing a different event or period.
His wife's act, with its swirls of red, represents the 1917 revolution while his own, filled with slapstick and squirting water, is intended to evoke pre-revolutionary Russia.
''It's something funny like in a Russian market.''
But, he said, clowning wasn't easy.
''It takes a lot of skills, a lot of power.''
The Great Moscow Circus at Majura Park, Canberra Airport, April 13 at 1, 4 and 7.30pm, 14 at noon and 3pm, 16 at 2pm, 17 at 2 and 7.30pm, 18 at 2pm, 19 at 2 and 7.30pm, 20 at 1, 4 and 7.30pm, 21 at noon and 3pm, 23 at 2pm, 24 at 2 and 7.30pm, 25 at 2pm, 26 at 2 and 7.30pm, 27 at 1, 4, 7.30pm, 28 at noon. Tickets $29-$60. Bookings: 0429 667 269 or the site.