I'll just leave this video of Sergey Ignatov here.

7b_wizard - 2015-12-19 17:57:37 UTC - Parent #

Nice find! .. Feeding a crawler with "ignatov circus adventure riva del garda gran premio del circo" gave 1995 (at age 45) and he won some platinum award. (https://www.amicidelcirco.net/index.php?option=com_weblinks&task=view&catid=77&id=2254). See also: https://www.circopedia.org/Sergei_Ignatov. I think, he's the first juggling legend, I ever knew by name.

Daniel Simu - 2015-12-19 23:01:35 UTC - Parent #

Wow, that Circopedia article you linked to is really well written and detailed and stuff! I wonder who wrote that.... :p

No seriously, if anyone is interested in the more subjective & sourced version of that circopedia article, I could upload the original somewhere...

Daniel Simu - 2015-12-20 00:21:14 UTC - Parent #

I've always wanted to comment on my own article, as it seems like I think of him as some kind of superman.

I think Sergei is very much overrated.
His ring work is great, the best of his time. His performances were not so good, often droppy like in the video above and even with his tongue out of his mouth. There were many more jugglers in his era who deserve similar recognition because of work with different props, yet in history books and stuff Ignatov always seem to stand out.
I attribute this to his friendship with Ziethen who popularised him much, and his teaching that has become the standard "russian technique" in modern day juggling. I think that is plain wrong, we know of russian jugglers with completely different technique, even decendants of the Violetta Kiss teachings. Also, from my own experience his technique makes a lot of sense with rings, and very little with balls and clubs. Nor he sticks to his ideals himselves.

Yes, one of the greats. No, not THE great. Not sticking out like Everhart, Rastelli, Brunn or Gatto.

I wish I could read Russian, I am sure there is so much more to discover about its jugglers of the past...

bad1dobby - 2015-12-20 02:59:22 UTC - Parent #

It helps to put it in historical context. Ignatov was one of the three top soloists in Russia - Biljauer, Popovitch, Ignatov - when Russia was beginning to open up to the West. At the time the Russian circus was significantly higher skilled than western circus, and their top jugglers were almost mythical figures to the west.

Contrast this with Alexander Kiss, arguably greater, but much less well-known, simply because the world had no access to him.

Why does Ignatov get more noticed than the other two? I'm guessing it's probably all about the numbers game - he flashed 9 rings in his regular act, so purely on numbers he's 'the greatest'. I think the other reason is exposure - he seems to have performed outside the USSR more than the others. Also, he is still going as 'the great Russian juggler' (compared with Popovitch who is now 'the guy with the dog and cat show').

Personally, I find Ignatov the least interesting of the three. Both Biljauer and Popovitch were much more dynamic and engaging performers. But even that works to his advantage - his 'weirdness' helps him to stick in your mind.

Daniel Simu - 2015-12-20 14:40:40 UTC - Parent #

Thanks, your comment confirms my beliefs, but I lacked the historical knowledge to backed it up as properly!

I hope that in 20 years I can give equally clear insights about the juggling of today ;)

Daniel Simu - 2015-12-20 15:10:22 UTC - Parent #

Ask jugglers in circus schools, they will all have stories on their experience with 'russian technique'. Typical is the example of Berlin, in Die Etage both juggling teachers Declan Mee and Thomas Durrfeld base their training on the workshops they've had from Ignatov and Declan further popularises this with weekly courses in the Katakomben. Also Yuri Podzniakov, a common guest at many schools and head juggling teacher in Kiev, was trained by Ignatov. Other influencial teachers include Arcadii Pouponne (french spelling, I wish I knew the original Russian so he would be easier to google) who thought in Kiev and Brussels and influenced among others juggling teacher Gregor Kiock. I wouldn't be surprised if Pouponne also origined from Kiss, but this is speculation.
Though every teacher has a different approach, there are a lot of similaries.

This style is fundamentally different from juggling you see from young sport jugglers, who are generally self-thought. They have a technique that is shared by Jason Garfield and Gatto.

I doubt the Russians have indeed ever called it a 'style', they wished to master their craft. The Russian circus society was the first to do a lot of research on sports, training methods, etc. I don't know what they researched for juggling, but the belief in their methods is still active today.

Darren May - 2015-12-28 02:44:23 UTC - Parent #

I saw the Great Moscow Circus recently in my neighbourhood in Australia, was impressed with their juggling and wanted to talk to them about it.
It's part of the reason I am on here; because I could not talk to their very experienced, competent and talented jugglers, I have sought out an online forum where I can talk to other jugglers and see their conversations.

It is very interesting to learn that the Russians have their own style of juggling; it is very enjoyable to watch!