Sunday, February 11, 2007

Walter Sapaschny


This tiger looks huge. From the cover on the elephant, the act must also include a riding tiger.
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Posted by Buckles at 2/11/2007 05:43:00 AM

1 comments:

Dominique said...

This picture doesn't show Walter Zapashny, but his brother Mcislav, who is perhaps one of the most astounding circus performers of the 20th century: He did everything from floor acrobatics to acrobat on horseback, aerial acts. cat and elephant training –- and everything at an exceptional level of skills and artistic quality. The act pictured here, which I saw him perform a few years ago in Moscow before he became head of RosGosTsirk (the Russian state circus agency), included three Asian elephants and three Siberian tigers (thus their impressive size). All the act was done with the elephants and tigers working together, the tigers sometimes jumping from one elephant to another, and indeed riding them. There was an elephant walking over three lying tigers (the way you do with lying showgirls), another pulling a tiger by his tail, etc. The act was 20 minutes long (what the Russians call an "attraction") and it was fascinating from the beginning to the end. This was due not only to the amazing animal training, but also to Mcislav Zapashny's extraordinary personality and showmanship. The cage (a net) had no tunnel: it continued backstage, where there was a caged area, with a gate for the elephants and a connection to the tigers' cages, so that the animals, elephants and tigers, could enter through the curtain of the ring entrance (we are speaking of one-ring circus buildings here). At the beginning of the act, the tigers entered alone and took their places by themselves; When they were seated, Mcislav Zapashny made his entrance. There was a little traditional cat training to start with, then the elephants made their entrance... Zapashny was miked, and spoke with the animals and with the audience during the entire presentation.
It was quite an act, possibly the most extraordinary cage act I have seen. (And I have seen quite a lot!)

Dominique Jando

12 February, 2007 13:07

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