Slava Polunin profile picture

Slava Polunin

About Me

What Is My Kind of Theatre?
or
The Theatre I Love
- It is a kind of wedding cavalcade,
where I try to marry everyone to everyone;
- It is a theatre of ritual magic
and festive pageantry,
constructed on the basis of images and movements,
games and fantasies,
that are the common creation of the audience and the people of the theatre;
- It is a theatre which inexorably grows
from dreams and tales;
- It is a theatre of hopes and dreams,
full of longing and loneliness,
losses and disillusionment;
- It is a theatre which always changes,
which breaths spontaneous improvisation
and cares scrupulously for tradition;
- It is in the vein of contemporary
multi-layered synthesis,
on the boundary of life and art;
- It is a theatre that works in an epic-intimate alloy
of tragedy and comedy,
of absurdity and naivity,
of cruelty and gentleness;
- It is a theatre which escapes
definition and the unequivocal
understanding of its actions,
as from attempts
to usurp its freedom.
Slava Polunin

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 08/01/2007
Band Website: http://www.slavasnowshow.com/
Band Members: In a very small town in Russia, away from the maddening crowds of the large cities, Slava Polunin was born. He spent a major part of his childhood in the in the lap of nature and would roam the forests, fields and by the the riversides. He was very fond of creating stories in his own childlike mind. He spent his time in building snow houses and tree houses. He would invite his friends to funny parties.

With the passage of time he developed a major liking for clowns and mimes. He became so interested in the entire clown act that he decided to take this up as a full time profession. To pursue his passion he went to Leningrad at the age of 17 and became part of a mime studio. He worked hard in re-establishing the lost art of clowning and eventually in 1979 he founded his own theater company. This clowning company started out by performing on streets and in small theaters and reached up to some of the biggest theaters in the world.

Slava's reputation grew rapidly and people traveled far to learn his unique mix of alternative clowning and visual theater. Former students of Slava have now progressed to form their own companies and many have been cast in productions of the Cirque du Soleil, or enjoyed successful independent careers.

Slava debuted with his theater in England in 1988. His three performances at the Hackney Empire established his name overnight. Five years after that he started with the Snowshow, which won him the coveted Time Out Award. After achieving huge success in London he went on a tour to North America with Cirque du Soleil's production of Alegría. It still features excerpts from Snowshow. He was awarded with the Olivier Award for "Best Entertainment" during a sold-out run at the Old Vic, London in 1997. Snowshow is currently touring the world and has performed in more than 25 countries.

Type of Label: Major

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