Sue Stockdale talks to Maxim Ivanov, a multi-skilled circus artist (Handstand balancer, aerialist, juggler) about his career in circus performance. Maxim describes what he enjoys about performing and why he loves trying out new things.

Maxim is originally from Kazan, Russia, and was living in Ukraine until recently. Along with his wife Olga, he performs on different stages in Europe, and on cruise ships around the world. Maxim loves to create unusual and surrealistic UpsideDown photos and videos. He can fly higher his head and taught himself to play piano. Recently Maxim taught his five-year-old daughter to climb on his shoulders without using hands and legs and she appeared as part of their stage performance in a festive show.

Find out more about Maxim Ivanov:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxivanovhandstand/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maxim.ivanov.5817
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximi/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/-Ez0GhNxmfM

This series is supported by Squadcast –the remote recording platform which empowers podcasters by capturing high-quality audio and video conversations. Find out more at https://squadcast.fm

Key Quotes:

‘At circus school the first year is trying everything, and then the second year we choose what we want to do - which skills which discipline. And then the third and fourth year, we create our act.’

‘In circus school I chose the hand balancing. I really love it, the position - static. But now I really like flying with my wife doing dual straps.’

‘We need a lot of audience appreciation.’

‘Perfect is like when I can play with good lighting, good sound, and good staging. This is my perfect ideal stage.’

‘It's hard to find the perfect place but you need to adjust and to be flexible, to be adaptive, to places to people.’

‘That feeling when you're on stage, it's indescribable.’

Read the transcription for this episode on www.accesstoinspiration.org and connect with us:
Twitter www.twitter.com/accessinspirat1
Facebook www.facebook.com/accesstoinspiration
Instagram www.instagram.com/accesstoinspiration
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/access-to-inspiration/
Sign up for our newsletter http://eepurl.com/hguX2b
Read our Impact Report https://bit.ly/3hElalv

Sound Editor: Matias de Ezcurra (he/him)
Series Producer: Sue Stockdale (she/her)