Recently I returned from a two week holiday in Moscow and Ukraine. I had the opportunity to meet some of my friends while I was there. 4 of the friends I met actually do contortion. Some are even very famous contortionists and you may recognise their names. I thought I’d write a brief bio on them and detail my adventures with these wonderful people. Getting to meet these wonderful people was such an amazing experience. Even was a little starstruck at first. I cannot thank them enough for their generosity and hospitality for one Australian from the other side of the world visiting their wonderful country.

I was lucky enough to spend some time with the following contortionists, Ruslana Krutas, Anna Romanenko, Nadya Vasina and Anastasiia Ilina.

Anna Romanenko: A very beautiful, hardworking Ukrainian contortionist from Kremenchuk. She’s had the opportunity to perform in Qatar and China previously and recently returned from a week of performances in Lviv in Ukraine.

Anna and Myself in Kremenchuk

Nadya Vasina: A true inspiriation for Ukraine, she lives and breathes the flag. She recently spent a year performing in Cirque Du Soleli. She’s performed all over the world, she is currently developing the first dinner show with performance for Ukraine. She is also a strong social activist, supporting the troops fighting for Ukraine and donating her time to help those in need. Nadya and I caught up for lunch while I was in Kiev, spent an hour talking about a variety of topics.

Nadya Vasina and I at Ocean Plaza

Anastasiia Ilina: A very kind, thoughtful and friendly person. She works incredibly hard and is trained by Tatiana Kuznetsova in Kiev. Anastasiia has only done contortion for a few years, was a dancer previously focusing on a few different styles of dance. She recently spent time performing in Japan and has appeared on China’s Got Talent. She was kind enough to show me many sights around Kiev.

Anastasiia and I in Kiev

Ruslana Krutas: A very sweet, kind and thoughtful person. Incredibly talented and a great person when you get to know her. She has performed in many countries, e.g. China, Japan, The Netherlands and Germany. She has been training in Contortion for many years now and “Contortion is my life” according to Ruslana. She has worked alongside some excellent contortionists as well, Alina Ruppel, Zlata, Tanyha Belova and Liu Teng. Ruslana was gracious enough to allow me to meet with her on two occasions when I was in Kremenchuk, we spent time talking, went for a nice walk around her beautiful home town and I really got to know her. I can’t thank her enough for what she did for me.

Ruslana, Dima, Edgar and I at Kofan in Kremenchuk