I recently had the chance to ask the amazing Ukrainian contortionist Elizaveta Chursina some questions about her life as a contortionist. She is an incredible contortionist who works incredibly hard and always strives to be the best performer she can be. She has a variety of different acts from Hola Hoops to Duo acrobatics to table contortion routine. She is one of the best contortionists ever and always has a smile on her face while performing.
I recently had the opportunity to ask the amazing Mongolian contortionist Heejin Diamond some questions about her wonderful career as a contortionist.
How long have done contortion for?
I started contortion when I was 6 years old.
How did you start contortion?
In Mongolia, contortion is a big traditional discipline. My mother said i was 5 years old when I discovered contortion by watching TV. It was like a flash on me that suddenly I wanted to make the same things. After lot of times by bending myself in living room, my parents inscribed me in contortion school to calm me, they thought it was just a desire in transient. The passion never leaved me.
13 years old, I started to be professional and marked the start of international tours all by continuing my elementary school.
How often do you train and for how long?
I rehearse minimum 2 hours if I am not on the stage.
When I work every day like now from last year, I rehears 1 hour in the morning and I do 1 hour of warming up before going on the stage.
I also have my ballet class once per week and I also do pole dance class because it’s technically so amusing for me.
What is your favourite contortion move/trick?
I am also handstand artist. I mostly like the research of hand standing and movements which procure me more sensation. Play with the gravity and hand standing is more creative for me.
What has been your best contortion experience?
I think it was the creation of my first solo act Snow Queen. With my husband who accompanied me in my all projects, we passed entire year to design and create it. That was like our first baby, LOL
What is your ultimate contortion goal/dream?
There is a lot, thanks god. Being artist is a performant war of the new dreams and challenges.
I just opened my studio (Diamond Studio) in the center of Paris where I form professional artists, I work on the creation of two new acts, I work every night in Paradis Latin, one of the most beautiful Cabarets in Paris built by Gustave Eiffel and I turn around with my 3 different acts… I don’t live my life I dream it.
If there is ever a Mount Rushmore or Hall of Fame of contortionists, the first name that would come to find in 2018 would have to be Alina Ruppel. This young German woman single handily changed contortion with her natural abilities. She’s even reached the point where a pose/move was named after her because she invented it and is the only person to be able to do it.
A Superstar is found
Alina faced struggles as an infant and a young child, she was diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy, with the initial diagnoses was she could possibly be confined to a wheelchair. Movement was a struggle early on however as she grew and got stronger it became less of an issue. Contortion actually helped Alina strengthen her muscles. At the age of 9, Alina’s mother discovered her abilities and began training her. In 2009 Early on in her training, Alina trained under the guidance of legendary German contortion and gymnastics coach Gerd Rasquin and also her mother. At this stage, Alina’s incredible skills were quite apparent and very quickly the Ruppel Backbend was created. To this day, only a handful of contortionists have been able to replicate this move, all to differing results compared to Alina. For it to be a perfect Ruppel Backbend, the legs must be straight with the shoulders through the legs.
Failure leads to success
In 2007 Alina Ruppel auditioned for Das Supertalent (Germany’s got Talent) she was unsuccessful at progressing past the audition however this only spurred her on to continue to improve. In 2013 Alina attended the International Contortion Convention in Germany along with her mother where she performed her cabaret show which wowed audiences and even had the media bending over backwards to talk to her about her insane flexibility.
Eliza is born
In 2015 Alina partnered with Steffen Gunthel where he assisted her with developing her new act called “Eliza” and also developed a website that would rival that of Zlata.de, Flexilady.com where she originally used the alias Malina. It may not have been everyone’s cup of tea but there was no denying the website showcased Alina’s extreme flexibility and incredible talent. 2016 saw Alina travel to Las Vegas for the 2016 International Contortion Convention where she performed for those in attendance. Yet again she mesmerised the audience and media with her incredible flexibility and skills, her repertoire had grown to include the Marinelli bend. Alina continued to collaborate with Steffen on the new website, Alina also made a few television appearances in recent years, notably along side Ukrainian contortionist Ruslana Krutas on Dutch TV where they competed against each other. They both appeared in a handful of videos together for Flexilady.com.
Golden Girl
In 2017, Alina auditions for Das Supertalent again, this time with her Eliza routine. She got a “Yes” from all three judges and she even received the gold buzzer which sent her straight through to the finals. All of the judges were amazed at her abilities and were near speechless.
Taking over the world one Ruppel BB at a time
2018 saw the departure of Alina from Flexilday.com, due to a personal decision of Alina’s. Thus, meaning the site no longer received new content. Contortion lovers can still marvel at Alina’s incredible abilities by looking through her archival of videos and photos thanks to Steffen. Also, in 2018 Alina travelled to the USA to audition for America’s got Talent. This will go to air sometime in June where she will no doubly raise the eyebrows of the judging panel, Howie Mandel my turn away in fear if any other contortion auditions are to go by. Alina continues to train incredibly hard and still have the title of one of the worlds most flexible people.
Alina’s mother believes it’s important that Alina performs because it’s a gift and her talent should flourish so that people are able to see her and get joy from seeing her beauty with their own eyes.
I posed the following questions to incredible Mongolian contortionist and contortion coach Otgo Waller.
At the age of 7 years old, a young Otgo started doing contortion and by the age of 13, she was one of the best in the world. In 1991 she joined Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey circus which lead her to the USA. Otgo now lives in Las Vegas where she teachers contortion using her patented teaching method. She is the creator and owner of Flexible Body Art LLC technique and school. Otgo is also a published author of her memoir ” “Twisted Tales: My Life as a Mongolian Contortionist”, Otgo details her life as a Mongolian contortionist in the grasp of a socialist country, she escaped a morose childhood and transformed herself into a world famous performer.
How long have done contortion for?
I been contortionist for 40 years.
How did you start contortion?
I saw my coach on TV when I was 7 years old, after watching her I want to be a contortionist
How often do you train and for how long?
I train my self 5 days a week for 1 hour.
What is your favourite contortion move/trick?
All of the contortion tricks and moves are beautiful so I can’t say I have favorite
What has been your best contortion experience?
My best experience is; I am still performing
What is your ultimate contortion goal/dream?
I reached all my goals and dreams and I am very proud of it.
I had the opportunity to ask Agiimaa Jargalsaikhan from Mongolia some questions about her life as a Mongolian Contortionist. She’s an amazing contortionist who trains at Mongolain National Circus in Ulaanbaatar.
If you ever need someone to bend over backwards for you, make sure it’s Ruslana Krutas. A Guinness World Record holder and one of the worlds flexible people in the world. She bends like she has no bones. Without a doubt, Ruslana is one of the best contortionists and also someone who is incredibly humble and determined and who I was grateful to call a good friend.
A Star is Unearthed
Ukraine has a plethora of talented girls who find themselves starting the most beautiful sports Rhythmic Gymnastics at a young age. Ruslana was no different. At the age of 3, her mother Lilya took Ruslana to gymnastics training. When she started, she was not flexible at all, “The most interesting thing about my childhood was that I was completely stiff, wooden, I can say.” Ruslana said while speaking to a news website in Ukraine. The gymnastics trainers were able to see Ruslana’s abilities and reveal them.
“I just saw my daughter’s abilities at a very young age, and she was where she needed to be,” Lilya, the mother of the record holder, smiles. – Ruslana is very flexible, sometimes it seems to me that she does not have bones.
At the age of 6, she decided to try her hand at contortion. Training under the eyes of Nikolai Ponurko at the Palace Culture in Kremenchuk, Ruslana began to enhance her flexibility. In 2012, Ruslana entered Kremenchuk’s Got Talent. She shocked and wowed the judges and audience with her excellent performance which saw her take out first place and win the prize of 3000 UAH. With countless hours of training at the circus studio and at home, she started to evolve into one of Ukraine’s best contortionists. With the win at Kremenchuk’s got Talent, this lead to her performing on Ukraine’s got Talent 2012.
The Star grows with Guidance
Early 2013 saw an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up arise. Ruslana was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work and train alongside World Famous Russian born, German contortionist Zlata (Julia Günthel), this lead to her first photo shoot with her. Zlata mentored and inspired Ruslana to continue to strive to be the worlds best.
The Star gains her World Record
On January 31st 2014, through the advise of Zlata, Ruslana and Lilya were invited to Shanghai to participate in a Guinness World Records attempt on CCTV-Guinness World Records Special at Heilan International Equestrian Club. The challenge for her was to pop the most balloons in a backbend in one minute. The nerves were running through the veins of Ruslana. She was going against the older Chinese contortionist Liu Teng. Ruslana was faced this challenge only 10 days after learning she would be attempting it. With only a week practice, she quickly got the hang of it and was confident she would pull it off.
Liu Teng went first and achieved 13 balloons popped in one minute, this was a contentious result due to some of the balloons popping instantly on contact with Liu’s leotard which had sharp spikes apart of the design. Ruslana still nervous and suffering jet-lag from the long flight, no time to acclimatize, cold studio and not appearing until 2am, she began the one minute exhausting attack at bursting as many balloons as possible, with words of encouragement from her mother, Ruslana powered home with a new found energy to finish. A relieved Ruslana was announced the winner with 24 balloons popped in a minute. With all her time taken up rehearsing, sightseeing sadly wasn’t able to be squeezed into their extremely brief visit to China.
What was the most difficult part of the performance ?
“Oh, I thought that the minute allocated for setting a record would never end.” It was the longest moment of my life! I did not consider the burst balls, because I was focused on clearly performing the movements, but it seemed to me that I had been pressing the balls for an eternity.”
Ruslana returned to China a year later and defended her title against Liu Teng again on CCTV. TV appearances in Japan shortly followed.
In 2015, Ruslana also appeared on Ukraine’s got Talent for the second time where she attempted her Balloon challenge again, she amazed the audience however wasn’t able to progress through to the next round.
Two Stars Align
In 2015, Ruslana traveled to Leipzig Germany to meet with her manager Steffen Günthel where she met another World Famous Contortionist Alina Ruppel. The two trained and worked together on some photo shoots and videos for the new website of Alina. In 2017, Ruslana and Alina met again, this time The Netherlands was the location for TV appearance again based around the balloon popping with ones back.
Netherlands TV Appearance
Flexilady Video
Ruslana continued to train incredibly hard with the goal of being one of the world’s most flexible people and best contortionists in the world.
They meet again but a different result reveals itself
In January 2017, Ruslana ventured to China once again for another appearance for Chinese New Year CCTV presentation. Yet again she was pitted against Liu Teng. The challenge this time was “Most flowers picked up with the mouth in a contortion backbend in one minute “. This performance lead to a level of frustration from Ruslana because according to her, she knew she could collect more flowers than her competitor but that was not the case. Liu Teng collected 17 flowers and Ruslana 16 flowers. Many viewers were bewildered as to how Liu Teng managed to get more roses than Ruslana with her looking slower and well behind Ruslana throughout the one minute.
Another trip to China occurred in late July 2017, this time without her Mum for support, this trip according to Ruslana was eye opening. Rather than the familiar city of Shanghai, the unfamiliar environment of Huaibei led to nerves, a little loss of motivation and a loss of appetite due to the unusual Chinese food. A bowl of borsch, some KFC or something familiar to someone many miles away from was definitely desired. Even though the trip was an eye opening experience for Ruslana, Ruslana grew as a person through this, became more independent, stronger and mature woman.
Two days I will remember forever
I had the privilege of getting to meet Ruslana in person in July 2017 while on a holiday to Ukraine. The first thing that stuck with me was her passion for contortion. Ruslana eats, sleeps and breaths contortion. “Contortion is my life” she proudly stated after queering if ever she wished she had a normal childhood like her classmates. Another thing that stuck with me was how humble, kind, considerate and welcoming she was. From allowing an Australian pen pal of hers to join her, and some of her friends for a refreshment at Kofan to even surprising me the day later with the offer to go for a walk to a cafe by the beach in Kremenchuk. I was taken back after she gifted me with a present for my mother back in Australia, she thanked me for the gifts from Australia I gave her. I was honoured to be able to call her a friend even if I lived on the other side of the world.
The Star continues to Shine brightly
After completing school with results she was content with, Kiev was calling, Ruslana was forunate to gain acceptance into the Circus Academy in Kiev. Upon moving to Kiev at the age of 17 years old, Ruslana began training with like minded and dedicated coaches at the Circus Academy in Kiev where she had countless hours of training nearly every day of the week. Performances around Europe under the assistance of her manager continue alongside training and further studying of English. The Circus Academy has trained numerous artists who’ve gone onto successful careers, they’ve even trained current Cirque Du Soleil performers.
A new routine “Lady in Red” was developed for her in 2017, after numerous training sessions and a large amount of determination, Ruslana debuted her new routine in Germany.
Showcasing to the world
After commencing her training at the Circus Academy of Kiev, Ruslana had the opportunity to work in some circus’s around the world, in the middle of 2018, Ruslana travelled to South America where she performed a part of Circo Estelar de Rusia. Visiting a plethora of different cities across South America. It was a challenging time for Ruslana mentally due to such differences in the way of life in South America compared to what she was used to. Following her stint in South America, Ruslana then had the chance to wow audiences in South Africa. Ruslana spent just over a month performing with Cirque Infernal in Johannesburg. It was one of her first performances where she got to showcase her hand balancing skills which she learnt at the Circus Academy in Kiev.
2019 saw Ruslana continue to focus on her training with the occasional performances. Mixed within her countless hours of training, Ruslana has been lucky enough to travel extensively throughout Europe, both for work and for leisure. Late 2019 saw Ruslana visit China again for another performance on Chinese television, this time on Universal Show – CCTV 4. Ruslana loves the atmosphere of performing on the big stage on television, it brings an incredible thrill to Ruslana although the preparation is not the easiest at times.
Late 2019 / Early 2020 was a difficult time for Ruslana mentally and physically as she suffered from anorexia. It was a frightening experience which resulted her being admitted to hospital. With a strong support network, Ruslana was able to overcome this and has become a more resilient and stronger person mentally. Ruslana said it was the worst time in her life. Early 2020 saw Ruslana make a trip to Brazil to appear on popular TV show “Hora Do Daro” which saw her showcase her incredible talent to the Brazilian people in the television studio and out in public.
2020 saw COVID 19 affect performers across the world, Ruslana was no different, she was unable to do what she loves, perform and amaze people with her incredible talents. 2020 saw Ruslana reengage with Julia Guenthel (Zlata) who is her manager, and this resulted in the choreographing of new routines including the new “Liquid Gold” routine. Pairing the creativity of Julia with the determination and talents of Ruslana is a contortion match made in heaven. Ruslana continues to strive for greatness and improves as a contortionist even during difficult situations.
At the end of 2020, Ruslana travelled to Romania to take part in Românii au talent (Romania’s got Talent). For her audition in front of the judges and a virtual audience, she performed her new Soul of Spain act, this was the first time Ruslana had had the opportunity to perform this new act. The judges were captivated by her performance and received high praise and a standing ovation. To top this off, judge Alexandra Dinu pressed the Golden Buzzer to the amazement of Ruslana. This means Ruslana will progress through to the semi finals, the joy on Ruslana was immense and infectious. After the year Ruslana had been through, to see her accomplish something of this level was awe inspiring. From battling her anorexia to catching Covid and all the other work issues involving Covid to then triumph and end the year with recognition for her talent was incredible.
After months to training but also a few set backs which included catching Covid-19 again in April, Ruslana travelled to Bucharest for the semi-finals in the middle of May, which happened to be the day before her 21st birthday, after celebrating her birthday alone in Bucharest, rehearsals and interviews followed throughout the week in the leadup to the semi-finals on Friday 21st May. Then came the night of the semi-finals, Ruslana was the 3rd semi-finalist to perform on the night. Where she was nervous and a little worried which according to Ruslana is normal for her before performing. Her act was a new act which featured elements of her world record balloon popping, incredible contortion skills and showcasing her new aerial hoop skills she has learnt while training with Tatiana Kuznetsova. Her performance got applause from all the judges. With only 6 semi-finalists moving through to the grand final, the chances of her moving through were difficult, unfortunately Ruslana was unsuccessful in moving through. She showcased her incredible talent and showed incredible strength, determination and passion for the thing she loves the most. Friends and family were all incredibly proud of her performance.
Ruslana is definitely a determined, hard working, strong, kindhearted, smart, intelligent and independent woman who undoubtedly can reach her goal of being the World’s Best Contortionist.
Whether she’s elbow standing her way across London or effortlessly gliding across the stage, Anastasiia (Nastya) does everything with a sense of joy and passion.
Nastya who originally started out as a dancer decided to take the leap into the world of contortion only a few years ago, with countless hours of training with well respected contortion coach Tatiana Kuznetsova based in Kiev.
In 2016 Nastya had the chance to appear on Chinese Talent Show where she performed an unbelievable routine which amazed the judges.
Nastya has had the opportunity to take her skills to Japan where she was a part of a show where she performed and wowed audiences. Upon her return to Kiev, her passion and continuous development as a contortionist continued. In 2017 she was lucky enough to score a role in a movie which was filmed in London, Nastya spent a few months there filming and also exploring the UK which resulted in her elbow standing her way across the UK.
Nastya now passes on her knowledge and expertness in dance and contortion through stretching and flexibility workshops she runs in Kiev. Her contortion routine has a unique blending of her incredible flexibility skills and her effortless dance skills.
Besides being an incredibly talented performer, she is also an incredibly smart women. She is an excellent writer and also multi-lingual and also does ballet as a hobby. She’s an incredibly kind and considerate person. If you ever get the opportunity to talk to Nastya or take one of her workshops, her passion for this beautiful art form of contortion and dance exudes out of her. I’m pleased to say she is one of the nicest, welcoming and kind person I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.
I had the opportunity to ask Varvara Gordeeva’s mother Katerina some questions about her daughters experiences of being one of the youngest but best contortionists in the world. She has had the chance to appear on quite a few TV shows in Russia recently.
Some of her accomplishments include:
Finalist of the show with Maxim Galkin “Best of All 2016” on the first channel
Finalist of the body of the project “Blue Bird 2017” on channel “Russia 1”
Finalist of the TV show “Blue Bird: The Last Bogatyr 2018” on channel “Russia 1”
Grand Prix “of the All-Russian circus competition” Parade of Stars 2017 “, which was held in the Tula State Circus
The winner of the team game” 100 to one “on the channel” Russia 1 “
Participant of the” Blue Fire 2018 “on the channel” Russia 1 “
The heroine of the children’s transfer “Good morning, kids” on the channel “Carousel”.
Multiple winner of regional, regional, all-Russian and international competitions.
(These Answers were translated using Google Translate)
How long have done contortion for?
We have been engaged in contortion for two years.
How did you start contortion?
After a small performance in 2015, Varvara began to engage in contortion
How often do you train and for how long?
Training every day for 4-5 hours.
What is your favourite contortion move/trick?
There is no answer to this question
What has been your best contortion experience?
Every performance is an enjoyable experience for us
What is your ultimate contortion goal/dream?
Varvara wants to become the most flexible in the world and perform around the world at the best venues. Varvara even dreams of becoming an actress and starring in the film in the main role.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Anna Vladi, she’s an amazing Russian Contortionist who now resides in the USA. Photos of her amazing skills are available on http://www.zlata.de and http://www.flexshow.com
A Bender Fan 