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Volkov Duo, superb acrobats who performed in the circus on Tsvetnoi Bulvar without safety nets, in hospital after Julia falls and cracks skull (via stanis-sadal). Below: an earlier performance.

Odds-and-sods: Ice-skating bear kills circus director (CBC) (thanks, MK). Russian "armoured truck" has "whale penis leather seats","gold-plated bulletproof windows, Kevlar coating, a tungsten exhaust, and white gold diamond- and ruby-encrusted badges" (Orange). Water with Laughing Gas to Relieve your Stress (Russia-ic) (thanks MK).

Vyacheslav Polunin. "Creativity is always linked with foolishness."

An alternative view, Bulat Okudzhava.

20 years of George Cohon's Pushkin Square Mcdonald's; and now Cohon is bringing Cirque du Soleil to Moscow (NP) (thanks, MK).

A third of Cirque du Soleil's artists are Russian (BBC). But in the circus world it's not all bread-and-er...circuses (CBS):

They are one of the top circus acts in the world - a Russian equestrian troupe called Artania.   But instead of performing in front of sold out audiences as they did in Europe and Canada for years, CBS News correspondent Don Teague reports that today they're stranded near Dallas with no promoter, no transportation and no money.

Russian circus act not anti-semitic say Jewish spokesmen (JTA).

Canadian Cirque du Soleil to establish permanent presence in Russia (Russia Profile).

The traditional circus on Tsvetnoi Boulevard, presided over by Maxim Nikulin, announces that its new show represents the "Circus of the Future" (gazeta, in Russian).

Russian clowns in Macau (Macau Daily Times):

The Family is about a ceaseless power struggle between an alcoholic father ever threatening to leave, a pregnant mother ever threatening to deliver, and their four children threatening to clobber both parents for their failings, whilst paying a tribute to both contemporary and traditional clowns.