Slava Polunin | |
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4 juin 2015
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Born |
Vyacheslav Ivanovich Polunin 12 June 1950 Novosil, Russia, USSR |
Occupation | Actor, performance artist |
Years active | 1950-present |
Website | http://www.slavasnowshow.com |
Vyacheslav Ivanovich “Slava” Polunin PAR (Russian: Вячеслав Иванович (Слава) Полунин) (born 12 June 1950) is a Russian performance artist and clown. He is the creator of the stage spectacles Asisyai-revue, Slava's Snowshow and Diabolo.
Polunin was born in the town of Novosil, Oryol Oblast, Russia, into the family of a shop assistant. He was successful in his school theatre, imitating Charlie Chaplin, but was refused entry to the Leningrad Theater Institute due to poor pronunciation. After a few years' study at an engineering school, he graduated from the Leningrad Institute for Soviet Culture, where he later taught.
In 1968, Polunin started the semi-professional pantomime theater, Litsedeyi (Russian for "mummers" or literally "people who make faces"). In 1981, his first very successful television performance took place on the New Year's Eve program Goluboy Ogonyok (Голубой огонёк). It was a part of his now famous Asisyai-revue.
In 1982, in Leningrad he organized a mime parade in which more than 800 mime artists from the Soviet Union took part. It was an unheard of event featuring semi-underground artists at a time of strict Communist control of all artistic events.
In 1985, during the Moscow World Festival of Youth and Students he organized a master class of pantomime attended by many Western mimes.
In 1987, Polunin organized the USSR Festival of Street Theatres (Всесоюзный Фестиваль Уличных Театров); more than 200 participants, including critics and children, lived on an uninhabited island in the Gulf of Finland and made short excursions by boat to the nearby city of Leningrad.