Anatoliy Zalevsky

From 1991 to 1995 he studied at the Kyiv Academy of Circus And Variety Arts under Viktor Kuvshinov, Oleksiy Bytkin and Mykola Baranov, majoring in hand balancing. In the fourth year he started working in the show of Boris Moiseev. After graduating from the academy he performed on the stages of Kyiv nightclubs Joss and Hollywood. It was during this period that Anatoly began his intuitive search for his own style.

The club stages had many limitations in comparison with the traditional circus venue, thus the creation of spectacular numbers required a special kind of ingenuity from the artists. One of the stages was covered with a slippery surface, which, as it turned out, allowed for the new qualities of gymnastic movements. Experimenting with the techniques of hand balancing act on this kind of floor, Anatoliy created his number “One Man’s Dream” in a new technique and expressive style. The latter was later named soul circus.

And although at the stage of creation the number got mixed reviews, it quickly gained popularity among the public. During this time, Anatoliy’s partnership with the producer Takvor Baronyan was established, who later helped implement a number of Anatoliy’s projects and contributed to the formation of the soul circus style.

Dominique Mauclair, director of the The World Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow, arrived to Kyiv at Takvor’s invitation. He praised Anatoliy’s number and invited him to participate in the next competition.

Thus, in January 1998, at the 21st World Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow in Paris, Anatoly presented his “One Man’s Dream” number and won a gold medal, and the official website of the festival called the artist “the undisputed star of this year”.

The festival actively discussed the revolutionary balancing act on the slippery surface, proposed by Anatoly. This technique of performing without props, using only the physical strength and artistic resources of the balancer became the hallmark of Zalevsky in the following years.

Later, in 1999, at the 23rd International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo, Zalevsky presented the already legendary number again and received the highest award – the Golden Clown.

Takvor Baronyan and Anatoliy Zalevsky at a social event.

Thus, “One Man’s Dream” became the most attractive for circus producers. Zalevsky toured the world, participated in the Oscar ceremony production, was awarded a personal invitation to the ball from Queen Elizabeth II. In 2011, at the invitation of Cirque Du Soleil, Anatoliy introduced his legendary number to the show “Zarkana”, which he worked with for two years in Moscow, New York and Madrid.

The world community recognition gave Anatoliy the impetus to launch several new projects that would have allowed him to embody his own plastic and philosophical vision of the circus art. In 1998 he founded the RIZOMA Theater and staged a show of the same name, in which he performed not only as an artist, but also as a director, set designer and production designer. The first show premiered in Germany and toured Europe for a long time.

According to Anatoly, apart from the fascination with acts, the circus should bring the audience a philosophical experience that will make them think, reflect, just like watching a drama. This is how the idea of staging a show in the theater was born.

Together with Takvor they managed to arrange it with the Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theater of Russian Drama.

In 2014, the new version of Anatoly’s show “Rizoma Time” premiered at the full capacity. In the next 5 years, the team presented an updated version of the show every season and traditionally began its European tour with performances at Kyiv venues, including Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater, Opera House, International Center of Culture and Arts and others.