Meet the travelling circus family who all perform together - including three-year-old daughter
- 9 months ago
Meet the travelling circus family who all perform together - with the addition of their three-year-old who can already do acrobatics.
Ilya Kotenyov, 30, and Regina Kotenyova, 32, along with their three children, Tagir, eight, Zara, six, and Iliana, three, have been a full-time circus family for the past year.
They are currently on tour with the Ringo Star big top circus in Kazakhstan and aside from Iliana, all have their own acts.
Ilya performs on a teeterboard, an acrobatic jumping platform resembling a seesaw, Regina is on aerial straps and aerial hoop, whilst Zara and Tagir form a double act on straps.
Zara now occasionally performs solo too and Iliana is "slowly" learning circus acts on aerial straps.
Ilya says that Iliana can do some "basic acrobatics" as well as push ups, pull ups with support and ab exercises, though he says she’s not a "big fan" of stretching.
Both Ilya and Regina have backgrounds in acro-sport and gymnastics - Ilya is a former Cirque Du Soleil artist and member of the Kazakh National Tumbling team.
Although their children have followed in their parents' footsteps from an early age, Ilya says they are under "no pressure" to perform and are "free to do whatever they want."
The family - from Pavlodar, Kazakhstan - hope to travel the world together as a touring circus family.
Ilya said: "Being a circus family has many advantages for us.
"We spend a lot of time together, we have an interesting life and we are always in good physical shape.
"Thanks to the circus, we have the opportunity to travel the world.
"From birth, our children are surrounded by sports and athletes, as all our friends are former athletes or circus performers.
"The children liked to repeat after us.
"When they play games they put on a mini-circus show.
"They have a choice though, and they are free to do whatever they want."
The family have a strict training routine, training daily and often six times a week.
Ilya said: "First we run for a few minutes and then there is a gymnastic warm-up.
"Then we do exercises for strength and stretching and only after that do the kids start to train aerial straps for 60-90 minutes.
"We usually do this five or six times a week.
"They all know how to do splits, my wife and I teach them to do handstands and somersaults, since we are former acrobatics
"And of course we spend most of the time learning new tricks on the aerial straps, aerial hoop and aerial pole."
Ilya says that Zara "really" enjoys performing and is always itching to perform between breaks.
He said: "Zara enjoys the solo performance very much. e
"Every time we have a big break between performances, Zara asks when are we going to perform again.
"I think she really likes the attention!
"For her this is the second season of work and she's really thrown herself into it, but at the same time I think she misses her older brother very much and if the opportunity presents itself, I think she will choose to perform with him, rather than a
Ilya Kotenyov, 30, and Regina Kotenyova, 32, along with their three children, Tagir, eight, Zara, six, and Iliana, three, have been a full-time circus family for the past year.
They are currently on tour with the Ringo Star big top circus in Kazakhstan and aside from Iliana, all have their own acts.
Ilya performs on a teeterboard, an acrobatic jumping platform resembling a seesaw, Regina is on aerial straps and aerial hoop, whilst Zara and Tagir form a double act on straps.
Zara now occasionally performs solo too and Iliana is "slowly" learning circus acts on aerial straps.
Ilya says that Iliana can do some "basic acrobatics" as well as push ups, pull ups with support and ab exercises, though he says she’s not a "big fan" of stretching.
Both Ilya and Regina have backgrounds in acro-sport and gymnastics - Ilya is a former Cirque Du Soleil artist and member of the Kazakh National Tumbling team.
Although their children have followed in their parents' footsteps from an early age, Ilya says they are under "no pressure" to perform and are "free to do whatever they want."
The family - from Pavlodar, Kazakhstan - hope to travel the world together as a touring circus family.
Ilya said: "Being a circus family has many advantages for us.
"We spend a lot of time together, we have an interesting life and we are always in good physical shape.
"Thanks to the circus, we have the opportunity to travel the world.
"From birth, our children are surrounded by sports and athletes, as all our friends are former athletes or circus performers.
"The children liked to repeat after us.
"When they play games they put on a mini-circus show.
"They have a choice though, and they are free to do whatever they want."
The family have a strict training routine, training daily and often six times a week.
Ilya said: "First we run for a few minutes and then there is a gymnastic warm-up.
"Then we do exercises for strength and stretching and only after that do the kids start to train aerial straps for 60-90 minutes.
"We usually do this five or six times a week.
"They all know how to do splits, my wife and I teach them to do handstands and somersaults, since we are former acrobatics
"And of course we spend most of the time learning new tricks on the aerial straps, aerial hoop and aerial pole."
Ilya says that Zara "really" enjoys performing and is always itching to perform between breaks.
He said: "Zara enjoys the solo performance very much. e
"Every time we have a big break between performances, Zara asks when are we going to perform again.
"I think she really likes the attention!
"For her this is the second season of work and she's really thrown herself into it, but at the same time I think she misses her older brother very much and if the opportunity presents itself, I think she will choose to perform with him, rather than a