Australian circus students win international Bronze 

Circus performers from around the world attended the fourth World Festival of Circus Art in Moscow, one of the biggest international circus competitions in the world, in September 2009.

Following Russian aerialist Svetlana Yarosh's residency at the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) in Melbourne, students Julian Aldag (22, from Adelaide) and Billie Wilson-Coffey (20, originally from Mullumbimby in NSW) were the first Australians to be invited to perform at the festival.

The act, entitled Memento, featured Julian on rope and Billie on tissu and the pair competed with 24 acts from 10 different countries to be awarded the coveted Bronze trophy.

"It was a great opportunity to perform alongside so many world-class acts," Julian said, while Billie added that they were "...thrilled as the competition was so strong."

Pamela Creed, NICA Director and CEO, credits the seed of the idea to Svetlana. "Svetlana saw the potential for the act and inspired us to suggest that we nominate it for the festival," she said.

The Modern Development of Trapeze Art in Russia from My Personal Experience - blog from Svetlana Yarosh during her time in Australia (February - June 2009)

This is a great opportunity for me to visit Australia and share my aerial knowledge, skills and experience with young Australians.

At six years of age I began practising rhythmic gymnastics and from the age of ten I also attended a Circus Art Studio. I became interested in circus aerial performances at this time.

Back then there were two main organisations which trained professional circus artists in the former Soviet Union; the State School of Circus and Variety Art and the Variety and Circus School in Kiev.

As a young student, watching the amazing trapeze artists inspired me and when I was 16, I decided that I wanted to devote myself to aerial performance.



After graduation from the Kiev Circus School in 1989, I began working on the crew of Valery Zapashniy's "To the Stars" to celebrate the launch of the first joint Soviet- American space mission.

In 1992 I began working on the creation of a unique act which involved joint aerial flight. In this performance, the partners simultaneously flew from one trapeze to another (without a catcher), joined each other's trapezes and flew away again in different directions.

At the same time, I perfected my own single flight act on the trapeze and I also started touring with the Agura Circus in Norway, then with the Billy Smart Circus in Great Britain and also with the Festival Circus in Belgium, where we were awarded the Grand Prize.

Since then I have also graduated in stage direction and production from the Saint Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts. I have recently been working on a new project and have lots of ideas concerning the creation of original acts in various types of trapeze art.

I have been looking forward to putting some of this thinking into practice whilst in residence in Melbourne and directing the talented students here at NICA.

Download the full press release

Learn more about the International Residency Programme