Childhood and family of Yuri Kuklachev
The future famous trainer was born on April 12, 1949 in Moscow. Despite the common misconception, the parents of our today's hero did not belong to any famous circus dynasty and had nothing to do with art at all. The roots of his family must be sought in the Chekhov district of the Moscow region. It was there that most of the life of the parents of the outstanding clown was spent. Yuri himself was born after his father and mother received a prestigious appointment in the capital of the RSFSR. In Moscow, the parents of the future trainer worked as engineers.Why Yuri Kuklachev decided to connect his life with the theater is known only to himself. Only in one of his interviews did our today’s hero briefly mention the “gray reality” that reigned in the post-war Soviet Union. Perhaps it was this dullness that pushed Yuri to the bright and cheerful art of circus, which later became his whole destiny.
The first performances of Yuri Kuklachev
It is known for certain that the first performance of the young clown took place back in the sixties. During that period, our today's hero became a laureate of the All-Union Review of Amateur Artists. At the final performance, which took place at the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, Yuri amazed everyone with his subtle humor and boundless energy. After this, the best specialists of the USSR drew attention to the talented guy, who very soon began inviting the artist to various educational institutions.Kuklachev's Cat Theater
Among many universities, Kuklachev chose the State School of Circus and Variety Arts. Here he began to study tightrope walking, acrobatics, juggling, and clown skills.
It is very noteworthy that there were no cats in Yuri’s variety acts at that time. Another fact is also interesting and worthy of attention - after graduating from the State Institute of Theater Arts, Kuklachev also received another education at the State Institute of Theater Arts. Thus, at present, our today’s hero can boast not only an artist’s diploma, but also a theater critic’s diploma.
Yuri Kuklachev in the circus: cats-cats-cats
In 1971, after receiving the necessary education, our today's hero began performing at the Union State Circus. It was during this period that Yuri Kuklachev’s trademark feature was the use of trained cats in his performances. Subsequently, it was these animals that brought international success to the artist. In the mid-seventies, the artist's popularity began to increase with unprecedented speed.His performances, which involved trained cats, attracted spectators from all over Moscow. Subsequently, Yuri Kuklachev’s concerts began in other major cities of the Soviet Union. The clown and his cat theater were shown on TV and brought to meetings of high-ranking foreign officials. And our today’s hero and his “wards” always showed high class.
Kindness lessons with Yuri Kuklachev: Teaching a cat tricks
Thus, already in 1976-1977, Yuri Kuklachev became the owner of the Canadian Golden Crown of Clowns, an honorary member of the Clown Guild of America, and also an Honored Artist of the RSFSR. Just a few years later, this was also accompanied by the Lenin Komsomol Prize, the Japanese variety award "Golden Oscar".
In 1979, the trainer became People's Artist of the RSFSR. By the way, the artist himself tries to avoid the word “trainer”. When answering questions about his pets, Yuri Dmitrievich always says that he does not “train” cats, but simply reveals their hidden talents. By his own admission, at the moment he only needs to talk to the cat for a couple of minutes to clearly understand what it is capable of.
In the eighties, dogs also began to appear in his performances. One of the most famous artists was the dog “Pate”. During this period, the artist developed two show programs - “The City and the World” and “Cats and Clowns”. With these projects, our today's hero has traveled halfway around the world. His concerts were often held in all the largest cities of the USSR, and were also successfully held in Romania, the USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, France, Israel, Belgium, Italy, as well as many other countries on the planet.
After one of these concerts, Yuri Kuklachev even had the honor of having dinner with the then Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Trudeau.
In the nineties, the artist formed a private Cat Theater, and also began to work closely with theater director Yungvald-Khinkevich. Together they staged several children's performances with the participation of trained cats.
Yuri Kuklachev currently
In the 2000s, the popularity of the clown and his theater began to slowly decline. The number of publications devoted to his person began to decline progressively. Interest in cat theater performances also began to decline. Despite this, currently Kuklachev still continues to perform on stage with his cats. In addition, under his leadership, a special project was created, the International Association School of Kindness, which often holds performances and shows performances in schools, kindergartens and other institutions.In 2011 and 2012, this educational program brought the artist the title of Honorary Professor of the Moscow State University, as well as the Belarusian State University. universities of culture and arts (MGUKI and BGUKI).
Personal life of Yuri Kuklachev
Yuri Dmitrievich lived his entire life with a woman named Elena Isaakovna Kuklacheva. Together they work at the Cat Theater. Their son Dmitry (born in 1975), daughter Ekaterina (born in 1980), as well as the daughter-in-law of our today’s hero, Marina, also work here.In addition, the famous clown also has another son, Vladimir, who worked for a long time as a dancer at the Israeli Panov Ballet Theater. In recent years, Vladimir Kuklachev has also been working at the Cat Theater.
Yuri Kuklachev stands out even among circus performers. The kindness and sincerity of the trainer endears him to young spectators and accomplished adults. There is not a single photo in which Yuri Kuklachev looks without a smile. Yuri Dmitrievich became the first clown trainer who began performing acts with a domestic cat. The artist founded the only theater in the world, “Cat House,” in which the main characters are these purring creatures.
Yuri was born in Moscow, but did not belong to the dynasty of artists. The boy's parents, Dmitry Semenovich and Valentina Ivanovna, were ordinary workers. The elder Kuklachevs could not explain where their son’s talent for making people laugh and understanding animals came from.
At the age of seven, Yura first saw a film in the cinema with the participation of. The American actor made a strong impression on the boy, after which Kuklachev promised to become a clown. Yuri tried seven times to get into the children's training studio at the circus school, but was refused over and over again. However, these refusals only made my desire to perform in the circus stronger.
After graduating from school, Yuri Kuklachev got a job at the Young Guard printing house, and in the evenings he studied circus art in a circle at the House of Culture. One day, at an amateur art festival, a 17-year-old boy became a laureate of the All-Union Review and received an invitation to study at the Moscow State School of Circus and Variety Arts. Later, Kuklachev received a higher education as a theater critic at GITIS.
Circus
The country first started talking about Yuri Kuklachev in February 1976. Before this, the clown had already performed in the circus arena, but the artist always wanted to come up with something new that no one else had before. At that memorable concert, Yuri came out to the audience, accompanied by a pet cat named Strelka.
The cat had a unique ability, which was previously noticed by a novice trainer - the animal was constantly hiding in the pan. Using positive motivation techniques and noticing moments when the cat rushed into the pan, Kuklachev created a performance called “The Cat and the Cook.” The light, effective number became the first in the creative biography of Yuri Kuklachev, a cat trainer.
After this circus performance, the small troupe was replenished with the following four-legged artists - the kitten Kutka, the cat Romashka and the Maltese lapdog Pate.
Gradually, the “Cats and Clowns” and “City and World” programs created by Kuklachev conquered the Soviet Union and the whole world. Viewers could not understand how the artist managed to raise this pet, because previously it was believed that a cat could not be trained. Yuri Dmitrievich himself assures that he does not apply training as such to little artists, but only uses the personal habits of each animal.
Yuri Dmitrievich carefully monitors the characteristics and interests of each specific animal and simply helps the kittens develop their talents. The trainer is sure that animals, like people, always have a certain gift, and you need to find those who have the talent to perform in the arena. Over time, Kuklachev has already reached such a level in understanding four-legged friends that the artist only needs to hold a cat for a few minutes in order to understand the peculiarities of its character.
Over time, the achievements of the Soviet clown were noted abroad: in Canada, Kuklachev was awarded the “Golden Crown of Clowns” award and a diploma “For humane treatment of animals and the promotion of humanism”, and at the International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo - an honorable second place.
In 1986, the artist released the concert program “Circus in My Luggage,” after which Kuklachev was awarded the title of People’s Artist of the RSFSR.
Yuri Kuklachev embodied his creative experience and ideas in the world’s first and only private cat theater, which was called “Cat House”. There, a clown and cats offer viewers more than a dozen different performances. Kuklachev’s repertoire also includes a special performance, “Intimate Conversations with Prisoners,” with which the artist travels to Russian colonies for children who have stumbled in life. Now “Cat House” has already turned into a real family business. In 2005, the theater received state status.
In addition to performing on the stage of his native theater group, the artist conducts educational activities. Yuri Kuklachev became the author of an educational project for primary school age “School of Kindness”. In addition to the “Kindness Lessons”, which the trainer regularly conducts in educational institutions and correctional colonies for minors, Yuri Kuklachev acts as a radio host of the program of the same name on “Children’s Radio”.
Movies
Yuri Kuklachev made his debut in cinema in 1980. At first, the trainer starred in documentaries about circus performers “With a Good Smile...”, “Komsomol, Love and Spring” and in the musical and entertainment film “And Also the Circus”.
In 1986, Yuri made his debut in feature films. Kuklachev was offered an interesting role in a children's comedy film, where he also made his debut in a child's role. Later, the clown starred in the joint Soviet-Finnish project “Mikko from Tampere asks for advice” and the buffoonery “The Cat and the Clown.” The latest film by Yuri Kuklachev was the educational series “It Can’t Be!”, in which the circus artist plays himself.
In 2015, for the 25th anniversary of the cat theater, Yuri Kuklachev presented a performance called “Dynasty”, which included the best numbers from the master’s entire creative career. To participate in the production, Yuri involved his own family, a circus troupe and 35 cats, which included representatives of four generations of descendants of the cat Strelka.
Personal life
As soon as he arrived at work at the Union State Circus, Yuri Kuklachev met a charming dancer named Elena. The girl soon became the wife of an aspiring clown and a faithful life partner. Three children were born into the Kuklachev family - Dmitry, Ekaterina and Vladimir. All three are directly related to the cat theater founded by their father.
Dmitry graduated from circus school and immediately began performing with animals in the theater. The eldest son creates acrobatic sketches and circus tricks for performances. The only daughter became an artist and is responsible for scenery and costumes at the theater. Ekaterina illustrates her father’s books, and during performances the girl performs an act on creating living sand paintings.
And the youngest son, Vladimir, graduated from the ballet academy, was a soloist at the Israeli Opera and Ballet Theater, but now he also works at the Cat House theater. Kuklachev Jr. staged the plays “Magic Colors” and “People and Cats.”
In his free time, which Yuri Dmitrievich has little of, Kuklachev loves to draw and is interested in wood carving. But my main hobby remains animals. Cats are not only a job for a trainer; thoughts about furry animals occupy Yuri Dmitrievich’s leisure time. The artist has written and published dozens of fictional and popular books and other illustrated publications dedicated to these animals.
The circus artist is the author of the books “Yuri Kuklachev and his 120 cats”, “My friends cats”, “The most ordinary chest” and “Cat’s House”. In addition to a number of biographical facts, Yuri Dmitrievich shares the secrets of the trainer’s profession from the pages of books.
Yuri Kuklachev now
In 2016, the Russian artist conceived a project for four-legged pets in Israel, in the city of Ashkelon. Kuklachev’s idea was supported by residents and the city administration. It is expected that the palace will house multi-tiered enclosures, a museum and training classes for cats. In an interview, Yuri Kuklachev said that the cost of the palace would be $1 million.
In October 2017, the autonomous non-profit organization Transparency International Russia accused the Kuklachev Cat Theater and 13 other theater groups of laundering public money and embezzling budget funds. Law enforcement agencies were invited to check the legality of all transactions made by the accounting department of the Yuri Kuklachev Theater. The accusation turned out to be unfounded, since no incriminating evidence was found in the documents.
The theater continues to delight young viewers with new performances. Every year on holidays there is a performance dedicated to the New Year. In the last days of 2017, the play “New Year's Tale” started, announcements of which were posted on the official website of the Yuri Kuklachev Theater.
Awards and achievements
- 1976 - “Golden Crown of Clowns” and diploma “For humane treatment of animals and promotion of humanism” (Canada)
- 1977 - Honorary Member of the American Clown Association
- 1980 - Lenin Komsomol Prize
- 1980 - Honored Artist of the RSFSR
- 1981 - Golden Oscar Award (Japan)
- 1985 - Silver Clown prize at the International Circus Competition in Monte Carlo
- 1986 - People's Artist of the RSFSR
- 1994 - Order of Friendship of Peoples
- 2011 - Honorary Professor of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts
- 2012 - Honorary Professor of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts
Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia
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| Yuri Kuklachev | |
| Yu. D. Kuklachev and V. F. Bazarny |
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Yuri Dmitrievich Kuklachev |
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| Father: |
Kuklachev Dmitry Semenovich |
| Mother: |
Kuklacheva Valentina Fedorovna |
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Dmitriy |
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Yuri Dmitrievich Kuklachev(born April 12, Moscow) - Soviet and Russian clownery artist. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1979).
Biography and awards
| Check information. |
His parents Dmitry Semenovich and Valentina Ivanovna were workers, they came from the Chekhov district of the Moscow region.
- 1971 - graduated from GUTSEI
- 1971-1990 - artist of the Union State Circus
- 1976 - Golden Crown of Clowns (Canada) for humane treatment of animals and promotion of this humanism
- 1976 - Goodwill Ambassador (Canada)
- 1980 - Lenin Komsomol Prize - for great achievements in the field of the original genre of circus art
- 1981 - Golden Oscar Award (Japan)
- 1986 - at the World Circus Competition in Monte Carlo receives the Silver Clown prize
- 1990 - creation of a private Cat Theater in Moscow, on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, 25
- 1999 - The Cat Theater receives the Order of Hope of Nations Order of the CIS, established by the International Academy of Environmental Sciences
- 2005 - creation of the State Cat Theater in Moscow, on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, 25
- - Honorary Professor of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts (MGUKI)
- - Honorary Professor of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts (BGUKI)
Family
- Wife - Elena Isaakovna Kuklacheva, actress, works at the State Cat Theater, worked in the Ensemble of I. A. Moiseev.
Filmography
Yuri Kuklachev also acted in films:
- - Above the Rainbow - Ivan Ivanovich
- - Mikko from Tampere asks for advice
- - Cat and clown
Presenter at radio stations
- from September 1, 2013 to May 20, 2014 - presenter of the program “Yuri Kuklachev’s School of Kindness” on Children’s Radio. The program continued broadcasting on January 17, 2015. at 11:00
- from September 7, 2014 - third presenter of the “Yuri Kuklachev’s School of Kindness” column on Children’s Radio in the “Family Doctor” program
Kuklachev about himself and cats
- Yu. Kuklachev himself says that he does not train cats, but simply plays with them. The clown sees some peculiarity or talent in a particular cat and then develops these characteristics in it. Kuklachev claims that cats are just like people: there are more talented ones, and there are less talented ones.
- Kuklachev’s experience working with cats is such that he only needs to hold and talk to any cat for a couple of minutes in order to immediately determine its character and habits.
Trials
Books
- School of Kindness
- Lessons in Kindness
- Yuri Kuklachev and his 120 cats
- My friends are cats
- Sprat, Strelka, Chamomile and Yurashka the clown
- Cats in Paris
- The most ordinary chest
- cat house
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Notes
Literature
- Chernozemova E. N.// Information humanitarian portal “Knowledge. Understanding. Skill." - 2012. - No. 1 (January - February).
- Rosin, Alexander. // Florida magazine library - 2012
Links
Excerpt characterizing Kuklachev, Yuri Dmitrievich
Never in the Rostovs' house did the air of love, the atmosphere of love make itself felt with such force as on these holidays. “Catch moments of happiness, force yourself to love, fall in love yourself! Only this one thing is real in the world - the rest is all nonsense. And that’s all we’re doing here,” said the atmosphere. Nikolai, as always, having tortured two pairs of horses and not having had time to visit all the places where he needed to be and where he was called, arrived home just before lunch. As soon as he entered, he noticed and felt the tension of the loving atmosphere in the house, but he also noticed a strange confusion reigning between some of the members of the society. Sonya, Dolokhov, the old countess and a little Natasha were especially excited. Nikolai realized that something was going to happen before dinner between Sonya and Dolokhov, and with his characteristic sensitivity of heart he was very gentle and careful during dinner in dealing with both of them. On the same evening of the third day of the holidays there was to be one of those balls at Yogel (the dance teacher), which he gave on holidays for all his students and female students.- Nikolenka, will you go to Yogel? Please go,” Natasha told him, “he especially asked you, and Vasily Dmitrich (it was Denisov) is going.”
“Wherever I go on the orders of Mr. Athena!” said Denisov, who jokingly placed himself in the Rostov house on the foot of the knight Natasha, “pas de chale [dance with a shawl] is ready to dance.”
- If I have time! “I promised the Arkharovs, it’s their evening,” Nikolai said.
“And you?...” he turned to Dolokhov. And just now I asked this, I noticed that this shouldn’t have been asked.
“Yes, maybe...” Dolokhov answered coldly and angrily, looking at Sonya and, frowning, with exactly the same look as he looked at Pierre at the club dinner, he looked again at Nikolai.
“There is something,” thought Nikolai, and this assumption was further confirmed by the fact that Dolokhov left immediately after dinner. He called Natasha and asked what was it?
“I was looking for you,” Natasha said, running out to him. “I told you, you still didn’t want to believe,” she said triumphantly, “he proposed to Sonya.”
No matter how little Nikolai did with Sonya during this time, something seemed to come off in him when he heard this. Dolokhov was a decent and in some respects a brilliant match for the dowry-free orphan Sonya. From the point of view of the old countess and the world, it was impossible to refuse him. And therefore Nikolai’s first feeling when he heard this was anger against Sonya. He was preparing to say: “And great, of course, we must forget our childhood promises and accept the offer”; but he didn’t have time to say it yet...
– You can imagine! She refused, completely refused! – Natasha spoke. “She said she loves someone else,” she added after a short silence.
“Yes, my Sonya could not have done otherwise!” thought Nikolai.
“No matter how much my mother asked her, she refused, and I know she won’t change what she said...
- And mom asked her! – Nikolai said reproachfully.
“Yes,” said Natasha. - You know, Nikolenka, don’t be angry; but I know that you will not marry her. I know, God knows why, I know for sure, you won’t get married.
“Well, you don’t know that,” said Nikolai; – but I need to talk to her. What a beauty this Sonya is! – he added smiling.
- This is so lovely! I'll send it to you. - And Natasha, kissing her brother, ran away.
A minute later Sonya came in, frightened, confused and guilty. Nikolai approached her and kissed her hand. This was the first time on this visit that they spoke face to face and about their love.
“Sophie,” he said timidly at first, and then more and more boldly, “if you want to refuse not only a brilliant, profitable match; but he is a wonderful, noble man... he is my friend...
Sonya interrupted him.
“I already refused,” she said hastily.
- If you refuse for me, then I’m afraid that on me...
Sonya interrupted him again. She looked at him with pleading, frightened eyes.
“Nicolas, don’t tell me that,” she said.
- No, I have to. Maybe this is suffisance [arrogance] on my part, but it’s better to say. If you refuse for me, then I must tell you the whole truth. I love you, I think, more than anyone...
“That’s enough for me,” Sonya said, flushing.
- No, but I have fallen in love a thousand times and will continue to fall in love, although I do not have such a feeling of friendship, trust, love for anyone as for you. Then I'm young. Maman doesn't want this. Well, it's just that I don't promise anything. And I ask you to think about Dolokhov’s proposal,” he said, having difficulty pronouncing his friend’s last name.
- Don't tell me that. I do not want anything. I love you like a brother, and will always love you, and I don’t need anything more.
“You are an angel, I am not worthy of you, but I am only afraid of deceiving you.” – Nikolai kissed her hand again.
Yogel had the most fun balls in Moscow. This was what the mothers said, looking at their adolescentes [girls] performing their newly learned steps; this was said by the adolescentes and adolescents themselves, [girls and boys] who danced until they dropped; these grown-up girls and young men who came to these balls with the idea of condescending to them and finding the best fun in them. In the same year, two marriages took place at these balls. The two pretty princesses of the Gorchakovs found suitors and got married, and even more so they launched these balls into glory. What was special about these balls was that there was no host and hostess: there was the good-natured Yogel, like flying feathers, shuffling around according to the rules of art, who accepted tickets for lessons from all his guests; was that only those who wanted to dance and have fun, like 13 and 14 year old girls who put on long dresses for the first time, want to go to these balls. Everyone, with rare exceptions, was or seemed pretty: they all smiled so enthusiastically and their eyes lit up so much. Sometimes even the best students danced pas de chale, of whom the best was Natasha, distinguished by her grace; but at this last ball only ecosaises, anglaises and the mazurka, which was just coming into fashion, were danced. The hall was taken by Yogel to Bezukhov’s house, and the ball was a great success, as everyone said. There were a lot of pretty girls, and the Rostov ladies were among the best. They were both especially happy and cheerful. That evening, Sonya, proud of Dolokhov’s proposal, her refusal and explanation with Nikolai, was still spinning at home, not allowing the girl to finish her braids, and now she was glowing through and through with impetuous joy.
Natasha, no less proud that she was wearing a long dress for the first time at a real ball, was even happier. Both were wearing white muslin dresses with pink ribbons.
Natasha became in love from the very minute she entered the ball. She was not in love with anyone in particular, but she was in love with everyone. The one she looked at at the moment she looked at was the one she was in love with.
- Oh, how good! – she kept saying, running up to Sonya.
Nikolai and Denisov walked around the halls, looking at the dancers affectionately and patronizingly.
“How sweet she will be,” Denisov said.
- Who?
“Athena Natasha,” answered Denisov.
“And how she dances, what a g”ation!” after a short silence, he said again.
- Who are you talking about?
“About your sister,” Denisov shouted angrily.
Having left his family, on the last day of 2015, he boarded a plane to Koltsovo. Because on this day it was important for him to meet and talk with the inmates of a juvenile colony in the small town of Kirovgrad. Explaining the meaning of this act, Yuri Kuklachev retells his entire life. And this story has nothing in common with the beautiful fairy tale about a cheerful clown and his cats.
In the cold hall of the club of the juvenile detention center, no one at first even notices the short, gray-haired man. They're waiting for the clown Kuklachev, but he doesn't look like him at all. But this is him.
And when he begins to speak, he immediately runs into a wall of misunderstanding: cold, angry glances from under his brows expect tedious moralizing from him and put up a block in advance. But after a few minutes the barrier disappears. And this despite the fact that there will be no clowning. There will be no trained cats either. There will be a simple heart-to-heart conversation.
“I just want that when my granddaughter grows up, none of you will offend her,” Kuklachev honestly admits why he travels to children’s colonies from year to year with such “Lessons in Kindness.” Sometimes he breaks into a scream, sometimes he allows himself to call those gathered “Bobs”: “Because if today you don’t think about what you want to achieve, tomorrow you will be empty. And others will fill this void for you. And you, like a dog, like Bobik, will run after them, wag your tail and wait for the sugar to be given!”
But they forgive him for this, because everything he tells is about his life too, Kuklachev himself explains:
On December 31 they said to me: “Yuri Dmitrievich, it’s a holiday, the table is already set, where are you going?” And I answered: “No. I won't stay. I need to go to the guys so that they hear me and understand me.” I didn’t come to teach you anything or preach morals. No. It's useless. I came to talk about my life.
I was born after the war. Times were hard. I wanted to eat all the time. And I was not born into an acting family. I achieved everything myself. With your labor. I want to pass on this experience so that the guys also start working on themselves.
I was seven years old when Uncle Vasya said to me: “Yura, tell me, why did you come into this world?” I looked at him like he was an idiot. How for what? In order to live. And he asks me: “That’s understandable. But who do you want to be? But I didn’t know. And he says: “So. Don't sleep today. Think about who you will become in life.” I still remember it like a nightmare. I suddenly realized that I was living in vain. I didn't sleep at night. I began to mentally play out different professions and try them on for myself. And I thought about it a lot, for a very long time.
One day my father brought home a KVN TV. Turned it on. And they were just showing Charlie Chaplin. I liked it so much! I laughed so hard! At some point, he jumped up and began to try to repeat something after him. I heard laughter, someone laughed. And I felt so warm from this laughter, so happy that I said: “I found it! I found myself!” I realized what I would do in life, I found a job that pleases my heart. I'll become a clown! Set a goal. I was eight years old. And from that moment on, I walked towards this goal: I overcame myself, worked on myself. This is my mission. I had to fulfill it.
In general, we all came into this world to fulfill our mission. We are all the chosen ones. Just recently, we were tiny tadpoles, racing with millions of our brothers and sisters to salvation, trying to survive. And they survived. Think about it: 22 million tadpoles just like you were simply flushed down the toilet. And the Lord gave you the opportunity, allowed you to continue your life. And therefore none of us has the right to waste our lives.
Everyone’s mission is to find their own gift, to find an opportunity to benefit people through their work. I'm lucky. I found. But this does not mean that everything was easy and simple. Yes, I am a master, I love my work, I know how to do it, I am the only one in the whole world. But I achieved this myself. I still have calluses on my hands.
I entered the circus school seven times. They didn't take me. They explained: “Young man, look at yourself. Well, what kind of clown are you?” Humiliated. They laughed at me. They laughed in my face. And since the fourth grade, year after year, I tried hard.
And here I am sitting at home one day after yet another failed attempt to get into this school. Depressed, humiliated, ridiculed. The father comes and says: “Well, son, did you accept?” And I answer: “Dad, no one believes in me.” He says: “You are wrong. I know a man who believes in you. It's me, your father."
He saved me then. I realized that there is no power greater than what I have inside. My desire to become a clown is so great, I am so confident in myself that no one can break me. I begged. To the Universe, up there, I sent a signal with every part of my body: “Lord, help me! Help me make my dream come true! Help me become who I am!”
And literally two days later, on a trolleybus, I met a girl who played in a folk circus. This is an amateur circus, an amateur performance. I didn't even know about this. But this is how a random conversation on public transport guided me.
She took me to the gym, where there was everything: trapezes, mats, people were jumping everywhere, juggling, walking on wires. I thought: thank God, this is it, I got where I was supposed to.
And I started studying. Silently, persistently, work on yourself every day. At the age of 16, I won an amateur art competition dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Soviet power. I became the first clown of the Soviet Union. And that’s when they took me to the circus school. I achieved my goal.
It seemed that everything was behind us. But no. Then there were even more tests. I was accepted ahead of schedule - in March, although the entrance exams are only in July. But as soon as I was accepted, disaster struck: a can fell during training and cut my leg. To the bone. She cut my tibial nerve. So that's it. The leg, the doctors said, would most likely remain insensitive for the rest of its life.
I had surgery. And they say: “Now hope. If the leg starts to hurt, it means the nerve is being restored. And if not, forgive me, you will remain disabled.” And suddenly I started to feel pain. Have you ever banged your elbow on a corner? Remember that sharp, burning pain? It hurt the same way. Not just for one second, but constantly, continuously. A terrible pain began at the foot and went up the body to the neck, choking me. More and more.
I was prescribed a painkiller injection. Morphine. They started injecting me with drugs at the age of 16. And I got hooked. I remember how good it was, how day after day I flew away, how I waited for this injection, how I depended on it. It's good that mother came. She saw me and got scared: “Son, what’s wrong with you? What are they doing to you here? And when she found out that I was being injected, she said: “Did you want to be an artist? You will never become one! After three injections you are drawn to this drug. And they prescribed you 15 injections. You will become so addicted that you will never become anyone, you will disappear, you will never achieve anything. If you want to get out, be patient.” She left in tears.
Night has come. I endured. The nurses came. They offered an injection. I refused. And the pain kept getting worse, I was burning all over, I couldn’t breathe. But he endured and fought against this horror. By six in the morning I had just fallen asleep. But that night I won. Because I had a purpose in life. For her sake, I decided: “I will die, but I will not be a drug addict. I must become an artist. There is no other way."
Since then I haven't even had a drink. Not a gram at all. Because it interferes with my goal. And there is nothing more important than that.
But I came to school on crutches. For four years they tried to expel me as unfit for work. They didn't need a disabled person. As a result, they wrote a collective letter asking me to kick me out and handed it over to the director of the school. He assembled a commission. Called me. I ran and asked him: “Don’t exclude me! I want to learn!" He looked at me, took this piece of paper and, in the presence of the commission, in front of all those who demanded my expulsion, tore it up: “Go son, study.” The commission hissed, of course: “How can this be?” But he defended me, told them: “As long as I’m here, the boy will study. He has the heart of a clown."
It was only thanks to him that I graduated from college. Became a clown. An ordinary carpet clown. I master all genres. But I was just like everyone else. Nothing special. And they didn’t hire me anywhere. Because even without me there is a queue: people’s artists, children of people’s artists... And who am I? Nobody.
And I turned to the Lord again. And he helped again. He sent me a skinny, wet, pathetic, blind kitten. I found him on the street. I wanted to pass by. But he screamed so pitifully that my heart did not allow me to leave him. He brought it home, washed it, fed it. And he stayed with me. Love came into the house with him. But most importantly, he helped me find myself again. I decided: “Well, of course! Right! No one had ever done a number with cats before me! Nobody in the whole world knows how to train them.”
I tried. Did not work. But I'm persistent. I developed my own program, I approached the issue not like everyone else, but in a different way: I didn’t break the cat, I didn’t force it to do something. I began to watch her, look for what she liked. In short, it was not I who began to train her, but she who began to train me.
I came home one day and there was no cat. Gone. I searched and searched and found it in the kitchen, in a saucepan. I pulled her out of there and she came back. And then I realized. Here it is! Here is my number! This is how “The Cat and the Chef” appeared. We have traveled all over the world with this number. We received all the prizes in the world.
I left the circus and created my own theater. But this was not easy either. There was an idea, there were rooms, but there was no room. In 1990, they sent me a contract from the USA. They invited me to work there. And I really didn’t want to leave! The situation is hopeless. And everything would have been lost if one day I hadn’t jumped out of bed at seven in the morning. An inner voice woke me up:
Why are you lying there? Get up immediately and run!
- Where should we run?
- Run to the Moscow City Council.
- Why to the Moscow City Council?
- Don't ask, go. Time is running out!
I caught the car. Left. I enter the building and immediately meet the mayor. I say: “Hello! Help. I received a contract, they call me to work in America. I'll leave. And I won't return. The children will study there, I will get a house and farm there. I will never be able to return. And I want to stay here. For God's sake, give me room." He turns to some of his subordinates and suddenly says: “Give him a cinema.”
Honestly, that's how it was. I didn’t pay a ruble in bribes, I didn’t give anyone a chocolate bar or a bottle of champagne. And they gave me 2 thousand sq. m. m. in the center of Moscow, opposite the White House. There were good people. We made the scene in two days. And they started performing.
The theater is already 25 years old. I love him so much. He is beautiful - just as I saw him in my dreams. I did this because for 25 years I haven’t let anyone steal a penny. I, like an animal, sat on every ruble, so that nothing would pass by the theater, so that everything would go into business.
The building was taken away from me. Already in the 2000s, one banker encroached on my theater. Times were already different. The invaders took my property intelligently, through the courts. They worked so beautifully that a mosquito wouldn’t hurt your nose. But we defended the theater. Good people helped. And the bank that made an attempt on his life was the first to have its license taken away. God helped.
God is in each of us. He speaks to us through our conscience. If you hear it, then everything is fine. And if not, you're in trouble. She will come up to the gravestone, take you by the neck and say: “Well, how did you live without me, my friend?”
Remember that oligarch who was born in Russia, received a good education here, acquired intelligence and connections, but spent them on deceiving and robbing? Remember him? Remember how he left for England? It was there that his conscience strangled him. At the last moment of his life, all the abomination that he gave birth to attacked him. That’s when he realized: you can’t take yachts, houses, millions of loot with you. You came into this world naked, and you will leave naked. The worms will devour you - both your body and soul. Besides hatred, dirt and children fighting over their inheritance, he left nothing.
Therefore, it is important that each of us find ourselves, understand our mission and live honestly.
Listen to your heart, but don't expect everything to be easy.
It will be very difficult.
Because nothing is given for nothing.
Yuri Dmitrievich Kuklachev was born in Moscow on April 12, 1949. His parents were engineers, but Yuri dreamed of becoming a clown since childhood.
In 1963, he entered a vocational school, and in the evenings he worked at the folk circus at the Red October House of Culture. Yuri Kuklachev's first performance took place at the All-Union Amateur Show in 1967, where he received the title of laureate and an invitation to study at the Moscow State School of Circus and Variety Arts, which Yuri Kuklachev successfully graduated from in 1971. He later received a diploma in theater criticism from the State Institute of Theater Arts.
From 1971 to 1990, Kuklachev performed in the state circus. In 1976, a domestic cat appeared in his room for the first time. The programs “Cats and Clowns” and “City and the World” created by the artist captivated audiences both in Russia and abroad.
In 1990, Yuri Kuklachev founded the world's first private cat theater in the premises of the former Prizyv cinema on Kutuzovsky Prospekt. The theater has staged and is successfully hosting unique performances “Ice Fantasy”, “Cat House”, “The Artist and Cats”, “Boris the Cat Olympics”, “Queen of Cats”, “Cats from the Universe”, “My Favorite Cats”, “ Puss in Boots", "Prince Nutcracker", "Cats and Love", "Puss in Boots vs Karabas", "Cat Thieves".
Tours of the Yuri Kuklachev Theater take place in various parts of the world. Kuklachev's cat theater is loved in Japan, the USA, Canada, Finland, and China. The theater has received numerous international awards, including the Gold Cup and the title of “the most original theater in the world” during its tour in Paris.
Yuri Kuklachev's wife, Elena, is also an artist, works at the Cats Theater. They have three children: Dmitry, Ekaterina and Vladimir. The eldest Dmitry is a clown, soloist and director of the Cat Theater, who replaced his father in this responsible position. Daughter Ekaterina is the main artist of the theater. The youngest son Vladimir is a ballet dancer; he worked as a ballet director in Israel, but has recently been working in Russia. On April 13, 2009, the first performance of his new classical ballet and pantomime theater took place in Moscow.
Yuri Kuklachev’s talent has been rewarded with many prizes and awards:
- 1976 - “Golden Crown” in Canada for outstanding achievements in training, for humane treatment of animals and the promotion of this humanism
- 1976 - laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize
- 1977 - honorary title “Honored Artist of the RSFSR”
- 1979 - title "People's Artist of the RSFSR" for staging the play "Circus in My Luggage" and playing the main role in it.
- 1981 - “Golden Oscar” in Japan
- 1986 - Silver Clown prize at the World Circus Competition in Monte Carlo
1995 - Order of Friendship - 2001 - Order of the Hope of Nations and the title of Academician of Natural Sciences. for the creation of the Cat Theater.
- In 2005, the Kuklachev Cat Theater received the status of a State cultural institution in Moscow. The theater is the winner of the gold cup and the title of “the most original theater in the world”, received as a result of a tour in Paris.
The San Marino Post Office, in recognition of the artist's unique talent, issued a postage stamp dedicated to Kuklachev, who became the second clown on the planet (after Oleg Popov) to receive such an honor.
“I have no desire to get another title, I already have all the titles. Including, most importantly, Kuklachev,” comments the artist himself.
I would especially like to note the charitable and educational activities of Yuri Dmitrievich. At the performances of the Cat Theater there are always special guests - children from orphanages; There are discounted tickets offered to disabled people and veterans. The theater regularly performs charity performances in orphanages, sanatoriums, and hospitals.
Kuklachev is the author of several books, including “My Favorite Cats”, “Cat House”, “Kilka, Strelka, Daisy and the Clown Yurashka”, “Yuri Kuklachev and His 120 Cats” and a textbook “If you want to be a clown” for Circus students schools.
During Kuklachev’s five-year work in Paris, the “Lessons of Kindness” performances conducted by Yuri Kuklachev were received with enthusiasm. Each course there lasted a week and attracted several thousand students. you can talk about us and cats After this, the chapter “Lessons in Kindness” appeared in the French textbook, in the book for extracurricular reading for the fourth grade of French public schools.
In 2003, Yuri Kuklachev proposed the “School of Kindness” program in Russia (again, the artist’s first proposal did not find support among officials). To conduct lessons, he wrote a series of books “School of Kindness” and methodological recommendations for teachers and psychologists on conducting “Lessons of Kindness and Self-Knowledge” for primary school children. The books have been passed by an expert council, the “Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation”, and are included as a guide for extracurricular reading in the lesson “The world around us”. The “School of Kindness” program has been successfully operating for six years in schools, boarding schools, and social assistance centers in Moscow.
