Contortion is a performance art in which performers called contortionists showcase their skills of extreme physical flexibility. Contortion acts often accompany acrobatics, circus acts, street performers and other live performing arts. Contortion acts are typically performed in front of a live audience. An act will showcase one or more artists performing a choreographed set of moves or poses, often to music, which require extreme flexibility. The physical flexibility required to perform such acts greatly exceeds that of the general population. It is the dramatic feats of seemingly inhuman flexibility that captivate audiences.
Acrobatics is the performance of extraordinary human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. It can be found in many of the performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Acrobatics is most often associated with activities that make extensive use of gymnastic elements, such as acro dance, circus, and gymnastics, but many other athletic activities—such as ballet, slacklining and diving—may also employ acrobatics. Although acrobatics is most commonly associated with human body performance, it may also apply to other types of performance, such as aerobatics.
Juliette Schoppmann is a German singer, songwriter, dancer, actor, and vocal coach, who came to fame as the runner-up of the debut season of the television series Deutschland sucht den Superstar, the German Idol series adaptation. Born and raised in Stade, Schoppmann was a trained musical artist before she participated in the show for which she recorded the number-one hit "We Have a Dream" and the album United along with all other finalists. After DSDS, she signed with BMG and released her moderately successful debut album Unique (2004) which spawned the top ten hits "Calling You" and "I Still Believe".
Cirque Éloize is a contemporary circus company founded in Montreal in 1993 by Daniel Cyr, Claudette Morin and Jeannot Painchaud. Julie Hamelin, because of her important contribution to the company, is also considered as one of the cofounders.
Britain's Got Talent is a televised British talent show competition, and part of the global Got Talent franchise created by Simon Cowell. Presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, it is produced by both Thames and Syco Entertainment, distributed by Fremantle, and broadcast on ITV every year in late Spring to early Summer. The show premiered on 9 June 2006 the previous year; it was initially planned for 2005, but a dispute between the broadcaster and its originally intended host led to production being suspended for one year.
Irina Kazakova is known as one of the world's most flexible rhythmic gymnasts of all time and is now a well established performer known for her extreme flexibility. She is a world-class gymnast who specializes in contortion and rhythmic gymnastics on Russia's national team. She is trained with a personal trainer, with whom she works on her oversplits. Her most popular performance is her "Snake Dance". As a rhythmic gymnast, she has performed with the ball, clubs, hoop, and ribbons.
Olga Pikhienko is a circus performer who specializes in handbalancing and contortion. Pikhienko started in rhythmic gymnastics at the age of five. When she was eleven, she started performing with her father, Sasha Pikhienko, at the Nikulin Circus based in Moscow. Olga's act with her father won them a gold medal in 1992 at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris. In 1993, they won a silver medal in Beijing, China at the World Festival.
Shenea Booth is an American acrobatic gymnast who represented the United States of America at the 2001 World Games, the 2002 World Championships and the 2004 World Championships in the Mixed Pair event, along with her partner, Arthur Davis.
Hollie Steel is a performer originally from Burnley, Lancashire England. In 2009 at the age of ten she was one of ten finalists on the third series of the ITV reality show Britain's Got Talent.
Aleksei I. Goloborodko is a contortionist who has been described by many as the most flexible human on the planet. He was born in Tula, Russia. In addition to contortion, he has trained in classical and modern dance and Chinese martial arts. He has performed in a variety of arts festivals and competitions, television programs, circuses, and shows. He is currently in the Cirque du Soleil show Luzia.
Das Supertalent is a German talent show, part of the internationally successful Got Talent franchise, presented by Daniel Hartwich and Victoria Swarovski. Just like in all other versions of the franchise, auditions take place and the judges review their talent and then later the home audience votes in an election to deem who wins.
Christine Danton (Shillaker), professionally billed as "The Amazing Cristina" is an Australian contortionist who is still performing her contortion act at the age of 67. Now celebrating over 50 years as a professional performer, Christine has been featured on several TV Shows, including "Just for the Record" and "Australia's Got Talent", and has worked internationally in theatre, film and circus. In the early 1960s while performing in Europe, Christine was asked to pose for the medical journal "Hypermobility of Joints", and it was those b&w images that were used in early editions of that publication. Christine performs her contortion act on a regular basis and is also in great demand as an "After Dinner Speaker". Christine started her professional career as a dancer/contortionist in the early days of Australian television in Adelaide and went on to tour internationally as a featured cabaret artist.
Sarah Patricia Jones is a British salsa dancer, best known for winning the Spanish talent show Tú sí que vales alongside her dancing partner Nico in 2009. In 2014, Paddy and Nico competed in the eighth series of Britain's Got Talent, where they finished ninth overall.
The seventh series of Britain's Got Talent, a British talent competition series, began broadcasting in the UK during 2013, from 13 April to 8 June on ITV; because of England's international friendly with the Republic of Ireland that year, the show took a break on 29 May to avoid clashing with live coverage of the match. Because of the work schedule of Stephen Mulhern, host of Britain's Got More Talent, filmed auditions had to be pushed back to mid-January that year, though no guest judge was brought in due to the absence of Simon Cowell for an audition session. Following the previous series, the programme's format was given a minor amendment - the cash prize offered to winners was reduced to £250,000 for this series.
Krzysztof Soroczyński is an artist, performer, trainer, and designer who works in the circus industry. Soroczyński has been involved in the circus arts for almost five decades. He has worked with many companies, including Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Éloize and has collaborated with many people, including directors Franco Dragone and Daniele Finzi Pasca.
The Circus of Horrors is a British contemporary circus created by John (Dr) Haze and Gerry Cottle. First seen performing at the Glastonbury Festival in 1995. Combining horror, black comedy and rock and roll with circus acts, the circus uses goth and steampunk imagery, and references victorian freak shows and burlesque. They were semi-finalists on Britain's Got Talent in 2011.
Alexandr Magala is a Moldovan entertainer and sword swallower who won Russia's Got Talent in 2014. He was also a finalist on Britain's Got Talent and Italia's Got Talent, a semi-finalist on Ukraine's Got Talent, and a quarter-finalist on America's Got Talent.
Anna Stankus is a circus performer who specialises in hula hoop manipulation whilst also incorporating rhythmic gymnastics and contortion in her acts. She is currently on tour with Cirque du Soleil Amaluna for its European and South American tours. Since first beginning her career in 2007, she has gone on to perform in many productions worldwide including for Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Le Noir, Franco Dragone shows and in various variety shows in her hometown of Las Vegas.
Australia's Got Talent is an Australian reality television show, based on the original UK series, to find new talent. Seven Network announced that the show would be returning to their network in 2019 for its ninth season. It had previously aired on Seven for six seasons from 2007 to 2012, and on the Nine Network for two seasons in 2013 and 2016. It had an all new judging panel of Nicole Scherzinger, Shane Jacobson, Manu Feildel & Lucy Durack, and Ricki-Lee Coulter as series host. The season premiered on 28 July 2019.
Tsenguun Chinges is a Mongolian acrobat, pole dancer based in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He performed pole dancing on Mongolia's Got Talent. He was eliminated on semi-final. Tsenguun's mother is professional gymnast. Chinges is a performer and acrobat at Mongolian National Circus.
