Meet the cast and crew from Circus CORTEX

Our majority Ukrainian circus cast will thrill and enthrall you, get to meet them first hand.

CAST & CREATIVE | Circus Cortex

CAST & CREATIVE

KSENIA ARCHER WIRE WALKER & PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Ksenia started her wire walking journey at 7 years old, when she fell in love with a wire walking troupe whilst on tour with one of the UK's biggest circuses. Since then she has trained with some of the World's leading wire walkers and gone on to perform across the UK and abroad. Outside the circus ring, her hobbies include: singing, modelling, card games and reading. She also is great lover of food and is interested in healthy eating.	ANDRII LUZANIN BMX For the last 12 years he has been riding his BMX and has taken part and won titles in many different competitions. Some of his biggest wins were third place in the European Championships of amateur BMX street and first place in ramp BMX. Although originally from Ukraine he has been living in the south of France for the past year.	LUNA VALKIV AERIAL STRAPS Luna graduated from the Academy of Circus Arts in Verona, with her main disciplines being aerial straps, and hand balancing. She has worked in the UK, Italy and also the Netherlands where she won first place in the public nomination awards. She is also a graduate from fashion school and her hobbies include creating costumes & make-up looks, travelling, and cooking. She speaks Italian, English, Spanish and French.
KRISTAPS PAVLOVS JUGGLING He was born into a circus family and took his first steps onstage at the age of 3. When he was 16 he started to work professional and has since go on to master many different genres of circus skills including juggling, cigar boxes, whip cracking, fire magic and quick change. He is always trying to master something new and loves running long distances and cycling.	YULIIA GORODETSKA UNICYCLE For the last 10 years, she has been travelling around the globe (including the UK from 2017 - 2019) with her husband performing their unicycle act. However before she met her husband and ran away with the circus, she started out her career as a professional hairdresser, something which has served her especially well when their contract in the UK was cancelled due to the pandemic.	GALINA TKACH CLOWNING
VIKTOR GORODETSKYY UNICYCLE & SPINNING PLATES This third generation circus artist started his circus career at the age of 5, since then he has met his wife and now they perform together their unicycle act. Also travelling with Viktor and Yuliia is their 7 year old son who is soon to start his own circus career following in his parents footsteps.	SERGII MALYNIVSKYI AERIAL POLE Before he joined the circus Sergii performed as a professional break-dancer for many years, he performed with a big dance team across Ukraine. Since then he has found his love for circus and enjoys travelling around the world. Aside from his work life he enjoys training in the gym and has a pet dog.	EDUARD TKACH CLOWNING
VALERI TKACH STICK-BALANCE AND JUGGLING He was raised in a circus family, touring through many countries across the world, which is when he first started performing at the age of 9. Later on together with his father Eduard Tkach he created his stick-balance act, this type of performance is quite rare in the circus world. In 2000 he created his juggling act under the direction of Aleksey Bitkine, which he has been performing since all over the world, including many prestigious circus festivals.	SARVARKHON SARBOZOV PERCH POLE With a love of circus from early childhood he dreamed of becoming an artist. He worked extremely hard and was accepted into the State Circus College of Uzbekistan where he completed his training in 2021. He then started his professional circus career working across the regions of Uzbekistan in the highly renown Uzbekistan State Circus. He is thrilled to be joining Circus Cortex this year for his first overseas contract. In his spare time, he enjoys guitar.	SHOKHRUKH KHUSANOV PERCH POLE He first started his circus career in 1996 as a wire walker but since then he has moved on and has gained high level expertise in many other circus disciplines. Now he performs the famous but unusual discipline of the Perch Pole with his co-worker Sarvarkhon. He has performed in many circuses around the world and has also won awards at the Chinese International Circus Festival in Wuhan. Although this is not his first time performing in the UK, he's very happy to be back.
KSENIIA ISAIEVA CIRCUS DANCER At 3 years old her mother took her to her first rhythmic gymnastics lesson, which led her to spending 15 years of her life devoted to this sport. After that she continued her career in dancing, spending the last 5 years touring around the globe with circuses, energized by the smiles of the audiences. Aside from her work Kseniia is a big coffee lover and has a very sweet tooth, she also has her darling doggy who is according to her, "The best pug in the world!".	KRISTINA BAUTINA COSTUME MASTER She is a Lady with very high expertise in her field, she has over 15 years of experience making costumes and evening dresses. She finished the Moscow university of design and then went on to study at the Ecole Lesage Atelier De Broderie, the oldest and finest school of couture in Paris. She is also an official designer for the LambertZ fashion show in Germany.	SERHIY VALKIV CIRCUS TECHNICAL CREW Originally from Ukraine he learnt his circus trade and graduated from the Moscow Circus School. He is a well seasoned traveller and has worked in the UK as an artist and also as a tent master over the last 10 years. As a former circus artist and clown his knowledge of the circus industry is vast, and this has helped him as he has transitioned to an equally important role behind the scenes.
TATIANA OZHIGANOVA COSTUME DESIGNER An exceptionally skilled designer, who is responsible for the designs of most of the costumes you see here at Circus Cortex. She has been designing costumes for 7 years now, and has worked with many UK shows such as the London Cabaret Club and Giffords Circus. She is an official designer for LambertZ fashion show and she has also had her work published as a new and upcoming designer in Fashzilla magazine.	ARRON KETLEY CIRCUS TECHNICAL CREW His childhood was spent on farms being a game keeper, shepherd and also learning the skills in fixing and repairing vehicles. He then served 8 years in the 1st battalion, parachute regiment of the special forces support group where he was very highly trained as a operator and mortarman. During this time he visited and trained with many other countries. His hobbies include: clay shooting, motorcross and buying & fixing cars.	MARYNA HALANOVA DANCER She has been dancing since her childhood, and graduated with a dance/choreography diploma. Maryna has also had experience organising photoshoots for brands and magazines in several countries. She has also worked as a choreographer in a multitude of different shows around the world. In her free time, she likes to study neurographic art, take photos and travel.
SVITLANA DVOYASHKINA CHOREOGRAPHER She started her career as a ballroom dancer and together with her ballroom partner they travelled the world performing in many shows of all types. She then moved on to become a very established choreographer and the head of MIPARTI dance group, which has performed at many events and shows across the globe.	PAUL ARCHER DIRECTOR & GENERAL MANAGER He started as a professional juggler, and progressed into directing and managing large Circuses in the UK for 15 years. Now along with his wife Irina he's the director of Circus Cortex. Besides his work life he is a big fan of Derby County FC.	IRINA ARCHER DIRECTOR & PRODUCER She started as a professional gymnast, competing around the world. She then performed with world famous shows and companies such as:"Releve", "Tihany" - S-America and "Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey" - USA. After, she came to the UK and co-worked as a producer and later agent for large Circuses in the UK as well as "Circus Extreme" and now her very own Cirque show "Circus Cortex"! She is a very hardworking person who quite literally never stops working.