Mongolian State Circus: the Interview

Mr. Enkhbayar Tsevegjav spent two years in Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus as a strong man, contortionist and part of a horse act. He is hulking and bald, kind of like Mr. Clean. But he didn’t rip my arm off with his handshake when we met for a brief chat about the Mongolian State Circus, which he manages and the performers he trains in his official position as the Cultural Heritage Program Director of the Arts Council of Mongolia. I spoke with Mr. Enkhbayar through a translator, as well as several circus members who spoke to me in a mix of Mandarin Chinese and English, and also fire performer and veteran Palace of Wonder performer Eddie Egal about the group. Here’s what they said about this troupe:

Q: Where are you based? And how did you hook up with the Fuji Rock Festival this year?

Mr. Enkhbayar: We’re based in Ulan Batur. In Mongolia, there is an NGO called the Arts Council of Mongolia. It used to be state sponsored until last year, 2008, but now it’s become a separate entity. The Council approached the festival, proposing bands and the circus, acts like the strong man and contortionists.

Eddie Egal: Jason Mayall [the Palace of Wonder curator] saw what they were offering and liked it, but he asked them, Hey, can you give us the springboard too? That was his idea. It’s crazy. They jump down on this seesaw thing and launch themselves flipping through the air. They go five people high, all standing on each other’s shoulders. It’s amazing.

Q: Mr. Enkhbayar, when did your own experience in the circus start?

Mr. Enkhbayar: I used to be a strongman, and also do the springboard. It started for me 35 years ago. I went to circus school for four years of study. But before you can be accepted to the school, you must pass an exam. There are two criteria for admission. First is fitness. The other is talent. In circus school, you study the five genres of the circus — aerobatics, gymnastics, balance, juggling and vaulting. As a strong man, you do a lot of work in the gym.

Amarkaa (strongman): I can bench press 200 kilos.

Honey (contortionist and springboard acrobat): I started training when I was seven years old. I love what I do. I love the circus.

Q: What’s the most challenging thing about being a strongman?

Mr. Enkhbayar: The most challenging part is the final part of the act. You have to balance a barbell on your legs. But with the rain it can get too slippery and it becomes dangerous, so we had to cancel our final performance tonight [scheduled for 2:30am on Saturday night]. So far, we’ve broken the stage twice. They gave us rubber mats, but still…

Q: Does the Mongolian circus belong to any special circus tradition?

Mr. Enkhbayar: Of course there are lots of different circus schools, with the Russian and Chinese as the main ones. We are in the Russian tradition.

Q: Mongolia must have changed a lot since you started out doing circus acts. Do you find that now you have to compete against other types of entertainment, like movies and karaoke?

Mr. Enkhbayar: I think there’s no limit for the circus. We tour about six months out of every two years. We’ve been to Europe, North America — five continents in all. People liked the circus when I was young, and people like it now. Of course there are other types of entertainment now, but the circus is still the circus.

//photos: Koji Chikazawa, hirokinishimura, dave

reported by dave

 

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