Family circus: Second time around, Russian acrobat warmed up to Las Vegas

By Megan Messerly

Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015 | 2 a.m.

It was 1990, the ice of the Cold War was thawing, and Konstantin Besstchetnyi, a Soviet acrobat, was stuck in Las Vegas.

Konstantin, who goes by Kostia, had been invited with 120 other artists to perform in the United States. But night after night, city after city, the troupe arrived to empty arenas.

Soon, the troupe’s equipment was taken away because management couldn’t pay the taxes, Kostia said.

So the artists waited. To pass the time, Kostia and the acrobats trained by the Landmark pool — until hotel management told them to stop. They were being too interesting, Kostia said, and guests were coming out to watch them train rather than play slot machines.

“So we would go outside and find a place where there was nothing,” Kostia said. “It’s hot, you can imagine, 115 degrees, and we trained with no water, no swimming pool. I said, ‘I never go back to Las Vegas. I hate this city.’ ”

He laughed.

“Life brought me three years ago back here.”

But this time, his family — a wife, daughter and son-in-law — came with him. Now, the four all work for Cirque du Soleil’s “Zarkana.” It’s not uncommon for families to work together for Cirque, but it is rare for them to work on the same show, Cirque officials said.

Kostia grew up during the Cold War doing sports acrobatics. He performed all over the Soviet Union, trained at the Volgograd Physical Education Academy and competed in sports acrobatics while in the Soviet army.

After a brief stint teaching at a university, Kostia joined the Soviet Union’s centralized circus, the Soyuzgoscirk, toured for several years, then joined the Moscow circus, where he created his own act. Casting directors from Cirque du Soleil stopped by one day to see the show and invited Kostia and his act to be a part of Cirque’s new show, “Quidam.”

By that time, Kostia had been married more than 10 years to his wife, Irina. Their daughter Kristina was 6.

Kostia hadn’t been around for much of Kristina’s childhood because of the traveling he did for work. So in 1995, Irina quit her job in architecture and merchandising, and she and Kristina joined Kostia in Montreal and on the road. Irina worked for Cirque in merchandising, accounting and wardrobe.

The family traveled for about 15 years all over the world. Kristina attended school with Cirque’s private teachers, normally reserved for child performers. In her spare time, she learned Cirque acts from her father and other performers.

Kostia taught her acrobatics, but Kristina was scared of heights. They tried hand balancing, but Kristina didn’t have the patience for that. Then, a few artists on tour taught Kristina aerial acts on the corde lisse, a hanging rope, and the cerceaux, an aerial hoop.

“Even though I was scared of heights, I felt more comfortable there,” Kristina said. “I was holding myself rather than being thrown around by my dad.”

Kristina joined the cast of “Quidam” as an aerial hoop artist in 2005, after one of the other artists fell and broke both of her arms. Soon after, Kristina started dating one of the acrobats in her father’s act, Sergey Kholodkov.

Five years later, “Quidam” switched from a big top show, which stayed in each city for a couple of months, to an arena show that moved quickly from city to city. Kostia, seeking a less frantic pace, agreed to move his act to a new show Cirque was creating. He opened in “Zarkana” in 2011 at Radio City Music Hall.

Kristina sent her tapes to producers and was hired as a mover character. She plays a rag doll that appears throughout the show, and she rehearses a backup aerial hoop act in case another act goes out. Irina works as a production coordinator at “Zarkana.”

After stints in Madrid and Moscow, the show settled at Aria in 2012.

That March, Kristina and Sergey married in Las Vegas and, about a year later, Kristina gave birth to a daughter, Nika.

“I am lucky,” Sergey said. “I stay in ‘Quidam,’ and then we move here. I meet Kristina, have a baby, a beautiful family and a beautiful place to raise the baby.”

Because they perform in the evenings, Kristina and Sergey spend the day with Nika, who’s now 18 months old, before turning her over to a nanny. Though a lot of other Cirque moms keep their children on a normal schedule, Kristina and Sergey put Nika on their schedule so Kristina can give Nika a bath and put her to sleep — even though they get home after midnight each night.

At work, the family members generally don’t see each other too often because they all work in different parts of the show. Kristina totters across the stage throughout the performance. Kostia and Sergey appear in the final act, creating human pyramids and launching each other gracefully across the stage. Irina works in production behind the scenes.

But on weekends, they spend time together like any family. They visit Mount Charleston. They take road trips to California — to Laguna Beach and to Joshua Tree National Park. Kostia and Irina babysit Nika when Kristina and Sergey need a night off.

The family misses Russia, but for now, Las Vegas is home.

“I’m lucky to have my family here,” Kristina said. “I have my grandma back home and my uncle, but my most important family is here.”