In June of 1978, in a performance at the Sochi circus, I juggled eleven rings. Depending on my form I continued to perform with eleven rings throughout that year in Sochi, Leningrad, Magnitogorsk and Dniepopetrovsk.
Over a period of five years I performed a series of tricks with seven rings which were combined into a two minute long presentation. They included a half-pirouette, half-shower and the most difficult trick with seven, juggling them with pancake throws -- the so-called 'revolving door.'
At the same time I was able to achieve a very exact rhythm in my throws. "Rhythm is the most important feature of music," said Rimski-Korsakov. The journalist Galina Marchenko was able to sense the musicality in my juggling. Using the music of Chopin I embarked on new explorations. The fusion of music and juggling was the goal of my new work. Today it is the main direction in the development of the style of my act.
To find one's own place in the world of art it's necessary to think and work a great deal. Van Gogh overcame many limitations of his artistic background. He had no formal training in art but learned through experience, inner reflection, reading and acquaintance with people and nature.
After reading Van Gogh's Letters to His Brother Theo I understood how true art is born. It is within you, yourself. Within the world visible to you. The strangest thing about art is plagiarism. A copy is an insignificant imitation of the original, however good it might originally have been. Plagiarizing degrades the person who does it. A plagiarist steals from themselves. It's necessary to travel one's own path, however difficult it may be.
Be observant and alert. Don't neglect the fine details, they'll help you find your way out of dead ends and give you creative impulses. From time to time we awake, not from the deafening sounds of the throngs but from the subtlest creak of the door or from the unexpected turning of the key.