Elmira Bulatova: ‘There will be Sabantuy, a Tatar show won't work without it’

Director of the Kazan Circus — on the preparation of a new national program, the creation of a troupe and import substitution

Elmira Bulatova: ‘There will be Sabantuy, a Tatar show won't work without it’
Elmira Bulatova has been working at the Kazan Circus for the third year.. Photo: Мария Зверева

The Kazan Circus is actively preparing to launch a new national program Miras this summer — about the traditions and legends of Tatarstan. Circus performances with the participation of Kazan and invited artists have already been approved, work is underway on decorations, costumes and technical equipment. The premiere had to be slightly shifted in order to capture two tourist seasons, and to send the Tatar show on tour next New Year. In an interview with Realnoe Vremya, circus director Elmira Bulatova told in more detail about the production, the creation of her own troupe, its future and new creative plans.

“The circus needs its own national circus show”

Ms Bulatova, let's start the conversation with the results of the Kazan Circus year in numbers.

Last year we showed 252 performances. For comparison, in 2023 there were 175. There were 296,500 viewers in 2024, 269,800 a year earlier. About 403 million rubles were earned from extra-budgetary funds. But we are a cultural institution, we don't have a profit-making goal. If such a goal had been set, we would probably have had a completely different policy.

The money we earn allows us to implement social projects that we do on our own. For example, last year, the NeTsirk project was completed, which began in 2023. A lot of people apply to us for charity tickets, we have a lot of benefits and discounts — for the disabled, large families, war veterans, pensioners, students. We serve the interests of the state: the more affordable a circus is, the more effective it is. We consider ourselves a factory for the production of happiness. People who come to the circus leave here a little happier — that's our mission.

One of the most notable performances of last year was “At the Haymarket”. How did the idea of this show come about?

It was an experiment. There were times when I was very worried about the result. We had not worked with Ilgiz Zainiev before. Although I know him as a wonderful director, for my child and me, Ekiyat is our favourite cultural institution in Kazan.

The show “At the Haymarket”, in the role of Tukay — Nurbek Batulla. Динар Фатыхов / realnoevremya.ru
There were many skeptical statements about that Tukay would be shown in the circus, how is this even possible. In the end, it turned out even better than we expected — very bold and cool.

We received feedback from the audience, and everyone liked it. The program was also shown during the May holidays, tourists came (here we were helped by a screen that broadcast a translation into Russian). Everyone was very satisfied, there was not a single negative review. Bazar proved that the national program in the Kazan Circus has a place!

It seemed to me that the journalists expected this to be a recurring program.

It was immediately clear that “At the Haymarket” would not be able to remain in the circus's repertoire with just exact composition. It so happened that we attracted artists who had previously worked in the Circus of the Boot program, colleagues from the Belarusian circus, Nikulin's circus. Ilgiz Zainiev introduced them very organically. But they can't work with us all the time. The singers and actors of the theatre who took part in the production also have their own work schedule. And the Kazan Circus needs its own national circus show, which will present to the audience the rich culture of the Tatar people, which can be proudly shown to tourists and taken on tour throughout the country.

“Of course, there will be Sabantuy”

Speaking of the national program. Back in the autumn, you announced that you were preparing a new Tatar show, Miras.

Yes, work on it is actively underway. Circus acts have already been selected and approved — both Kazan artists and invited ones will participate. We are designing and manufacturing decorations and costumes, and we have begun to prepare technical equipment. The budget of Miras is very large, we are looking for funds as best we can (it takes about 100 million rubles to create the show — editor's note).

Bazar showed that the national program in the Kazan Circus has a place. Динар Фатыхов / realnoevremya.ru

We decided that we would postpone the premiere by 2-3 weeks, because the beginning of June is off-season for the circus. Tourists have not arrived yet, and the citizens have not recovered from school and the Unified State Exam. But we would like to have full house. We plan to show Miras for a long time in order to capture cover tourist seasons. And we want to send them on tour for the New Year.

What kind of story will it be, is Ilgiz Zainiev still with you?

This is about our everything — our myths, legends, traditions, about what Tatarstan is — as we see it in the circus. Naturally, there will be a Sabantuy, without it the national Tatar show will not work.

We were sure that Ilgiz Zainiev would be in charge of the entire process. In light of recent appointments, he promised not to abandon us and will recommend someone.

The director's group understands that it is impossible to implement this project without consulting Tatarstan colleagues. And, of course, the ministry of culture of Tatarstan supports and oversees us in this work in every possible way.

“Shevtsov's productions are a complete work with meaning”

The New Year's “Labyrinth” seemed like a rather complicated story, as if you had to reread Carroll's books before the performance.

I think that the best circus director in Russia today is Evgeny Shevtsov, the chief director of the circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. He is a master at producing circus shows. His productions are not just a divertimento, a change of numbers, but a complete work with meaning. Circus is a silent art, and it is necessary to enter the text very carefully so as not to talk the audience's ears off. The whole family is coming to us, there's a three-year-old child here, and a ten-year-old next to him, we need to get both of them interested. So that father doesn't get bored, and mother doesn't get bored. Evgeny stroke a balance, he knows how to create such wonderful projects as “Labyrinth” or “Everything will be fine!” — Kazan viewers saw this program in the summer of 2023. We hope that next year we will be able to show a production by Evgeny Shevtsov at the Kazan Circus.

We plan to show Miras for a long time in order to cover tourist seasons. Мария Зверева / realnoevremya.ru

The circus does not have such a gradation: conditionally, this is for Moscow citizens, and this is for the Kazan audience?

Absolutely, this is a democratic art. It is clear that we make some things simpler and more modest. In general, tourists in Kazan are satisfied with visiting the circus: both the level of performances and the prices. If you take circuses in other million-plus cities, the prices there are higher than there. The pricing policy of the Kazan Circus is very democratic. No circus in the country can boast of such an extensive system of benefits and discounts.

At the beginning of the year, the song and dance ensemble staged the play “Seven Pearls. The River of Memory”, which was handled by Liya and Anton Gismetullovs. They participated in the production of the Echo of Asia minifest. How risky is it to work with non-circus specialists?

In the circus, several honored artists of Russia work in each program. They are always ready to correctly and tactfully prompt and help if something goes wrong. After all, the circus has certain rules and its own peculiarities. Anton and Lia Gismetullovs listened to the wishes, they worked comfortably under the supervision of experienced circus performers. And don't forget that we have a full-time director who directed our immersive performance. This is Andrey Sharnin, a native of Kazan, the director of clowning, Honoured Artist of Russia. He will correct and advise you if necessary, but very delicately.

“It's a very expensive story”

Recently, the circus had problems with ticket fraud.

This is a big problem. I don't know how we got through this New Year without a fake website. But even at the legislative level, they began to tighten the screws. We wrote an appeal to the prosecutor's office, and there were proceedings. After all, the scammers do not call themselves a ticket sales site, but a concierge service. At the same time, their tickets are 3-4 times more expensive. Tourists visit a fake website, see, for example, the price for a ticket to a VIP box — 15,000 — and buy! But we sell these tickets for 5,000. The negativity comes primarily to us. We've already been accused of everything.

Due to that patent trolls are operating in Kazan, registering fairy-tale characters, have you had any problems with this?

Naturally, we will have all the traditional Tatar fairy-tale characters in the national show, but we will probably come up with some new names for them until the ministry of culture has dealt with the patent office.

“Labyrinth” is a performance by Lewis Carroll during the New Year holidays. Реальное время / realnoevremya.ru

Another notable event of last year was the NeTsirk project. Are you going to repeat it?

An expensive story actuall, really expensive, it's one hundred percent social. The purpose of this project is to show people, the general public, what circus is from the inside. That it is a colossal work, it is a service to art, to which one must give oneself completely.

We have adults who dreamed of getting behind the scenes, who completed a six-month course, completely forgetting what personal life is. They abandoned their hobbies, and some even their families, in order to learn something and get into the arena.

It turned out very cool. We have a lot of requests for a replay, it will be. We'll probably start in September or October. We need a little more time for rehearsals. I repeat, this is a very costly story: teachers, shifting rehearsals.

How does the troupe feel about this?

Experiments are welcome. The circus is a rather closed environment. Recently, we had a guest from the Wishing Tree campaign, the girl wanted to get behind the scenes of the circus. Many came up to her to chat! Sergey Nesterov, Honored Artist of Russia, Shark the clown. The more people from outside come behind the scenes of the circus, the more we are happy about it.

Did Echo of Asia help you build a new circus map of the world?

The circus has always been without borders. It's a usual story when people of different nationalities and from different countries work in the same program. It has become more difficult to invite Europeans. Although they come to festivals without any problems. There's a lot of paperwork involved, and difficulties with work permits. In general, I don't see any point in holding circus festivals in Kazan. We can always go somewhere, and then I can invite them to the Kazan Circus.

About lamps, animals and food

How is the work going in the framework of import substitution in the field of culture? Many people remember the performance at the board meeting of the ministry of culture of the Republic of Tatarstan by the artistic director of the Naberezhnye Chelny theatre, when he showed lamps that he cannot replace now.

The highlight of our circus building is the lighting. It was assembled and installed in 2018, and foreign-made lamps were used in it. When the collapse happened four years later, we repaired the ruptures, but many of the lamps began to glow dimly. After the heavy snowfalls of last year, we realised that there was no point in restoring the backlight to its former form — the lamps were going out, there was nothing to replace them with. And now we are thinking about how to install the backlight using Russian technology.

“The circus has always been without borders.” . взято из телеграм-канала Министерства культуры РТ

There are guided tours at the circus, and you participate in them too. And what about safety?

It's a thrill. I would hold them every day. All visitors undergo mandatory instruction before the tour — the circus has strict safety rules and everyone must comply with them. Our animals are kept in specialised rooms, where outsiders are not allowed to enter. So we don't bother them during the tour, at most visitors can take a short look at the stable. I can talk for hours about the circus. Actually, our guide takes people around the building first, and then they come to my place to chat for 20 minutes, but I never fit into this schedule.

And in the summer, tourists and I go out to Saturn — we have an unattended roof and usually visitors don't go there, but with the director you can do anything.

You can often hear the opinion that a modern circus can do without animals. Do you agree with this?

There are different views. Give people what they want and see the result. We had shows without animals, and tickets were cheaper. However, people do not go to performances without animals in the same performance that they go to the circus with animals. Nevertheless, we respect everyone's opinion. I'm not arguing with anyone, I'm not proving anything to anyone, everyone has their own opinion, we conducted an experiment, we have statistics. We can hear our audience. We have an immersive story, “Touching performance” — it's without animals. We had a Buryat circus without animals. There was a Circus Live clown show twice, for which we half blocked the auditorium, it really turned out to be a theatre.

You've had non-circus projects all the time, will you continue to work with them?

In any case, they are circus, people perceive any format as a circus. The same gastro show that we plan to launch this year is a synthesis of gastronomy and circus art. We're going to do it with Tyubetey, but they're at their peak in the summer, so I think we'll start with twice a month.

If you're talking about other formats, then we're always open to new ones. For example, in 2024 we had a robot battle. This year, the hip-hop festival will be held again, and the organisers liked the atmosphere, the convenience of the hall, and the communication.

When you came to the post of director more than two years ago, you talked about creating a troupe, how is this work going?

It is at the stage of formation, because we planned to make a full-fledged troupe out of graduates of the school. I've been waiting for the guys to grow up a bit, and now they're strong artists. The “Heart to Heart” program was completely created by the students of the school. But this is not a full-fledged troupe yet, because the guys need to gain experience and master some other genres. But we're in the process.

However, people do not go to performances without animals in the same number that they go to the circus with animals. Реальное время / realnoevremya.ru

I took up my position in May 2022, and at the beginning of 2023 we conducted a sociological study. The results upset me very much — it turned out that the townspeople don't go to the circus, they don't know much about it, they don't like it. And in order for our circus to become what I understand it to be — a place of attraction, a place of rest for the whole family, it will take another five years. My goal is to make the circus in Kazan a brand so that people trust us and come for a good mood and positive emotions. Here we focus on Nikulin Circus — we want to be as popular and loved by the audience as he is.

Now we spend a lot of money on advertising, about 30 million a year. And this money is a pity, it would be better to spend it on something useful for the circus, for example, to buy a light (we rent it). But these expenses are unavoidable while we are working on building our brand.

Interviewed by Radif Kashapov

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