Today, during the premiere of unique circus performance “Victory salute", dedicated to 65th anniversary of Victory in Great Patriotic war, we would like to tell you about a remarkable, talented artist, taking part in this performance and famous for his inimitable work and enviable diligence, People’s artist of Russia, laureate of State Prize of the Russian Federation, dzhigit Tamerlan Nugzarov.

   The artist’s childhood was not at all easy: his father was sent to prison camps, when the boy was little, and Tamerlan was brought up in a children’s home. It was there that Tamerlan felt love towards horses (there was a stable at the territory of the orphanage). But his choice of profession is most tightly connected with his stepfather who was a circus artist and taught Tamerlan to love this art.

   At the age of 15 Tamerlan Nugzarov started his circus career. His debut was a part in a performance in 1958 as one of the dzhigits in a troupe under the direction of M. Tuganov. As Tamerlan Nugzarov himself puts it, three months of work in the Tuganov’s troupe with a wonderful animal trainer B. Mangeli have strongly affected his development as an artist. On the whole, by Tamerlan Nugzarov’s admission, he was lucky to have worked in the course of his career with many talented people, real professionals who were “very interesting people and interesting directors”.

   It is noteworthy that simple stunts in the circus ring are not his specialization area. His parts are always filled with a plot, character, and spectators always perceive them seriously and let them pass through their hearts and minds. And it is not at all easy to achieve this effect in circus arts.

   Tamerlan Nugzarov’s creative path is very rich and various in spite of the fact that he has always specialized in only one genre. His creative biography has been filled with different events. He took part in a ballet “Bakhchisarai fountain” that had been staged in the circus ring. One of the most memorable productions was “The Mountaineer’s legend” which had been staged by Nugzarov himself when he was a creator and director of a dzhigit group “Argun”. “The Mountaineer’s legend” was highly appreciated – the artist was awarded an honourable rank of a State Prize laureate of the Russian Federation. And it is no wonder: the performance was built according to a certain plot. With the help of high-class stunts and tricks an ancient love legend was communicated to a spectator,–the plot tells spectators how a woman reconciled two clans at enmity with each other. Here the dzhigits’ wonderful work incorporated horse fights and pursuits, very difficult stunts – stance on the running horse’s backs, horsemen’s jumps, riding under the horse’s stomach and jumping together with the horse through the ring decorated with daggers. The speed at which such stunts were performed made the spectators sit motionless from fear and admiration.

   Not only in our country is Tamerlan Nugzarov’s work famous: rapt spectators visited the great master’s performances with a great interest in different countries of the world. And in 1984 Nugzarov’s troupe won the main prize of the International festival of circus arts’ prize – “The Golden Clown”.

   Tamerlan Nugzarov speaks about himself very simply, without any pathos: “I work only with horses, act as an animal trainer and as a director and as a creative director. My wife helps me very much. She is an artist in the 4th generation of circus artists, and my son represents thus the 5th generation". Nugzarov considers himself to be an ordinary artist who loves his work, his troupe and, certainly, his 22 “wards” (who often have a difficult character) – horses.

   In the new production “The Victory Salute” Tamerlan Nugzarov has a difficult part – that of marshal Zhukov. He speaks about this part with a special feeling: “When you put on a suit of the greatest commander, all his awards – it costs very much. And spectators start to treat me differently as if I were Zhukov. And this is the greatest recognition. Zhukov’s part is the brightest image for me".