Just like every young boy, T&A reporter Ian Midgley had dreams of running away to join the circus for a life of thrills under the big top. Yesterday he got his big chance when the world famous Moscow State Circus came to town.

HURTLING BACKWARDS through the air on a swing about to shoot you 30 feet into the air it is amazing how attractive that career in accountancy suddenly seems.

But such excitement is the norm for the fifty highly trained Russian circus performers of the Moscow State Circus who are visiting Bradford for the first time this week.

Among the death-defying acts which are limbering up for their week long residency at Peel Park are the unique Russian Guriyanov Swing Group and the Erskin acrobats who were recently voted the best aerial act in the country by the Circus Friends Association.

Without a trace of fear in my knocking knees my first step towards circus stardom was on the specially-devised swing that shoots the tumbling artists to the top of the circus tent.

Having decided that the acrobat life was not for me I then proceeded to try my hand at juggling and walking the (not so) high wire.

With pole in hand I managed to shuffle several heroic inches along the wire before plummeting the three feet to the floor. And all with out a net!

It was with the clowns that I felt most at home but I couldn't compete with their professional levels of buffoonery. I only do it as a hobby. Broken hearted, I decided that I had sadly left my calling to the circus arena too late.

Leading the real performers is ringmaster Victor Pilipovitch.

Like many of the performers Victor, 37, has been practising his circus skills since a very early age and didn't hold out much hope for me starting at the grand old age of 23.

He joined a Ukrainian circus school when he was 13 and spent four intensive years studying all aspects of circus craft.

And the appeal of the circus is clear to the man who marshals the clowns and contortionists every night. He said: "In the circus you are able to travel around the world to see different cultures and different people.

"There is no feeling like it when you are standing in a ring and people are clapping and cheering."

For many of the performers the circus is a vocation and something that they have always dreamed of doing.

Moscovite Evgeniy Sedov, 43, has been clowning for a living for 15 years.

The act that he performs with his partner Valeri Zoubarev has taken three years to reach the level of seamless fooling that is deceptively effortless.

Hanging from a balloon in the centre of the big top combines choreography and technique that is more usually associated with gymnasts and ballet dancers than clowns.

Evgeniy's fifteen-year-old daughter Alexandra is practising to one day take over the airborne comedy balloon routine which has audiences around the world gazing in amazement.

She said: "The first time I went up there I was so scared. Every time you go up you are risking your life. If you make one mistake you could die."

Circus promoter Chris Barltrop, said: "This is the real thing. Anybody coming to see the show will see two hours of the finest circus performers in the world."

Circus has a deep cultural importance in Russia.

A product of the soviet system circus was promoted as an entertainment for the masses with its performers accorded star status and their skills as artists highly valued.

Mr Barltrop said: "Circus is the people's art form. It is an art form as great as any ballet but above all it is entertainment. All the performers are very highly trained and prove that Russian circus is second to none."

After watching my impressive displays on the high wire, juggling and acrobat swings one of the circus staff thought I had a promising circus career ahead of me.

She said: "You need more, poise, grace, flair, imagination - and balance. And you need to work on your presentation"

Apart from that I was considered solid circus material.

It was also pointed out that true circus professionals don't scream when they are performing or being held upside down by a man in a dress.

So with my big top dreams dashed I decided to leave to the professionals who have elevated the circus into a true art-form.

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