April 9, 2013. Uralvagonzavod’s amateur folk circus troupe called Friends’ Smiles won a second-degree diploma in Novokuznetsk. The group from Nizhniy Tagil demonstrated all the richness and variety of its talents at the 7th All-Russian amateur circus performance contest known as Under the Old Chapiteau’s Dome in late March, Uralvagonzavod’s press service reports.

Over 350 young circus performers from 29 troupes from Chelyabinsk, Nizhniy Tagil, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, and other cities of Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Novosibirsk, and Kemerov Regions and from Perm and Krasnoyarsk Territories showed an amazing class of circus performance and competed for the festival’s first prizes. Both young and adult performers presented their skills in aerial gymnastics, juggling, and solo and group choreography on stage.

Even though it was Friends’ Smiles’ first time in the contest, the troupe managed to steal the judges’ heart with its amazing and colorful program. The junior circus performers from Nizhniy Tagil presented a feature called The Caterpillar, combining the elements of gymnastics, acrobatics, and juggling. Lyubov Gurysheva, an accountant from Uralvagonzavod, who has been in the troupe for over 20 years, presented a hard-to-do and fascinating feature with rings on a free-standing staircase. Her daughter Maria (9), took part in the contest as well: she presented a fairy tale in the course of a very sculpturesque performance dubbed ‘The Doll”.