Acrobats springboard to success

YOU won t quite believe your eyes as the Great Moscow State Circus comes to town with a new show. Russia s greatest circus performers will be in the ring at the Cambridge Corn Exchange next week. The newly devised show includes a ­springboard troupe who w

YOU won't quite believe your eyes as the Great Moscow State Circus comes to town with a new show.

Russia's greatest circus performers will be in the ring at the Cambridge Corn Exchange next week.

The newly devised show includes a ­springboard troupe who will be catapulting themselves across the stage and some breathtaking balancing acts which defy gravity and the laws of physics!

There will also be illusionists, clowns, ­jugglers and trapeze artists.

The modern circus was started in London in 1768 by Philip Astley and quickly became a major form if entertainment across the world.

The enviable reputation of Russian circus is based on 200 years of tradition.

Catherine the Great invited the English trick rider and ­impresario Charles Hughes - Astley's rival - to set up a riding school in St Petersburg, and the circus quickly spread.

State circus schools were set up in Moscow and other major cities, making the Russian ­circus develop in quality and on a scale far superior to other countries.

The circus paid its first visit to Britain in 1956 and it rapidly became a highly successful ­cultural export.

Now the great performers are back in the UK with a never seen before show likely to take your breath away.

The Great Moscow State Circus will leap to the Corn Exchange from January 29-February 3

Times vary and tickets cost £15-20.

For more information, or to buy tickets, contact the box office on 01223 357851.