Caption: Svitlana Svystun, England, Credit: Robin Hunt
Image by: Robin Hunt 
Svitlana Svystun, England 

Circus Performer

Series: WORKING
From: Homelands Productions
Length: 00:06:32

Sean Cole profiles a Ukrainian dancer who performs with in a Russian circus that tours the UK. Read the full description.

Circus_small As a performer with The Great Moscow State Circus, Svitlana Svystun spends ten months a year traveling from fairground to fairground around the United Kingdom. Home is a cramped trailer that she shares with her ringmaster husband Andrey and their three-year-old son Maxim. Her coworkers include a human cannonball, a crossbow artist, and a crew of Hungarian roustabouts. She does two performances a day, six days a week, risking serious injury every time she steps into the ring. It’s a dangerous, nomadic life. But it’s surprisingly domestic, too. Sean Cole's profile is part of the WORKING series from Homelands Productions. 

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Piece Description

As a performer with The Great Moscow State Circus, Svitlana Svystun spends ten months a year traveling from fairground to fairground around the United Kingdom. Home is a cramped trailer that she shares with her ringmaster husband Andrey and their three-year-old son Maxim. Her coworkers include a human cannonball, a crossbow artist, and a crew of Hungarian roustabouts. She does two performances a day, six days a week, risking serious injury every time she steps into the ring. It’s a dangerous, nomadic life. But it’s surprisingly domestic, too. Sean Cole's profile is part of the WORKING series from Homelands Productions. 

Intro and Outro

INTRO:

The global economy has forced tens of millions of people to leave home and move to where the work is. That has strained countless families around the world, often past the breaking point. In our next story, we meet a woman who never spends more than a few days in the same place. As Sean Cole found out, it seemed the best way for her to keep her family intact. His profile is part of the WORKING series from Homelands Productions.

OUTRO:

That was Sean Cole reporting. WORKING is produced by Homelands Productions in collaboration with Marketplace Radio. To see pictures and hear audio, go to working.homelands.org. While you're there, you can also tell the world what you think about YOUR job.

Additional Credits

WORKING is a collaboration between Homelands Productions and Marketplace Radio. Major funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Related Website

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/segments/working/circus.html