Send in the clown

The show is a genre of its own and remains spontaneous and magical, catapulting adults back in childhood. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Polunin says: "What I love most about theater is the magic. Initially, theater consists of ritual - magical and aesthetic - but the magical part has been vanishing since. I would love to bring it back.

"Many things in the show come from childhood memories, like the image of snow. Snow is one of the magical things. It can be unbelievably beautiful. It brings immense joy, when you build snow fortresses, speed down the slope on a sledge, when you can surround your house with an army of funny snow people - snowmen."

This evokes audience reactions, he says.

"The main feeling that people share spontaneously is the joy of returning to a stage of childhood when a sense of playful freedom overcomes our fears and habits. This is what I have dedicated my life to achieving on a daily basis."

Polunin started out with pantomime.

He began to study the art of mime on his own while attending the Institute of Culture in Leningrad.

Through comical, physical and visual pieces he created with his onstage partner, Alexander Skvortsov, Polunin quickly became an icon of Russian culture. In the early '80s, Polunin created his own theater company, Licedei, which he ended in 1991 and started his solo career.