Vitaly and Aliona Horbachevsky of Kyiv were the first in Eastern Europe to win the Golden Wand in Monte Carlo
We all hope to experience something unusual and exciting. We so want our daily routine to be interspersed by little joys, pleasant surprises, even miracles. This perhaps explains our being so fond of circus magicians, illusionists, and such. In a word, we are thrilled by individuals that can do tricks we are at a loss to explain but only marvel at. As the genie once said, deceiving him was not difficult, for he was happy to be deceived.
Miracles also happen to magicians, as was the case recently with a young Kyiv couple, Vitaly and Aliona Horbachevsky. Through the Internet they were invited by one Madame Monique (she turned out at the head of a prestigious performing arts agency) to stage their Artist Magic Show in Monte Carlo. In the end both found themselves among the participants in the grand international contest called Magic Stars. And then the greatest miracle of all occurred. The young couple won the Grand Prix, the Golden Wand, being the first Eastern Europeans, Ukrainians to be precise, to receive it in the sixteen years of the magic festival. The magicians were entered in the 2002 list of world star magicians under their stage name of Double Fantasy and ordinal number 17. They performed at the small cozy Princess Grace Theater. The legendary movie star, who became princess consort of Monaco and later stunned the world with her untimely death, had dreamed of that theater, which she herself designed and decorated. Everything at the elegant odeum — the color of the walls, furniture, mirrors, carpets, and fixtures — has been kept as she conceived them. Miraculously, the building looks one-story when viewed from outside. Inside it has four floors reaching inside the mountain. The city is pushed to the sea by the mountains, and streets at different levels are connected by narrow stairs (and elevators), and buildings have floors underground. In a word, miracles at every step!
Also, the Horbachevskys’ dressing room at the theater, the one next to the stage, turned out to have belonged to the princes. Another small miracle.
Vitaly and Aliona had numerous meetings, took part in receptions, were received by the mayor of Monte Carlo, prime minister of Monaco, and by Prince Albert arriving at the wheel of his own limo. Parking it, he bumped into the curb (His Royal Highness is fond of cars and has a sizable collection of old models).
Surrounded by Monte Carlo’s wonders, the young magicians found the time to take a closer look at its environs. They were amazed at its tidiness, friendly faces, carnival uniforms of the personnel, and harmonious architectural forms — from baroque to modern, from palaces to skyscrapers. Every square inch of the rocky terrain seemed embellished with a fountain or statue (often deliberately funny), exotic vegetation, refined palette, and the populace’s creative imagination; the people there live in a manmade miracle and take it for granted.
The other performers taking part in the show and contest also proved friendly and sociable. Young contestants appeared in the first part and world-renowned prestidigitators, true stars of magic in the second one. The Kyiv couple was made welcome in the narrow circle. Both know English, so they often had coffee with them. In fact, neither Vitaly nor Aliona noticed the star syndrome in any of their new friends. The atmosphere among the contestants was friendly, without an signs of envy. They rooted for each other and sincerely wished success. Also, all were highly professional (personally selected by Madame Monique from around the world using video cassettes).
Tall and attractive Dutch brother and sister Winifred and Angelica showed “grand magic,” using sophisticated equipment, including traditional sawing in halves, disappearance, and reappearance.
Charming Russian Yelena Akatova, a former dancer, had developed a great fancy for legerdemain, currently specializing in the so-called general magic, transforming clothes, emphasizing, of course, her native Khokhloma and characteristic Matrioshka motifs (she was assisted with her number by Viktor Voitko of Kyiv, but more on that later).
Young Frenchmen Philippe Buet and David Cowan, clad in violet velvet jackets, were a success with their chamber and small format legerdemain, using candles, fire, chains, ropes, doing everything elegantly, cheerfully, and easily.
Japan’s Kenji Minemura won the Silver Wand with his waiter number; ordinary tableware — spoons, forks, serviettes, bottles, glasses, etc. — seemed to come alive in his fantastically skillful hands.
The Ukrainian couple conquered the jury perhaps the same way they had done during the first Ukrainian variety show contest in the winter of 2002, in Kyiv. Their number is a love story, dramatic and romantic, and of course with magical transformations (matter-of-factly referred to as tricks by the performers). An artist, dissatisfied with his abstract works, paints a girl, his cherished dream. And the dream comes true, stepping down from the canvas. He presents her with a rose, she is in a joking mood, blindfolding him, seating him in an armchair where the artist vanishes. Meanwhile the charming girl turns into a cruel vamp. But then the artist magically reappears and makes the girl’s image dissolve in the boundless expanses of the Universe, like a bad dream, a desire never destined to be fulfilled... The audience was struck not so much by the Kyiv performers’ technique as by the dramatic coloration along with the emotional and philosophic message conveyed. What made the couple stand out from among the contestants was their Slavic type of culture, inspiration, and hum anity.
The Horbachevskys are profoundly grateful to their teachers at the Kyiv State College of Variety and Circus Arts. The number’s idea and special effects coordination belong to Viktor Voitko, himself one of the world’s best magicians. The stage directing was done by Oleksandr Zabolotny, college instructor of acting technique. Valentyna Zaitseva, head of the college’s choreography department, took care of that aspect. Vitaly took lessons in conjuring tricks from Oleksiy Tytarenko. They also warmly remember many other college instructors. They had excellent teachers and were gifted students.
Vitaly and Aliona have toured a number of countries: Turkey, South Korea, France, Switzerland, Singapore, New Zealand, crossing the Indian Ocean and the Sea of Japan... In contrast, they seldom perform in Ukraine, and if they do it is mostly at restaurants and nightclubs, because there is no entertainment industry in this country, just as there are no performing arts agencies and cultural centers with eager audiences for magicians.
In Monte Carlo, the Magic Stars contestants and veterans gave several performances at the Princess Grace Theater. The public, looking forward to the annual event, willingly paid 40 euros per ticket. Two concerts were especially for children (with lower entry fees). Children in that country enjoy special care and are raised on the highest standards of art. Before the entrance to the theater the young ones were entertained by a street stilts show from Uruguay. In the lobby they found leading French magicians showing tricks with cards, coins, and fire. Posters were all over the city and the performers were bestowed with generous gifts. Their working and living conditions left nothing to be desired, and all were treated with attentive respect.
In Ukraine, regrettably, there are still problems with service, conduct, and attitude toward the performing arts. We seem inclined to be deceived by life rather than slight of hand, harboring illusions in our minds rather than watching them onstage.
Hello! Vitaly and Aliona Horbachevsky, Voitko, Voronin, Buba and Buka, Strutynska! Where are you? Where can we see you all? On a foreign television channel? Aboard an ocean liner? Disneyland?
We await you here in Kyiv, in Ukraine. Perhaps your dreams and ours will finally come true and a European capital in the heart of Europe will have its own small Theater of Magic somewhere close to the Dnipro. And then you will leave us until we meet again.
