Guys, I’ve been dying to show you this one. I think I don’t need to explain who Yulya Mihailova is, as she is probably the most famous female handbalancer and contortionist in the circus world and the world of social media. After meeting her husband, Andrii Bondarenko, I was determined to get to meet her too and share our conversation with all of you.

She is a shining star and has been on stage with the Cirque du Soleil show Amaluna for over 8 years. At the time we met (in June 2019) she had just left the show and was generous enough to spend some time with us and share some of her story and why she decided to leave. In this interview she tells us about how she got started in handbalance and how her mother was against her going down this kind of carreer path at first. She also tells us about her relationship with her husband Andrii, her two daughters and how difficult it is to have the family in one place, given the nature of their jobs.

When I met her I was struck by her amazing charm and kindness. Yulya is such a sweet person, a strong woman and has so much to give. She has so many interesting stories to tell, she could easily write a book about her life as a performer, coach, mother and wife. I hope she finds the time someday to execute on that!

I was lucky, because I got to meet with her during an interesting time for her, where she was at the beginning of a new stage in her life, moving on to new projects. She and Andrii are not only stars on the stage, but are starting to teach more and more across the globe (#couplegoals).

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

I’m sure you already follow Yulya on Instagram, but if you don’t, go do it right now!

IG: @djilieta

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