Meet the travelling circus family who all perform together - with the addition of their

three-year-old who can already do acrobatics.

Ilya Kotenyov, 30, and Regina Kotenyova, 32, along with their three children, Tagir, eight, Zara, six, and Iliana, three, have been a full-time circus family for the past year.

They are currently on tour with the Ringo Star big top circus in Kazakhstan and aside from Iliana, all have their own acts.

Ilya performs on a teeterboard, an acrobatic jumping platform resembling a seesaw,

Regina is on aerial straps and aerial hoop, whilst Zara and Tagir form a double act on straps.

Zara now occasionally performs solo too and Iliana is "slowly" learning circus acts on aerial straps."

Ilya says that Iliana can do some "basic acrobatics" as well as push ups, pull ups with support and ab exercises, though he says she’s not a "big fan" of stretching."

Both Ilya and Regina have backgrounds in acro-sport and gymnastics - Ilya is a former Cirque Du Soleil artist and member of the Kazakh National Tumbling team.

Although their children have followed in their parents' footsteps from an early age, Ilya says they are under "no pressure" to perform and are "free to do whatever they want."

The family - from Pavlodar, Kazakhstan - hope to travel the world together as a touring circus family.

Ilya said: "Being a circus family has many advantages for us."

"We spend a lot of time together, we have an interesting life and we are always in good physical shape."

"Thanks to the circus, we have the opportunity to travel the world."

"From birth, our children are surrounded by sports and athletes, as all our friends are former athletes or circus performers."

"The children liked to repeat after us."

"When they play games they put on a mini-circus show."

"They have a choice though, and they are free to do whatever they want."

The family have a strict training routine, training daily and often six times a week.

Ilya said: "First we run for a few minutes and then there is a gymnastic warm-up. "

"Then we do exercises for strength and stretching and only after that do the kids start to train aerial straps for 60-90 minutes."

"We usually do this five or six times a week."

"They all know how to do splits, my wife and I teach them to do handstands and somersaults, since we are former acrobatics"

"And of course we spend most of the time learning new tricks on the aerial straps, aerial hoop and aerial pole."

Ilya says that Zara "really" enjoys performing and is always itching to perform between breaks."

He said: "Zara enjoys the solo performance very much. e"

"Every time we have a big break between performances, Zara asks when are we going to perform again. "

"I think she really likes the attention! "

"For her this is the second season of work and she's really thrown herself into it, but at the same time I think she misses her older brother very much and if the opportunity presents itself, I think she will choose to perform with him, rather than alone."

After 12 years of tumbling with the Kazakh national team, Ilya began his circus career in 2011 when he was offered a contract with Cirque Du Soleil.

He said: "I was selected for a circus training course in Montreal, Canada."

"After five months of training for my new teeterboard act, Cirque Du Soleil gave me a contract for a stationary show, Mystere, in Las Vegas."

"In addition to jumping on the board, we were taught dancing, singing, buffoon clownery."

"From November 2011 until May 2012 I worked there in Las Vegas."

"After that in June 2012 I married my long-term partner and beautiful wife, Regina." "

Following his first stint with Cirque Du Soleil, Ilya went on to perform on cruise ships before linking back up with Cirque Du Soleil in 2014

He said: "I went back to the same Mystere show, I worked there for a year and got injured."

"I had to have three surgeries on my ankles and after that I returned to Kazakhstan in 2016 to look after my health."

"At the end of 2016 I was selected for the new project, circus 1903, created in Australia, during the creation of the show I received a severe ankle injury and returned home again for six months."

Ilya went on to make a full recovery and completed his tour of the US with Circus 1903, before going on to perform in Singapore.

He has now embarked on a new duo career with his teeterboard partner and has so far performed throughout Germany and Kazakhstan, and is currently preparing for another Autumn stint in Nuremberg, Germany.

Regina, also began her circus career over 10 years ago on a cruise ship, following eight years of gymnastic coaching.

Her career was put on hold thanks to the birth of their three children, but Regina is now training again as a solo artist.

The family are now cherishing the time they have to perform together, before Ilya heads back to Germany for another show.

Ilya said: "First season last year we worked in Kazakhstan with big top Ringo Star."

"I did teeterboard, my wife did aerial hoop and aerial straps and during this contract we decided to put our middle daughter, Zara, into aerial straps act with her mother."

"For the second season - which started in April 2023 - we started training our son and daughter together for a new act - aerial straps duo."

"They performed for one month together and after that Tagir went back to our hometown to start training and preparing for school."

"Since then, Zara has performing on her own."

"As a performer myself I travel a lot, Canada, USA, Australia, Singapore, Mexico, Germany, Italy and more."

"And for me the hardest part of circus life is being without my family."

"In 12 years of marriage, four of those years I was alone, which was so hard."