The end oft the Sowjet Union put the Russian circus into a heavy crisis. Sojusgoscirk, a formerly generously subsidized object of prestigue for the Sowjet Union, was hardly able to feed their own animals any more. Many of the best artists left the country to work in the top-circuses of the west.Since the lawless time of the perestrioka many small groups abuse the names of famous circuses to get the people into their low budget programs. The audience, used to highest standards, leaves the tents. The reputation is spoiled. Moscows state-run circus school keeps on training students on the highest technical level, but most of them are dreaming of a carrier abroad.Recently a new generation of directors began to bring the russian circus back into the first league. They are trying to catch up with the new artistic developments of the modern western circus and manage to get the elite of the artists back to Russia.