Vladimir Leonidovich Durov is the founder of the famous circus dynasty. From an early age he was interested in training animals: he studied their habits, reactions to various actions. At the same time, he adored every animal, and therefore called his first circus "Durov's Corner".
Now the great-grandson of the great circus artist runs the Animal Theater, which bears the name of Durov.
Biography
Vladimir Durov was born in Moscow in 1863. His parents were of noble origin, which means that they predicted a career for their son as a military or diplomat. Unfortunately, in childhood, Volodya and his younger brother Tolya were left without parents and were brought up in a foster family. Their guardian decided to send both brothers to a military school.
However, they were so free-loving that discipline and drill were not to their taste. They were in turn expelled from the gymnasium, and they went to study in a private boarding house.
The brothers had one passion - the circus, so they ran away from the boarding house more than once to look at the next booth that passed by.
They trained themselves in acrobatics and juggling, and the spirit of competition fueled their interest in more effective activities. When the boys grew up, their fates diverged: Vladimir went to study at another boarding house and was educated as a teacher, and Anatoly joined one of the booths and began performing in it.
After graduating from the boarding house, Vladimir worked as a teacher, then he was promoted to the rank of an official of the Deanery Council. However, the childhood dream did not leave the young teacher, and he went to ask for the Hugo Winkler circus.
He was first taken to the post of watchman, then transferred to the assistant trainer. He also, of his own free will, sometimes filled the pauses in the performance as a booth and acrobat. Any work in the circus gave him great pleasure, the work of a circus artist seemed the most attractive in the world. However, most of all in all this merry mess, he loved animals.
Watching the animals in the circus, Vladimir realized that they are more amenable to training if the trainer uses their natural skills. In order to better know animals and their habits, he attended lectures by the outstanding physiologist Ivan Sechenov.
Artist career
And then one day the day came when he himself entered the circus arena. His partners then were the dog Bishka, the goat Blashka, rats and guinea pigs. His numbers were very popular with the public. The circus was located on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, it was a passing place, and therefore there were always a lot of people at the performances.
By that time, Anatoly Durov had also become a famous artist. He began to make claims to Vladimir that he was enjoying his popularity and earning himself fame in his name. The brothers quarreled, taking offense at each other. Later they became bitter enemies.
After working for Winkler, the young artist began to dream of a larger business. To begin with, he decided to go to the famous Bezano circus, which toured Russia. He looked around there, got used to it and realized that most of all he wanted to do training. By that time, he had already taught two pelicans to dance to the melody of a waltz and turn the pages of a book. At that time it was an unprecedented miracle, and the audience was in a hurry to look at the trained birds.
Gradually, Durov gained popularity both as a clown and as a trainer. After Besano's circus, he performed with many groups in various cities of Russia. He acquired a name and decided it was time to open his own circus.
In 1912, he bought a house in Moscow, where he began to study animal behavior and training based not on punishment, but on reward, that is, on feeding. He set up a full-fledged laboratory in his house for the study of reflexes of various animals and attracted to this work the most famous scientists of that time: Academician Vladimir Bekhterev, Academician Alexander Leontovich, Professor Grigory Kozhevnikov, Professor Alexander Chizhevsky and others.
Scientists studied the influence of external influences on animals, tried to use hypnosis for training. Here they lectured for everyone not on the topic of animal psychology.
After many years of research, Vladimir Durov presented all the conclusions and results in the book "Animal Training".
Simultaneously with the research in the "Durov's Corner" performances were held, which were very popular with viewers, especially children. These performances helped to earn money that went to research work.
After the 1917 revolution, all of Durov's property was nationalized, but he was allowed to stay in the house and continue his activities - both scientific and circus.
Everyone in the country knew about the Durov's Corner circus, because people were impressed by the humane attitude towards animals, which Vladimir Leonidovich often spoke about.
In 1927, for his research activities and creativity, Durov was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. This was the first time in the history of the Russian circus, and this circumstance speaks of Durov's enormous contribution to the development of circus art.
A little later, the street where his circus was located was renamed Durov Street. The artist worked and lived until the end of his days in his circus, which, in fact, was his home.
Durov's circus today
After his death in 1934, "Durov's Corner" was headed by his daughter Anna. She further strengthened the glory of her dynasty and became an honored art worker of the RSFSR. Then her daughter Natalya Durova took over the baton, under which the circus was renamed the Durov Animal Theater. In 2007, the great-grandson of Vladimir Durov, the famous director Yuri Durov, became the artistic director of the theater.
