“In the circus, the impossible is possible.” So states Alex Petrov, doing his teasing best to explain how he and his spouse Vicki somehow dance, juggle, play hoops, and drink water 35 feet in the air – upside down!

A bit more helpfully, they talk about the physical and mental gymnastics needed to function in a world where gravity seems reversed. “First you must just hang, to acquaint yourself with this altered state,” says Vicki. “Everything is different!” In fact, the pair practiced for weeks on a bar they rigged up outside their home. “We started with two minutes, then built up gradually,” she adds. “The very feeling of blood rushing to your head takes some getting used to.” A native of Budapest, Hungary, Vicki is a child of the circus whose father and grandfather were jugglers, too.

Like Vicki, Alex, of Sofia, Bulgaria, is an all-around circus talent who first came to Ringling Bros.® with his performing parents. He’s accomplished on the Russian swing and teeterboard. “The toughest part is mental,” he says. “Your instinct wants to move one way, but you have to reverse that.”

Kai Le Clerc, the visionary imaginer who first conceived their gravity-scrambling antics, offers his own evaluation. “The technique takes much experience,” says Kai, “and demands equal measures of artistry, safety, and mental discipline.”