Milaev, Evgenii Timofeevich

Born Feb. 22 (Mar. 7), 1910, in Tbilisi. Soviet circus artist and tightrope walker. People’s Artist of the USSR (1969). Member of the CPSU since 1952.

Since 1928, Milaev has worked in the circus as a gymnast on the rings and as director and performer of the group acrobatic act 4 Zhak. Since the mid-1940’s, Milaev has been a tightrope walker, performing with perches and ladders, and has headed a group balancing act under the pseudonym “The Milaevs.” The group performs record-breaking acts, including the balancing of a nine-meter ladder by Milaev, on which his partners demonstrate a series of gymnastic and acrobatic feats. Under Milaev’s direction, the group has toured foreign countries (China, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Poland, German Democratic Republic, Japan, Italy, Australia, and Czechoslovakia).