“The first time I came was 20 years just to have a look and visit friends,” said the Great Moscow Circus’ Viktor Martisevich, “and I still can’t find the way out”.

“So if you know where the entrance is, please tell me and maybe I can find my way.”

Not that circus life has too bad for Mr Martisevich, who’s on the Border for the circus’ stint at Gateway Island.

He’s the leader for an act known as “The Act of Risk”, a trampolining performance involving tumbling tricks and absolutely perfect timing.

He performs alongside his wife and together they travel the globe with their nine-year-old daughter, who attends school both on the road and in the cities where they stay.

“We spend years and years somewhere in other countries so having family makes it easier,” he said.

This is the circus’ fourth visit to the Border and, as general manager Greg Hall boasts, no two tours are ever the same.

The 18 acts feature many Olympic level athletes, but the only audiences may recognise is the “Globe of Death” which is back by popular demand.

This time will see five, not four, motorcyclists zooming inches past each other in a steel cage.

Mr Hall said he was pleased to help bring a world-class circus to the Border, to delight a whole new generation of audiences.

“We find now a lot of children born in the electronic age come along and they see the antique merry-go-round and go “wow”, or they come into the Big Top and see the cables and the construction,” he said.

“This circus is one of the great traditions in Russia.

“It’s part of the national psyche.”

There are about 80 people involved in the show, from performers to backstage crew with each pulling their weight; there’s no room for prima donnas in the circus.

And it seems the circus knows no borders, nor politics; while most of the cast and crew are Russian, others come from Ukraine, Romania, and Australia and New Zealand.

“We come from pretty much every continent, except Antarctica,” said Mr Martisevich, himself a Belorussian.

The circus is in Wodonga until August 3. Tickets are available at the box office or via ticketdirect.com.au