“There is no way to train a cat”

The head and founder of the Cats Theatre, famous clown, People’s Artist of Russia Yuri Kuklachev has come to Kazan in the company of his four-legged friends, to entertain children in Tatarstan. On July 1 and 2, Yuri Kuklachev presented a performance called Cat’s Home at the Kazan State University’s sports centre. The company he brought to the Tatarstan’s capital includes 35 cats and one poodle.

After the show, the audience was in for a nice surprise – one of the clowns handed out free of charge Yuri Kuklachev’s book titled "Lessons of Kindness". His text book titled "Lessons of Kindness and Self-discovery" was examined by the Russian Ministry and Education that instructed high schools to include it as a guide for the Environment classes. The edition has been included in the curriculum at many schools in Moscow.

Following one of the shows, Yuri Kuklachev answered questions from journalists.

Q: Could you please name 5 main rules of training a kitten.
A: Everyone used to think that a cat should be trained but there is no way to train it. This business has not 5 rules – I have had 600 cats throughout my life and 600 rules. Each cat is a personality. If we treat every child as a personality, we will have a different country.

Pavlov made a discovery in his time, that unconditioned responses were equally developed in animals and people. That is why all my observations of cats apply beautifully to children, too. You should observe a cat, identify its capability and encourage it. The same with a child – I have tried it on my own children and each of them is now a phenomenon.

Q: How do you raise your own children? (Kuklachev has three children, Dmitry, Yekaterina and Vladimir. Dmitry is a clown, the Cats Theatre soloist. The theatre’s major star, cat Boris, is engaged in Dmitry’s performance called Cat Boris’s Olympics, which is why he could not come to Kazan. Yekaterina is a chief designer at the theatre, she paints cats. The younger son, Vladimir, is a ballet dancer, preparing a dancing performance with cats. – Tatar-inform).

A: You could see for yourselves at the show what can be done through goodness and love. The first thing my books begin with is love. All children are being misled, if you ask them what love is, they will say it is a relationship between a man and a woman. Why do you have to mix in instincts and libido? You see, love is the most powerful energy in the world, thanks to which the universe, the Earth and grass came to exist, as did me and you.

Loving... Many reduce it to sex. Teenagers watch programmes like Home-2 that advertise tolerance of open marriages and teach you to cheat – you cannot do that. I teach my children differently, they have one love. I myself have lived with my wife for 40 years. My children have a good, honest, truthful perception of life, each has found his or her gift. A child can never be shouted at, otherwise their gift disappears, we block it. Then we see a dude growing up who only looks for where they pay more. But if a child does not think of the next day, it will be complete emptiness. I say to my children they should build their lives themselves, like I have, building themselves. You should set a goal and move towards it. Every fibre in your mind then starts working towards it, people suddenly appear who help you.

In my book "Love", I set a very important task for children, learning to love themselves. To do that, they should take care of themselves, build their own life and observe self-discipline. At eight I decided I wanted to be a clown and have built my life accordingly.

Children should be read books to, reading brings a family closer. Girls should be raised as future mothers, playing with dolls, learning to feed them and take care of them. I once came to Belarus and talked to 13-year-old girls. I strongly asked them to not kill their babies, to not have abortions, I told them directly: “Do not be murderers.” I talked to them, I think their perception of responsibility enhanced and they thought seriously about relations with boys.

Q: Tell me, please, about your "Lessons of Kindness".
A: Kindness is the key component of the spiritual world. This way I introduce children into the spiritual world. Nobody has done it before me, not event tried. That is why I began writing stories, broke suddenly into this realm. But I am treated very peculiarly, they do understand I am right but will not help. Just throwing me about like a puck from corner to corner. The deputy minister says I am not a scientist but a clown, although the entire Moscow studies with my books. I began writing a Master's thesis, scientists are now polishing it, saying it will not be accepted as the language is very simple. So, I am now working jointly with scientists.

I am also formulating my method School of Kindness; Arnold Schwarzenegger asked me to come to the US, I am reading lectures at universities. I am giving sort of psychology lessons, as psycho means soul. The key component of the spiritual world is kindness, while love is a foundation that drives the entire world.

Prepared by Kristina Ivanova