Earlier this year, photographer J.B. Nicholas documented a summer night in the life of one of his favorite subjects, Anya Sapozhnikova, a circus-themed performance artist. Sapozhnikova was born and raised in Moscow, before moving with her family to Rochester in 2003. After graduating high school, she came to New York City in 2007 with her friend Kae Burke. Along with others, they founded the House of Yes artists collective and Lady Circus performance troupe. Earlier this year, with Jordann Baker, they turned an empty ice-storage warehouse into The Sky Box, the city’s only dedicated aerial performance space. Here, Sapozhnikova is pictured on a typical Saturday night that saw her go from The Sky Box, where she practiced a routine to be performed later in the evening, to Coney Island, where she performed the routine — and had Nathan’s hot dogs as fireworks exploded — to Webster Hall on E. 11th St., to the House of Yes, where a “hobo tech” dance party was going on, and finally to another underground dance party aboard a decommissioned ferry docked in a Bushwick, Brooklyn, industrial canal. Also pictured is The Enigma getting ready for his blindfolded chainsaw act.
