Serchmaa Byamba

Serchmaa Byamba (born February 22, 1977) is a Mongolian contortionist and coach, specializing in backbending contortion. She was born in
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Her father was an army pilot and her mother was an army doctor. She first witnessed contortionist L. Enkhtsetseg perform on National Mongolian Television and, at the age of 8, began training 3-4 hours a day at the Mongolian National Circus. She was selected into the Mongolian National Circus Contortion program, training under famed contortion legend, Madam Tsend-Ayush.

After 4 years of training Mongolian contortion, Serchmaa started her international career in Russia in 1989. She performed with Mandukhai Ensemble, Jamukha Ensemble, and the traveling circus, Urguu, in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

While performing with Urguu in Germany, she was invited to participate in the 1992 European Youth Circus Festival in Wiesbaden, Germany, with 35 countries represented. She is the only Asian performer to compete in the festival. Serchmaa performed her solo contortion act, embodying a Golden Tara. The act featured several one-armed handstands, a triple fold, and concluded with the Marinelli bend, with assistance from her mother. She received the “Golden Elephant” Audience Choice award and was designated the “Golden Girl” of contortion.
In 1994, Serchmaa collaborated with the National Mongolian Ballet on an act for “The Beginning of the Universe” Mongolian cultural event with 14 young contortionists and ballerinas. Four of the girls remained under her tutelage.

She was married and, in 1998, moved to the United States with her husband. Later that year, she joined Cirque Ingeniuex for a year-long tour, before settling with her family in San Francisco, CA. She continued to work freelance in various circus shows and individual performances.

In California, Serchmaa appeared in the films Minority Report and The Pursuit of Happyness, starred on television talk shows, performed at San Francisco’s Black and White Ball, “The Odyssey” fire ballet at The Crucible, Cirque Mechanic’s Birdhouse Factory, Cirque de Oy Vey, and with the fashion line, Dema.
Serchmaa began teaching Mongolian contortion at the San Francisco Circus Center, where she discovered that adults were interest in the art. While traditionally contortionists start training around age six, Serchmaa successfully altered her training techniques to be accessible to a range of ages, founding the Mongolian Contortion Center in San Francisco, and teaching contortion, flexibility and conditioning classes to students ranging from age five to 55. Her students perform locally and internationally. Her troupe, , were featured on America's Got Talent (Season 9).

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu