Biography
Elena Gushchina, the bright and vociferous frontwoman of Kaveanov's Soyuz team, which amazed the jury with their performance of an intensely social rock opera, admits that she treats everything that happens in life with a certain degree of seriousness and at the same time playfully. She could not even imagine that she would stay in the ranks of the cheerful and resourceful for so long.
Singer and actress Elena Gushchina
After KVN, as usual, they return to the specialty previously obtained at the university, but Elena remained on stage, on the TNT channel, where she hosts an unusual comedy and music show.
Childhood and youth
Elena Gushchina was born in 1983 in Ufa. The early years of the girl’s biography were spent in Nizhnevartovsk, which is probably why she calls herself a true Siberian; the question of nationality remains open.
Elena Gushchina
She loved to sing and studied at music school from the 1st grade. By the way, Elena’s parents were musicians, so it would be strange if her daughter did not follow in their footsteps. The girl dreamed of becoming a pianist, but she did not have the patience for this. Apparently, fate decided to act differently. After graduating from music school, Gushchina begins to play sports.
KVN
At the university where Elena studied law, she joined the KVN team of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Ugra. It happened in the student cafeteria. Once, in one of the classrooms after classes, a group of potentially “cheerful and resourceful” guys gathered and decided to speak on behalf of their home university. Already in her first year, Gushchina, whom her friends nicknamed Lelya, went on her first serious KVN trip with the KhMAO-Yugra team, captained by Anton Romanov. They were going to conquer the Euroleague and the Northern League, which had just appeared on the AMiK map. Elena also became a soloist at the Monitor studio.
Elena Gushchina in KVN
In the Soyuz team, the champion of the KVN Major League 2014, Lelya appears last - she was invited because of her gorgeous voice. The team, which in just a couple of seasons turned into real professionals of humor, became the frontmen of that season. Elena becomes a decoration, a “calling card” of the team, and in a trio with Aidar Garayev and Artem Muratov she creates wonderful musical numbers.
“Union”, famous for its unique style, immediately won the hearts of the audience with funny songs and bold political jokes. The championship of the season was only a matter of time.
Union - “Social Rock Opera”
The artist has 3 higher educations - in addition to legal and journalistic, she added directing. The latter on Elena’s website is presented as an argument in favor of her choice as the host of events. Gushchina promises to provide an individual, unforgettable and non-standard celebration, regardless of scale, without boring competitions and entertainment.
Elena Gushchina: great feelings in the bright or heartfelt “Union” with KVN!
The KVN season is still in full swing, but the team from the Tyumen region “Soyuz” can already safely count 2012 as an asset. The status of at least the finalists of the Premiere and the domestication of a large light-colored bird on the Baltic coast are serious achievements. Usually a large male part speaks on behalf of the team, but I think that after success at the music festival it will be interesting to give the floor to the beautiful half of the “Union” Elena Gushchina, and for friends - Lela. Moreover, it was she who, with her amazing vocals, helped the men get an invitation to Jurmala.
— Lelya, recently a meme with your photo from the times of “Ugra” was circulating on the Internet. When and how did you get into KVN? (It’s a trivial question, but you can’t live without it.)
— KVN got into my blood with the pickle juice of the student canteen.
After classes, a group of potentially cheerful and resourceful people gathered in one of the classrooms. And somehow I joined them. In my first year, I already went on my first serious KVN - a trip with the KhMAO-Yugra team, whose captain was Anton Romanov. They were going to conquer the Euroleague and the Northern League, which had just appeared on the AMiK map. — As far as I understand, you had a KVN biography with a long break?
Where do they leave KVN, how do they return to it? — People leave KVN to go into the profession, and since I didn’t like mine too much, after some time I returned. Now I’ll get a second degree and try to dive into the professional environment again.
— Who invited you to the “Union” and how?
— “Soyuz” invited me to “Soyuz.”
How? Welcome. — Were you in Jurmala before 2012?
Are the sensations closer to elation or more calm? — I met Jurmala in 2003, when the KhMAO team went to the festival. The first meeting, of course, was unforgettable. A young student, and here are all the masters of Big KVN assembled. Lots of impressions! Now I have already managed to see the beauty of the Latvian coast and study Riga in more detail. But the Jurmala hall is still unique. This is where they don’t skimp on laughter!
— How do you like Jurmala and Premierka in terms of communication? Is there more competition behind the scenes or is it still a positive party?
— I don’t associate the Premier League with an oppressive atmosphere of rivalry, where intrigue, deception, and envy reign.
And there is no time to deal with such trifles: the main struggle is more of a creative nature and takes place during brainstorming sessions within teams. And then you have to fight the battle with the editors, the main battle is with the audience. So there is no point in wasting energy strategically on hostility! — Your friendly team gives the impression of people who practically speak their own language: their own jokes, nicknames, tricks... And during writing and rehearsals, are you just as cheerful or does the toggle switch switch to “seriousness”?
- In your own language - Tatar? (Smile). What else can you rehearse in advance? Usually we go on stage and improvise. We need to tell the guys.
— Where is your KiViN stored? Did you show it to the sponsor?
— KiViN is stored in the Tyumen Kivin storage facility.
Regarding the sponsor: a young promising team is looking for a sponsor. Do not offer sex. — They say that after the Premiere final, Soyuz will go to play in Kyiv.
This is true? Were you invited or did you apply yourself? — We’ll go to Kiev, we just like the city: it’s beautiful and romantic there in the fall, the trees are glowing golden, the spicy aroma of ripe, rosy apples is in the air, the sun hugs you tenderly, as if saying goodbye before a long winter separation... In general, we were invited!
- Where did you learn to sing so well? What songs would you happily perform, but the team doesn’t write them and doesn’t write them?
— Behind us is a vocal studio with the best teachers in the Tyumen region.
But I like many songs, so I can’t stop at just one. — What do you listen to, what kind of music do you like?
Maybe you can recommend listening to something little-known? — I’m listening to the KVN anthem.
It lifts your spirits. Among the little-known, it is worth paying attention to Haitian folklore: fresh, original, try it, find it. — What advice would you give to all the girls in KVN?
— It seems to me that recently no infringement of the rights of women has been noticed in KVN. The ladies boldly win the sympathy of the audience, enter the main lineup of players, and take on the difficult mission of frontmen. There is only one piece of advice: do not forget about your personal life and choose comfortable stage shoes! (Smile).
— Let's not forget about our personal life. Lelya, give hope to all your fans or break it. How is the frontwoman doing on the personal front?
— On the personal front, hostilities ended five years ago with the final battle in the registry office, where I laid down my arms in exchange for a promise to endure me in both sorrow and joy.
While he endures... - For you, KVN is more of a hobby or something with which you associate certain serious plans?
— I take everything in life with a certain degree of seriousness and at the same time playfully. A few years ago, I couldn’t imagine that I would last so long in the KVN clip, but now I’m still in full combat readiness. What will happen next, time will tell.
— On September 2, the day of the Jurmala broadcast, Keanu Reeves was born and Vietnamese Independence Day is celebrated. Which of the three holidays will you celebrate and why?
— Since I lived in Siberia for a long time, I will raise my glass and microphone to the day of oil and gas industry workers, which is also celebrated on these dates.
Fountains of oil, fireworks of gas - these days there is beauty in the North! And Vietnamese Keanu Reeves, even independent, is clearly not my standard of male beauty. — What question would you ask yourself?
Well, answer it, of course! (Smile). - Well, let's finish our interview with this? Yes! (Long smiley face).
Personal life
Elena is happy in her personal life. She met her husband Sergei Petinov in Nizhnevartovsk at the city KVN league in 2002–2003. At first they were just friends, together they began to assemble the KVN team of Nizhnevartovsk, then they went to Khanty-Mansiysk for the Northern KVN League.
Elena Gushchina and Sergey Petinov
In the summer, the two of them fly to Bulgaria to “Helios” - a student camp, where they began to spend more time together: they went to discos, took walks. This is how their holiday romance begins. The couple’s relationship was full of pleasant moments, and after 2 weeks of the relationship, Elena Gushchina moved in with Sergei. The lovers lived together for 3.5 years - they had common interests, friends, work. Such a community of interests could not but lead to marriage.
Sergei proposed to Elena when the guys held an event together on March 8, it happened in the assembly hall full of guests. The wedding day of Elena Gushchina and Sergei Petinov turned out to be memorable and romantic.
Elena Gushchina with her husband and son
In 2013, a son, Miron, appeared in the family. The miniature woman (Elena’s height is 163 cm) returned to her former shape in 3 weeks, genetics and a diet for nursing mothers helped. Now the artist is monitoring her weight, trying on the “control” red dress that Soyuz fans are used to seeing her in: if she fits in, then everything is fine.
Elena Gushchina in a swimsuit
Miron was already born in Moscow. Despite all the love for Nizhnevartovsk, living there became cramped over time; I wanted dynamics and progress. And all roads lead to the capital.
“My husband and I decided to try it, thinking that if it doesn’t work out, we can always find another, smaller city. As a result, Moscow is still friendly towards us, and we are glad that we moved.”
Of course, it became more difficult without grandparents, but the young parents found a compromise - the boy either stays with the nanny, or the father or mother takes the child with them. Sometimes they even argue about who Miron will go with this time.
Elena Gushchina with her family
Elena Gushchina's touring schedule is very busy (3-4 trips per month), but this is not a reason for quarrels. The husband understands his wife and supports her love for work and interests, and when possible, he travels with her. The artist publishes photos from her trips on Instagram, where, among other things, she does not hesitate to show off her figure in a swimsuit and the results of experiments with haircuts. Gushchina does not change only her red, “rusty” hair color; she says that this color accurately conveys temperament.
Cheerful and resourceful
The biography of Elena Gushchina could well have turned out differently if a group of ambitious, talented guys from her university had not decided to organize their own KVN team. The rules for performances in KVN are quite strict regarding the use of phonograms, so a singing musical girl becomes a real find for any group. Elena's fate was sealed, and she becomes a member of the Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful.
At first, the girl played for the team of her native university in the city league, but the bright musical girl was too good for the Nizhnevartovsk team. Soon she was invited to the KhMAO-Yugra national team, the captain of which was Andrei Romanov. In this KVN team, Elena Gushchina breaks out of her region and takes part in Euroleague and Northern League games.
In those years, the girl’s sphere of interests was not limited to KVN; in parallel, Elena became a soloist at the Monitor studio.
For several years, Elena Gushchina and other future members of the Soyuz team performed with varying success in different KVN teams, occasionally appearing on big screens. However, at a certain moment, some bright mind came up with the idea of creating a kind of team from the most visible and professional participants of regional groups.
This is interesting: Pumped lips before and after
This is how a new team of the Club of Cheerful and Resourceful was born - “Union”, representing the entire Tyumen region. Elena Gushchina was one of the last to join the team, becoming the female face of the Soyuz and responsible for the musical part of the programs.
Over the course of several years, the Tyumen national team has become one of the strongest and most recognizable KVN teams. For several years in a row, representatives of Siberia reached the decisive stages of the Major League, gaining a reputation as a strong and stable team.
The calling card of the team was the musical numbers, masterfully performed by the members of the trio Aidar Garayev - Artem Muratov - Elena Gushchina. In this respect, the Soyuz members were head and shoulders above all competitors, who did not even try to compete with Tyumen for the title of the most singing team.
The long journey to the top of KVN for Elena and her Soyuz comrades ended only in 2014, when in their final season they were able to become champions of the Major League.
Elena Gushchina now
In 2017, Elena and her friends from KVN began hosting the show “SOYUZ Studio” on TNT. The idea came on the next tour, Gushchina shared her thoughts with her teammates, and a program appeared on television where the “pearls” of the Russian stage were ridiculed, the participants answered tricky questions and performed compositions in an unusual arrangement. In terms of “horror,” the list of songs is endless, but the artist assures that no one has been “seriously harmed” so far, and Olga Buzova turned out to be the most stress-resistant of the guests.
Elena Gushchina's haircuts
In addition to the presenter of “House 2”, Yegor Creed and Miguel, Ekaterina Varnava and Yulia Akhmedova, Timati and Elka and a number of other media people visited the site of the SOYUZ Studio.
At the end of 2018, the creators of the show released a program with new types of tests - “Resong”, “Nobody Sings”, “Sumook”, “Repetition, Motherfucker”, “I’m Dropping a Hit” and “Feduk Bedrosovich Gazmanov”. The first people to try the competitions were Mikhail Galustyan and Alexander Revva. Elena Gushchina, Aidar Garayev, Artem Muratov and Kirill Kokovkin themselves became participants in another TNT project - the “Improvisation” show.
Elena Gushchina with her husband and son in 2020
Releases of “Studio Soyuz” were broadcast on Rutube, and from January 1, 2019 transferred to THT-Premiere. Subsequent programs will be available online within a week from the date of release.
Elena Gushchina on social networks:
The owner of an incredibly strong voice and simply beautiful, Elena Gushchina, comes from Ufa, but her school years and youth were spent in the city of Nizhnevartovsk. Even in early childhood, her parents noticed that their daughter had exceptional hearing, and this is not surprising - the parents of the future singer and comedian were musicians.
In order to develop Elena's abilities, they sent her to a music school in the first grade . As Gushchina herself notes, her dream was to become a pianist, but the girl did not have enough perseverance to implement this plan. Sports was a fairly strong hobby in Elena’s life, but at some point she tried herself in KVN and disappeared. How did this happen?
After graduating from school, the girl applied to the law faculty of one of the universities in Chelyabinsk. Already in her first year, she met the guys from the Cheerful and Resourceful Club, became interested in games and began performing as part of the KhMAO-Yugra national team. At the same time, she tried herself as a soloist in the Monitor music studio.
The girl’s career in the Club developed rapidly - many dreamed of getting such a musical participant. In 2011, the girl was invited to the newly formed team “UNION” and it was he who became the most titled of all in which Elena participated. The guys from Tyumen quickly advanced to the KVN Major League, and then won it!
Among other things, the team actively participated in various Club cups and attended music festivals. The success of "SOYUZ" was deafening - their jokes were quoted, their musical numbers collected millions of views online. Elena became the only girl on the team and she received a lot of attention.
But still, Gushchina’s trump card was her voice - strong, interesting, well-placed. It was thanks to him, as well as her signature curls and red dress, that the girl became widely known and in demand at various events .
At the moment, Elena is a celebrant and singer; her personal website is easy to find on the Internet. The girl’s concert schedule is very busy! Among other things, the girl added two more to her legal education - she is a director and a journalist.
In 2020, Gushchina reached a new level - she became one of the hosts and participants in the show “Studio SOYUZ” on TNT . Together with her partners on the KVN star team, the girl jokes and takes part in musical numbers.
In addition to KVN, which brought Elena Gushchina all-Russian fame, the talented girl tried herself in a lot of different projects. She has the position of director of a student theater studio, participation in the program “Wind of Victory” on the “Zvezda” channel, as well as such awards as:
- Numerous victories in the Student Spring festivals;
- Grand Prix of the festival at the zonal stage of the Moscow International Festival of Children's and Youth Art "Open Europe" (nomination "Vocal";
- The main prize of the World Championship of the Performing Arts at the Hollywood Worldstars Olympics in Los Angeles.
Elena's personal life is no less successful than her professional one. Back in the early 2000s, in a common company of KVN players, the girl met Sergei Petinov. After a short period of friendship, the guys began a relationship, then a civil and official marriage. At the moment, the couple live in Moscow and are raising their son Miron.
