Meet one of the UK’s bendiest kids who has a unique take on flexible working – and types with her legs bent over her head.
Contortionist Roxy Kobyliukh, 13, is happy to do her homework on a lap-top in a ‘triple fold position’.
She is comfortable with her entire body bent backwards so her head appears in between her legs.
The bendy teen has been a practicing contortionist ever since she discovered she was more flexible than most kids during gymnastics club, aged five.
Now training 15 hours a week, Roxy can contort her slender frame into incredibly difficult positions with ease.
She can bend her spine in half BACKWARDS, and lie on her tummy and bend her feet to her ears.
The limber teen hopes to one day join Cirque du Soleil as a contortionist.
She has amassed 140k followers on Instagram during the pandemic after taking to the social media app to show off her amazing moves.
Roxy, who lives in west London with her mum Uliana, 41, and carpenter dad Andriy, 40, said: “I love being a contortionist because it’s unique and not many people can do it!
“It’s so fun doing tricks and getting reactions from people that have never seen anything like it before.
“My favourite contortion moves are a triple fold, rupple backbend or any type of bendy handstand!”
Roxy has been training with professional contortionist Pixie Le Knot since she was 10 years old.
As well as being one of the bendiest kids in the UK, she is maintaining high grades during homeschooling – and likes to combine the two.
Proud mum Uliana said: “Roxy’s gymnastics coach noticed she was very flexible when she was only little – she never cried when doing the difficult stretches. She was absolutely fine.
“I’m not flexible at all – I don’t know where she gets it from!
“It was so surprising to see that she could do these things that would be painful if I tried to do them myself.
“At first, I was worried about all of the stuff she was doing as I didn’t want her to hurt herself. I’m fine now because I know she’s so safe and careful with her training.
“Roxy likes to keep busy, she’s never sitting down. When she was small, she wanted to do everything – piano, ballet, dancing, performing, everything!
“Every day we had something to do. I asked her to choose which ones she wanted to continue with and she couldn’t choose, she loved all of it so we’ve kept doing it all.
“I’m so proud of her. She’s a really hardworking girl and she’s really good at school as well, she’s always in the highest groups in the class. I don’t know how she does it!”
Roxy is already being approached by various brands for paid partnerships.
She is now an ambassador for clothing brands SHEIN, Balance Athletica and Fabletics who send her clothes from their new collections to wear in her Instagram posts.
The talented teen’s dream is to perform as part of Cirque du Soleil and is pals with one of the circus’ contortionists, Aleksei Goloborodko, after meeting him last year.
Roxy said: “I really enjoy performing and absolutely love doing contortion shows.
“I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet Aleksei – he’s my idol! He was so kind, friendly and genuine and has given me lots of tips on being a contortionist.
“I really hope that one day I get to perform in the Cirque du Soleil, just like Aleksei.”
Roxy has completed a grade four in acting, and is working towards grade seven in piano and five in singing.
