Couple escape war in Ukraine and find new home performing at Cabaret ZaZou in Chicago – NBC Chicago

Next month will mark one year since the start of the war in Ukraine. Millions of refugees were forced to leave everything behind, including the Kee family.

Viktor Kee and Ulzii Mergen are circus artists used to traveling around the world. Now they are in Chicago indefinitely, starting a new life with their two young sons. Only a year ago they lived in Viktor’s birthplace in Ukraine, dreaming of a stable life for their two boys.

“We went back there, bought property and intended to settle down and find schools there for our boys,” Kee said.

But their whole world was turned upside down when Russia invaded Ukraine and the war started.

“I was in Miami when the war started last February, but my wife and two children, my babies, were in Ukraine,” Kee continued. “It was so stressful.”

“The war started on the 24th and I felt it in the air when I woke up, everything was polluted,” said Mergen, from Mongolia. She vividly remembers having to take refuge in a basement with her sons, when bombs fell near their house. Their youngest son was 7 months old at the time.

“It was very scary…as a mother of two,” Mergen said.

According to the family, thanks to the Mongolian embassy, ​​Mergen was able to obtain the necessary papers to leave the country and go to Poland. From there, she goes to Switzerland for a few months. Finally, in April 2022, Mergen and her sons were able to fly to the United States and reunite with Kee in Miami.

“We’re really lucky,” Kee said. “A lot of people are in a much worse situation than ours… terrible things are happening there.”

Now the family is grateful to be in Chicago, especially because they can use their talents to be part of a unique production. Kee is a master juggler, who was a finalist on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, while Mergen has been a contortionist since she was 11 years old.

The duo now performs with Cabaret ZaZou, an immersive variety dinner show that plays out in a vintage Belgian Spiegeltent on the 14th floor of the Cambria Hotel in downtown Chicago.

Recently, the production celebrated its 100th show.

“Every night is a joy to play. The Chicago crowd has been amazing,” Kee said.

The couple hopes the show will continue to be successful so they can stay in Chicago for as long as possible.