Meet Zlata – The Most Flexible Woman in the World

Zlata does performance art, modeling, acting, fetish magazines, and very unique-looking stock photos.

The self-titled “Goddess of Flexibility” has had a Discovery Channel segment made about her body.

In the segment, doctors put her through an MRI machine while she was contorting and found her ligaments to be as flexible of those of an infant.

She has also broken three Guinness World Records, one of which was for “fastest time to burst three balloons with the back.”

Being one of the most skilled contortionists in the world also means Zlata’s skills in the yoga studio are second to none.

By the time Zlata turned 4, she started to realize that she was quite a bit more flexible than all the other girls in class. At 8, she decided to live out every little kid’s dream and applied for circus school.

By the age of 10, she had become a professional contortionist for on-stage performances. After starting her life in Kazakhstan, Zlata moved to Germany to further her career as a contortionist.

During a Discovery Channel program on the self-proclaimed “Goddess of Flexibility,” Zlata performed her contortionist routine while going through an MRI machine.

Contortion (sometimes contortionism) is a performance art in which performers showcase their skills of extreme physical flexibility.

Contortion acts are typically performed in front of a live audience. An act will showcase one or more artists performing a choreographed set of moves or poses, often to music, which require extreme flexibility.

In some countries such as Russia and Mongolia contortion holds special cultural significance.

Many factors affect the flexibility of performers including age, genetics, stature, and adherence to rigorous physical training routines.

Most contortionists are generally categorized as “frontbenders” or “backbenders”, depending on the direction in which their spine is most flexible. Relatively few performers are equally adept at both.

In the past, contortionists were associated almost exclusively with circuses and fairs, but recently they have also found work performing in nightclubs, amusement parks, in magazine advertisements, at trade shows, on television variety shows, in music videos, and as warmup acts or in the background at music concerts.

Some loose-jointed people are able to pop a joint out of its socket without pain, thereby making it difficult to determine if a joint is dislocated without medical examination such as an X-ray.

However, as long as the joint socket is the right shape, most extreme bends can be achieved without dislocating the joint.

Actual dislocations[2] are rarely used during athletic contortion acts since they make the joint more unstable and prone to injury, and a dislocated limb cannot lift itself or support any weight.

Zlata is a frontbender, backbender, and headturner.