This is the horrifying moment a trapeze artiste dramatically plummeted nearly 30ft during a high wire dance routine in front of a stunned audience.

Performer Sergey Marakov fell onto a hard wooden floor when his tightrope suddenly loosened - but was miraculously almost uninjured and staggered to his feet, taking a bow, clutching his arm.

After a quick hospital check-up, and a bandage on his arm, he returned to his circus in the Russian city of Bratsk and competed his ‘Spanish dance’ act to loud applause from the audience, reports the Mirror.

Marakov, from Dovgalyuk Dynasty Circus, said that the tightrope loosened because the frozen Siberian soil - into which the big top’s supports had been fixed - began to thaw.

He performed the act without a safety net but ‘tucked himself up’ and managed to use his arms to break his fall.

The circus ringmaster rushed to help the stricken artiste.

Later Marakov said: ‘I was performing my Spanish dance on the tightrope. Suddenly the supporting poles began to move.

‘The soil had thawed and the poles began moving so the rope went loose. I tucked myself up, I know how to do it.

‘We always train for falls. The doctors said I am fine.

‘It is just a bruise, and they put on a bandage.’

The fall was caught on video by spectator Sergey Mazhitov who said: ‘The performance went on afterwards but the flooring was broken because of his fall.’