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HOVEY BURGESS, Education Director

It all started twenty-three and one half years ago. My father, who could juggle three balls, began to realize that I would never tire of watching him juggle. (I was becoming a pest I) He explained the cascade pattern to me, and I taught myself to do it. Two years later a kindly neighbor introduced me to a vaudevillian, Telles J. Lalonde, who taught me the basics of club passing. About a year after that George Lerch gave me my first IJA Newsletter (August 1957). I joined the IJA in 1958 and attended my first convention the same year. There I saw my first five-club juggler, Stu Reynolds, who also taught me to pass seven clubs with him. In 1960 I attended Florida State University, joined the FSU "Flying High" Circus, and teamed up with Tommy Curtin. Together we were soon passing eight clubs. The FSU Circus then spent its first summer at Callaway Gardens and I had my first taste of formal teaching. Among my juggling students were Avner Eisenberg and Ray Jason. After finishing college I spent seven weeks in Paris as a street juggler. The following year I was appointed to the faculty of New York University, where I have spent the last twelve years teaching circus techniques to acting students. During five of these years I also held a similar part-time post at the Juilliard School's Drama Division. This enabled me to open a Circus Arts Institute on the Bowery where my students 'included Carlo (The Juggling Book) Lewis, John Grimaldi, and Dave Cullen. The institute also served as headquarters and winter arena for the Circo dell'Arte (1969-70), an improvisational circus troupe that performed in Central Park. Among the fifteen who ever performed in the troupe were myself, Bobby Sandler, Larry Lisoni, Cecil MacKinnon, and Judy Finelli. Judy and I were married the day after the Circo disbanded. While Mather Visiting Scholar at Case Western Reserve University in 1973, I was visited by the legendary Bobby May, the late George Lerch, and a promising young Dick Francis. In 1973-4-5 I was juggling instructor for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. In 1976 Drama Book Specialists published my Circus Technique, which was reissued, with an appendix, by Thomas Y. Crowell Company in 1977. While in Europe last summer Judy and I made the classic and inspiring juggler's pilgrimage to the tomb of Enrico Rastelli.

[Editor's notes: 1) Hovey has forgotten to mention that he is a past-President of the IJA and a past-Editor of the Newsletter. 2) The appendix in the new printing of Hovey's Circus Techniaue lists sources of information and equipment.]

LARRY WAKEMAN, Convention Co-chairman

I began juggling about three years ago in Ohio. For the first year or so I never met another juggler except Steve Law, who taught me; and all I knew were tha basic patterns. When I moved to Oregon two years ago I had become pretty proficient in a small way and begin doing small shows. I juggled at a wedding, parties, for a circus, in a small restaurant, and on the streets of Berkeley, California. In Berkeley I juggled with Bibbins the Clown, a Ringling Bros. Clown College graduate whom I still work out with occasionally.

Until I moved to Eugene, however, I still only knew the basic three and four ball patterns. Then I met Tom Dewart who turned me on to his class and my horizons broadened. Now my favorite tricks are the five ball claw (I've done about 20 catches), the four ball "Mill's Mess", and juggling assorted objects.

I still juggle at parties and bars occasionally but juggling is mostly a pastime for me. I'm a full time student at the University of Oregon majoring in physics and math and work in the physics department designing and building electronic circuits. Being Convention Cochairman with Tom Dewart is a lot of work but I consider it a great honor. I am very interested in the theoretical aspects of juggling and would love to hear of any books or other information people may have pertaining to the mathematics of juggling.