30-5,p3

European Report

London, Lloyd Timberlake

June was a busy month for the London branch of the IJA.

Bob Dylan hit town for six concerts and, despite the fact he had long since been sold out, decided he needed some

jugglers to back him up. Thus Toby Philpott, Mark Robertson, Mike Gelb and myself all spent six evenings warming up 17,000 people a show as they streamed into Earls Court auditorium here. Toby ate fire, rode a unicycle and juggled everything; Mark did his flashing two-handed yo-yo act and juggled; Mike juggled and I dodged beer cans and juggled on a giraffe unicycle. There were no casualties (at least at the concerts; Mark missed the last night having been hit between the eyes with a cricket ball).

In late June the Chinese Acrobatic Theatre of Liaoning (a cold industrial province bordering Korea) was at the Albert Hall for six nights. IJA-er Stuart Fell and myself attended a special dress rehearsal preceding the first show and were invited to come back later in the week to watch them practice and show our western-style juggling. We did, taking along 15 year old Mark and cabaret juggler-unicyclist Yuri Gridneff, who has a cockney accent despite the fact his parents toured with a Russian circus in the 1920s. The 50 Chinese, aged 13-23, were incredibly good and tried hard not to make us feel to out-gunned.

They did no real toss juggling, though several were proficient with our rings and balls. A lad on a 10 foot giraffe unicycle could kick three bowls, placed along his shin and the top of his foot, to a perfect stack on his head -- we never saw him miss. The group diablo work was impeccable.

They did not even use devil sticks in their shows, though the girls were excellent with them, one having mastered several moves keeping two sticks going in opposite directions with her two hand sticks.

They liked Yuri's club juggling, including under the leg passes, on his giraffe, and Stuart's acrobatic juggling and close-up magic, But they were most taken with -- and most eager to try -- Mark's yo-yos.