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Loco-Motion Comes Home To Amherst

The Amherst convention was a homecoming of sor1s for the Loco-Motion Vaudeville. Bounce and Cyrus met juggling in the spring of 1974 in the U. Mass student center when both were in school. The third member of the group, Flip, joined three years later.

"I had a degree in phys ed and Cyrus was working on a Masters in nutrition," Bounce remembered. Ringling Brothers Circus had just rejected the neophte clown, but had not dampened his performing spirit. After Cyrus started the Pioneer Valley Jugglers Association, Bounce joined him for performing and teaching appearances in the local shool system. I

"After we did that together, we decided to get a name," Bounce continued. ''We looked under the thesaurus under 'movement' and 'locomotion' hit me immediately." They sent out brochures under the Loco-Motion Circus masthead and lined up $4,000 worth of work during the summer of 1975.

Recently, the last half of the name was changed to more accurately describe the show. Bounce explained, "As a 'circus,' we were sometimes stuck outside in a dirt lot to perform, and that just doesn't get it. The word 'vaudeville' implies the stage, and that's where our show comes across best."

Cyrus and Bounce worked for a while with Hashim, Then with Dawn Traina. The latter trio attended their first IJA convention in Youngstown, Ohio in 1975, before Dawn moved on. Cyrus and Bounce became the total show for three years.

They were successful from the beginning. In 1975 they mixed acrobatics into their clowning and juggling act as the Chinese Acrobats From Taiwan. "We found the crowd really reacted to that," Bounce said. "It kept us strong and aware of our bodies. It became a permanent part of the act, though we do less now than we used to."

1976 was Mardi Gras in New Orleans, then discovery by ABC Sports in Montreal during the Olympics. To the delight of millions nationwide, Cyrus and Bounce passed fire clubs around the announcer.

After attending Clown College later that year, Ringling Brothers hired them to teach juggling and unicycling.

They met Flip there and asked him to join in December 1977. "He's the best clown I've ever seen," Bounce said. "He's got a lotta guts and talent. He's a great stunt man and tumbler."

Their latest big contract covered 12 shows in Saudi Arabia in June at the expense of Aramco Oil Company.

Following Amherst and a little time in the Boston area "to practice new material and become people again," the Loco-Motion Vaudeville was due to begin its annual college tour. Last year they squeezed in 78 between September and May.