37-1,p4

This lady heads the champs

by Laura Green & Susan Kirby

Holly Greeley was elected championships director of the IJA last year. Born Dec. 31, 1961. she was raised in Amherst, Massachusetts. and lives there today. This interview took place in January over tea in the home of Kirby and Green in Baltimore, Maryland.

JW: Let's start with the question that all jugglers are asked ad nauseum: How long have you been juggling?

Greeley: When I was on a camping trip in the 9th grade, a boy I had a crush on was juggling so I decided I had to learn. When I got home I spent hours and hours practicing and finally learned three balls.

Then I met this guy at school who said, "That's nothing, I can do four!" He told me about LocoMotion Circus at U. Mass so I went over and saw them and met Allan Jacobs, who was a student there. Allan told me about the IJA and I joined in 1977.

JW: What was the IJA like at that time?

Greeley: I was just a kid, so all it meant to me was that I got this newsletter about once a month or so that had neat tricks in it.

JW: When was your first juggling convention?

Greeley: Sometime in 1977. I went to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, with Bill Fry and some other people who were down there being crazy. (laughs.) That same year Frank Cardamone, a friend of LocoMotion Circus, organized one of several festivals in Amherst. Those helped make the location famous and put us on the IJA map so that Eric Roberts could come along and organize the IJA convention there in 1979: That was my first IJA convention, the year I graduated from high school.

JW: Did learning to juggle turn your life around in any way?

Greeley: I'll tell you. Before I started juggling I was kind of flunking out of high school. I rarely went to classes and alienated many of my teachers. I was real baaad! (laughs.) Juggling definitely turned me around, it has been very good to me.

JW: You're known in the IJA for your elegant club passing. When did you first learn?

Greeley: Allan Jacobs taught me to pass sometime between '77 and '79. I don't remember exactly when, but I do remember my first 3-3-10. It was with Brian Smith at the Mountain Farms Mall in Hadley, Mass. They had a juggling marathon there to raise money for the juggling club at school and for the Stavaros Foundation in Amherst.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning when everybody was fading, Brian and I decided we had to learn how to clubs with each other, and we passed. first 3-3-10. We just about died, it was great!

But I give Allan Jacobs most of the credit. He's a truly great club passer, and has a gift for teaching. He's willing to give everything he can in terms of s knowledge and enthusiasm.

JW: Did it take you long to learn to pass?

Greeley: I'm not sure... it's not like this a beginning or an end to my club passing. I'm still learning and will always learning. So, yeah. It's taken me nine years so far and will probably take me 89 more. (laughs.) I love being on the receiving of any good club passer, and I love to pass fast. It doesn't give me much time to think about anything.

J.W: Well, you certainly have a beautiful style. If you had to lecture on the art of club passing, what would you say was the heart and soul of it all?

Greeley: First of all I would never lecture on club passing. I would put clubs in everybody's' hands and tell them to pass because the only way to learn something' is to do it. Be relaxed about it and be aware of your surroundings. Be relaxed and balanced so you can move in any direction. Be alert and aware of your surroundings so you know what's happening with the passes and with your body.