Bruce Pfeffer is spending his second straight summer as director of "Circus of the Kids," a recreation program offered by the New England Computer Camp in Connecticut.  Last summer Pfeffer taught 250 campers to juggle and helped them stage five performances for their friends. A former member of Florida State University 's "Flying High Circus," Pfeffer also spent 19 months recently establishing a circus program at Club Med-Eleuthera in the Bahamas .

 

Benji Hill and Dana Tison teamed up to win the variety category prize in the Nonh Carolina State Talent A wards Show in March. 14-year-old Tison, second place finisher in last year's IJA Juniors Cham­pionship, and 18-year-old Hill, who won North Carolina Talent contest for four previous years as well, plan to compete as a team in this summer's IJA competitions. Hill also plans to enter the U.S. Nationals. Tison, a high school student in Baltimore, says he is flashing nine balls and making up to 30 throws with eight.

 

A couple of the IJA's favorite clowns, Les Foubrac (Michel Lauziere and Jean Roy) are booked to their eyebrows in their home territory of Quebec.  After ten years of relative obscurity in the province, they were "discovered" by the press and public during a humor festival in Montreal last fall. Since then, they report constant work.

 

Robert Nelson, The Butterfly Man, is back in San Francisco following an 18-month tour of 175 colleges nation­wide. During the final part of his tour, he opened three shows for the Little River Band, carrying on a tradition he began during former dates with Van Halen.

 

With typically acerbic wit, Nelson complained of the difficulties of opening for rock and roll bands. "With the last show, they needed an animal trainer, not an MC," he said. There was additional trouble when someone stole his prop case out of a rented car in Colorado. Fast delivery of new props from Brian Dube and loaned equipment from San Francisco friends had him back in business quickly.

 

Except for a brief visit with the Florida State Circus, his alma mater, at Callaway Gardens in Georgia on his way to the IJA convention this summer, Nelson says he will stay closer to home in the immediate future. He can be seen on weekends at Pier 39 in San Francisco .

 

California fans can anticipate completion of "A Night In Cognito, " a new comedy routine by Robert Lind and Shawn Haynes of San Francisco this summer. Lind, an original Fly-By-Night juggler and nine-year street performing veteran, joined forces with Haynes two years ago. In their act on Pier 39 and at the Los Angeles Renaissance Faire, they will be juggling knives, clubs and torches. During the "danger" part of the routine, Haynes juggles a bowling ball and egg over his partner, who ends up with a face full of the smaller object.

 

Besides performing up to eight club passing with his partner, Lind is practicing passing ten clubs with another Bay-area performer, Craig Barnes.

 

Waldo (Paul Burke) has teamed up with Mark Keppel during the past 18 months to create the Waldo Woodhead Show, now playing in the Boston area. Juggling, comedy and music combined by this duo and their drummer, Whitlow, form a lively vaudeville experience for their street and stage audiences.

 

While Waldo plays the straight man, Woodhead is the Woody Allen/Jerry Lewis character, a zany and retarded sidekick with a streak of genius. A favorite routine sees the blindfolded Woodhead stumbling into the audience in search of volunteers, tripping over trunks and bashing into trees. Those he finally catches are assigned music makers and body moves to execute on cue during Waldo's three ball routine. As Waldo speeds up the moves, the tempo of the volunteer orchestra picks up in hilarious style.

 

The act also includes a three club follow passing pattern with injected odd objects, such as hats, tambourines, a ball, tennis racket, horn and guitar. Waldo passes along this tip for ping-pong ball jugglers - outside in windy conditions he uses balls weighted with some rice for more precise handling.

 

Albert Lucas says he'll bow out of numbers juggling as soon as he's able to do a couple of rounds with 12 balls. "I can see 12 is just about there," he said. "I can catch it a couple times already, but isn't ready to demonstrate publicly yet."

 

He continued, "It's a frightening problem to master. You're throwing balls about 30 feet in the air and they have to be small to be caught. " Lucas reports he can only work on 12 for a half-hour before it tires him beyond practicality. However, he concedes work on 12 has significantly improved his 10 ball juggling, which can continue for two passes or more on a good day.

 

"This is it for me though, I won't go any further," said Lucas. He believes that 14 balls is the limit of human ability at this point, but will leave that pinnacle for another juggler to climb. Lucas is also working on a new stage routine that will include nine balls with a billiard pocket belt instead of his current seven, and will be doing some new things with five clubs.

 

Lucas' contract at the Hacienda Hotel in Las Vegas has been extended for two more years, and he will conduct a press conference on June 18 to announce that to the entertainment world.

 

Barnaby, the IJA's only guitar juggler is touring with the John Strong Circus on the west coast. In his novel act he sings a silly song, strums a guitar and juggles two balls with one hand. He explained that his left hand forms chords normally, while the right hand operates in a catch-strum­toss rhythm, making a strum with a ball in his hand before tossing it to catch the other and repeat the cycle.

 

He opens the show juggling from three up to six balls, and also includes three, four and five clubs, torches and a five-ring­while-playing-kazoo trick in his 20-minute act.

 

Dan Bennett reports increased juggling activity in Utah, with a gathering every Sunday in Trolley Square in Salt Lake City.  Several young jugglers are doing 5 balls already, while he works on eight and nine. The Brigham Young University mathematics student believes the organization will help younger jugglers there learn faster than he did. Bennett says he was juggling eight balls in high school before he ever met another serious juggler and found out about the IJA.