Romans crown Gatto on dawn of his teen years

Anthony Gatto is juggling more impressively than ever back in Las Vegas after engagements in Atlantic City and the Golden Circus in Rome.

 

During his engagement in Rome in December and January, members of the Golden Circus audience were asked to cast a ballot for their favorite of the 16 acts. When the votes were tallied Jan. 20, Anthony had won hands down. Millions of other Italians also saw him perform on two television shows, including the top-rated "Spectacular Six" variety show.

 

Gatto's control over props continues to improve. His father, coach and on-stage assistant, Nick, reported that "Anthony did a different act almost every day in Rome. We'd try something in practice and put it in the act the same day."

 

Toward the end of the month in Rome, Anthony began doing six clubs in performance.

 

His eight ball juggling is coming along nicely, and he flashes nine rings in his act if the height of the ceiling allows it. He does a full pirouette with seven rings and balls, and can balance a ball on his head while juggling seven more. He now has a little more strength to power his Herculean juggling feats. He has grown to five feet tall and now weighs 100 pounds!

 

Is he getting too old to juggle? We'll find out soon, as Anthony becomes a teenager on April 14.

 

Las Vegas Report

by Ivor J. Price

Back from his European visit, Kris Kremo is again fascinating showroom crowds in the Lido show at the Stardust Hotel. Spiced with comedy, he displays a high degree of skill with balls, top hats and cigar boxes in a superb example of how a performer can entertain an audience.

 

He begins with a 3 ball routine, then moves on to a superb demonstration with red top hats. At one point, he purposely drops one and gets a laugh by removing a medal he wore onto the stage. Later, he purposely drops a cigar box and turns it to advantage by withdrawing to a dark corner for some frantic practice. For a finale, Kremo tosses up his cigar boxes and does a triple pirouette to catch them just below waist level. His prop manipulations are embellished by beautiful orchestral arrangements tailored to every move.

 

Nino Frediani recently left Las Vegas after a three-year engagement. Billed as "the fastest juggler in the world," he demonstrates speed and prowess with four clubs. However, his forte is audience involvement in his ring routine.

 

Frediani tosses rings to individuals and invites them to throw them back over his head. He capitalizes on the bad throws by lunging all over the stage to attempt the catch. I once saw him land in the audience in his determination to catch a bad throw! One of his favorite gags is receiving a bad and dangerous throw from a patron in the "private sector" of his anatomy. Frediani makes it hilarious by appearing to suffer a little, then doing ballet steps on stage and lisping.

 

No top prizes for jugglers at Monte Carlo Festival

by Eliane Bollman

Each December, the Principality of Monte Carlo welcomes circus fans to the International Circus Festival. Uniting artists of international acclaim, this festival offers regularly excellent shows. The ambiance is unique, and the competition aggravates strong sentiments and reactions. Arturo Allegria, Victor Vassiliev and Consuela Reyes defended the difficult art of juggling at the 1985 festival.

 

Consuela Reyes is an antipodist. This tall and supple young woman, very pretty, fused grace with perfect dexterity. She juggles with her feet, of course, but uses also her hands to create interesting changes of rhythm - juggling with hands, feet, or the two together, linking the rhythms in ever more captivating ways.

 

Victor Vassiliev is French, despite his name. He studied in Moscow because his father was a Soviet clown. Red vest, black pants, white gloves and cane, he came into the ring to play master of the hat. Such an act for so little effort! Victor used his cane like a majorette's baton, then juggled with a hat, gloves and cane. He next put away the gloves and added a cigar. But essentially he used hats (up to five).                      .

 

On the other hand, Arturo Allegria had just that. This fiery 24-year-old Mexican took up the whole ring. With a crazy dynamism, he complicated his juggling with acrobatics. He never ceased moving, throwing three then five clubs, then balls to very rhythmic melodies. The highlight of his act was ping pong balls, which he shot into the air with a very athletic diaphragm. He started with three balls, returned to two and added a perilous jump between the shot and the catch, then finished with five. The speed was such that it was hard to count.

 

This year the jury, led by Prince Ranier III of Monaco, gave out four silver clowns and two gold. Silver clowns went to Yasmine Smart (Britain) for an equestrian act, Mademoiselle Kong Hongwen (China) for a pagoda of chairs, Youri Kouklatchev (Soviet Union) for an act with cats, and to the Trio Zalewski (Poland) for a trampoline act. Gold clowns went to The Doveikos (Soviet Union) for a teeterboard act, and to the two troupes of the national circus of Pying Yang (Korea). One presented acrobatics on a mat and the other with a teeterboard act.