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Two
solo jugglers are appearing with the circus for the first time
when it begins its nine-month season in April. Andrew Allen is
doing a three-ball routine, five, six and seven balls, a devil
stick routine and staff twirling. John Gilkey juggles five
clubs and some eccentric things with various pieces of
equipment.
Group
juggling routines are the bookends of the show, Snider
explained. The Big Juggle that ends each show is a visual
statement of Pickle philosophy. The harmony of the whole is
greater than its parts. Individuals working together for the
benefit of the family.
"The
final juggling is an illustration of cooperative effort, which
has a lot to do with internal politics of the circus. Just as
everyone juggles, everyone helps put up and strike the set.
It's a celebration in flying clubs of cooperative human
skill," she said.
That final act sees people
passing on rolling globes (including 10-year-old Lorenzo
Pisoni) and an eight person line passing in both directions.
There
are some other group routines as well performed by various
ones of the 18 performers, including a three-person routine
with very large balls and three person feeds using 10 and 11
clubs. "It's a big, cold world out there
today," Snider said. "People are out for themselves.
For jugglers there's a lot of places to work - conventions,
shopping centers, theme parks... They can make $75 a
day."
But
the Pickle Family Circus offers as much to its performers as
it does to
its audience. There are no prima donnas. The bass player as
well as the clowns all help put up and tear down each show.
The pay scale may be small, but the artistically protected
environment is precious. Performers don't have to hustle up an
audience. They have The Family, people who care to help them
put order to their tricks, to present their act so it shows
well. There is the opportunity to learn new skills, to develop
artistically.
"Generic
juggling acts are boring, same lines and routines all over the
country,"
Snider laments. "The pioneers were different. They
invented the lines and the routines that everyone else is
copying. Bobby May is still teaching people posthumously
through tapes of his work. "
When
Robert Altman was looking for
extras to flesh out his "Popeye" movie in 1982, he
asked Burgess and Finelli for .recommendations. They advised
him to
pick some Pickles. The Pickles, in turn, asked Finelli to come
aboard. "Delighted," she replied.
And
she and Wendy Parkman, the resident trapeze artist at the
time, formed the Pickle Family Circus School. Finelli was
fantastic, creative and very well trained.
She did ball juggling in the show with Jay Laverdure and Robin
Hood. A club passing act was the traditional show opener,
first Wendy and Judy, then Mark Jondell and Judy. They did a
lot of right and left-handed passing. Very flashy. Her devil
stick and diablo routines were special, with original music
written for them. To this day that is what she is proudest of,
what she feels most approaches art. This year Finelli gives
her wrists a rest and co-directs the show.
It
is this constant change and challenge that keeps the Pickle
Circus provocative and fresh. Sara Felder, a superlative
juggler, has left the show to put together a Woman's Circus
that will tour Nicaragua this spring.
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