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Kaskade

Reflection of European Juggling

Although the European tradition of juggling and the related arts goes back further than the entire history of the United States, it has only been in the last 10 years that there has been any move to organize European jugglers.

Reasons include the diversity of languages and cultures and the fact that juggling in Europe is closely and fittingly associated with the circus arts, rather than with magic as in America, and jugglers there have perhaps always had the spirit of community the founders of the IJA sought.

But a primary reason is the European reluctance to put formal structure on any art. The vast majority of them seem to share with many American jugglers the view that juggling, by its very nature, should "just happen."

Nevertheless, the growing popularity of juggling in Europe has brought more jugglers together, resulting in local and European convention. This growing community of interest - together with an understandable reluctance to join anything American or pay the hefty tab of overseas postage on "Juggler's World" - has begged for a publication that could serve as a focal point in Europe.

Thus, just as Roger Montandon began his "Juggler's Bulletin" to find out what jugglers were up to and to spread the word, a couple in Wiesbaden, West Germany, Paul Keast of England and Gabi Hartmann of Germany, both 31, began publishing "Kaskade" in September 1984.

Paul and Gabi were members of the group "Gravity - So What?" which organized the 1984 European convention in Frankfurt . "We began to realize that this information that we as organizers were privileged to be receiving could be of interest and use to all other European jugglers," Keast said.

In spite of the organizational work involved in putting on the convention, they managed to have a pilot issue ready in time for the official opening in Frankfurt . There had been no predecessor in Europe, only circus and magic related publications. "The real inspiration came from 'Jugglers World,' " said Keast.

"It had become a popular activity in Europe to moan about the IJA, and often criticism took the form of attacking JW for its American bias. Of course, .a further problem was the language barrier. As an exiled Englishman, I was one of the few people who could really understand all of JW in Germany. So initially the aim was to produce a magazine along the same lines as JW, but with a definite European bias and with editions in several languages."

The problem of a multilingual audience proved demanding. Keast and Hartmann are "reasonably fluent" in English and German, making translation into those major languages manageable. But the third major European language, French, proved to be a stumbling block.

Interestingly, Keast's fascination with languages has brought him to the conclusion that English is the best language for communicating in juggle-ese. "Monolingual English speakers may like to know that they are lucky enough to be masters of the best language for talking about juggling tricks. The beauty of English is that any noun can be used as a verb, and vice versa.

Strictly from a business standpoint, "Kaskade" has been a success. Keast and Hartmann have done what neither the "Bulletin" nor the early "Newsletter" could be: self-supporting. After the first issue, "Kaskade" has paid for its publication costs through sales, subscriptions, advertising, and even some contributions.

Most enjoyable for the North American reader is the picture it portrays of jugglers from another world: a bit wacky, with a just-slightly different perspective on everything, like a Twilight Zone episode in which the furniture is all the same, but suspended from the walls.

Kaskade, at 15 Deutschmarks for a three-issue year, is a cheap and exciting travelogue to juggling across the pond.