Still, they're careful to guard against the possibility of unscrupulous theft of their material in a setting jammed with fellow jugglers. Holzman is willing to lead workshops and enter competition, but he won't perform new material for an audience filled with young jugglers. "It's so difficult to come up with new ideas, but so easy to steal them," he said. "I want people to learn for themselves, to make their own mistakes and to grow as performers that way.

 

"A bunch of pack kids doing clone acts of us or other comedy jugglers won't raise the level of the art at all, so I'm not going to give them a chance. But I will lead workshops on technical tricks because they mean very little in the overall scheme of professional success."

 

He is concerned that most young jug­glers get starstruck about the profession. "There's only a handful of people making good money at juggling," said Holz­man. "At first young jugglers think it's great to work at piers and fairs. The money is good and the job is easier than flipping hamburgers. But as you get older and want a house and family, it's tough to make the money you need for that type of security. It's difficult to move up, only a handful of people have done it. Young kids get so hyped on being jugglers that they don't learn how to make a living at it. I feel sorry for a lot of guys getting into it because they don't realize what they're up against."

The Raspynis are among the rare jugglers who have realized the challenge of moving from streets to big-time stages and been able to meet it successfully!