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New Yorker Lee Ross was here with a comedy/juggling routine. He worked solo as well as with frequent collaborator and fellow New Yorker, William Lee. They both did some solo three club juggling as well as a six club passing routine. Lee (that is to say William Lee - do they ever get confused?) did a hilarious samurai act with an audience member and finished with a superb torch routine in which he did

continuous under the arm throws, continuous chops and a long series of back crosses. There were many other variations all of which were very solid and interesting. In my opinion the best torch routine of the Festival.

From Houston, Texas, came circus and street performer Michael James with some top-notch juggling. Michael did four and five clubs on a six-foot unicycle! His specialty, though, is the eight-foot unsupported ladder on which he does four and five clubs as well as a five-ball reverse bounce onto a small table which he mounts part way up the ladder. He lifts this five ball bounce into a five ball cascade without stopping. Standing on top of the ladder (and I mean on the very top) he does a three torch routine with variations including an under-the-Ieg throw!

He juggles torches on a six-foot unicycle and on a regular one does all kinds of tricks including wheel-walking. Michael's routines are technically very impressive and exhibited fine showmanship. Definitely one of the juggling high points.

Back for his second year, Ray Jason from San Francisco was an audience favorite with his light banter and smooth showmanship. Ray's patented act includes nice moves with three bowling balls and his piece de la resistance of three torches blindfolded. He also juggled four torches and did a nice club swinging routine while balancing a flaming pole on a small supported ladder.

Jonathan Seglins and Jean - Michael Pare (a.k.a. Heart and Biko) from Toronto were also back for a second year. Their long (more than 30-minute) routine included

nice synchronized diablo variations; Seglins doing two diablos and a diablo passing routine. Pare's specialty is the unicycle, with variations including wheelwalking and riding up and down stairs. He mounts a six-foot unicycle directly from a regular one and then up onto a nine-foot one straight from the six-footer. From there he passes six and seven clubs with Seglins, first on the ground and then on a six-foot unicycle. On the ground, after abundant drops, they passed eight clubs.

From Ottawa came The Checkerboard Man (also known to his friends as David Aiken) who had a nice comic routine with three meat cleavers and volunteer (emerging with all body parts intact) as well as a cigar box routine. In a nice display of impromptu teamwork, David teamed up with Indiana's Brian Hulse and the San Francisco group Twist & Shout (David Gomez and Henrik Bothe) to form The Bounty Brothers. Together they performed a variety of four-person, twelve club formations, including feeds, lines, boxes and a pyramid. Gomez stood on Bothe's shoulders and passed to Aiken on a six-foot unicycle while Bothe passed to Hulse on the ground. They finished their routine with a 12 torch box pattern; two people on the ground and two on six-foot unicycles.

Gomez and Bothe do a nice six club passing routine themselves with a wonderful barefoot-round-the-back-and-over-theshoulder kick-up into an every second passing pattern by Bothe. Lots of variations including Gomez taking four clubs in a low single-triple pattern while Bothe puts on his shoe. Hulse did a variety of routines including a comedy piece set to ballet music in which he juggles bans, scarves and clubs finishing with four clubs. Also a comedy scarf passing routine with an audience member and a torch routine standing on the shoulders of two volunteers that featured behind the back and under the leg throws.

Variety In Motion is the Baltimore duo of Rick and Mardene Schnitker who, as last year's People's Choice winners, were natural audience favorites. They do a six torch passing routine on six-foot unicycles complete with variations by Rick. On the ground they do a dynamite, up-tempo passing routine choreographed to music. They move from this to a three club stealing routine with lots of interesting steals (from both sides and below) as well as drop backs. Their show was very tight, well rehearsed and effective.

Dana Smith is another comic juggler who hails from San Francisco. He does a nice three club routine, including headrolls, chops, a shower, shoulder throws and back crosses. He also has a nice rolabola routine, juggling three torches on it. He does a handstand on a two-tier rola-bola (board, four beer cans and second board). His signature trick is juggling three clubs on rola-bola with a live chicken sitting on his head. I hear you crying fowl!