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JUGGLER'S GLASNOST

A Soviet Juggler Across America Popovich Finds A New World of Juggling

Article and photos by Bill Giduz

Gregor Popovich was enjoying his visit to the United States as much as those Americans who were getting their first view of a Soviet juggling star. "I am collecting videotapes that will be very interesting for my colleagues in the Soviet Union," he explained when the Moscow Circus appeared in Washington, D.C. "We don't have enough exposure to Western jugglers. I had never heard of Bobby May."

He was learning about street juggling as well, a form of entertainment not found in the Soviet Union. Though there are some amateur jugglers at village festivals, it is not a money-making proposition for them. Jugglers don't form clubs in the Soviet Union either, though juggling is sometimes practiced by amateur devotees of circus clubs there.

Popovich's growing collection of videotapes and souvenirs from new fans were in part the benefit of glasnost. "We get to travel abroad more often now," he said. "There's less regulation. We come and go as we want and can get closer to the people in countries we visit. " The new freedom for Soviet circus performers let Popovich visit Brian Dube's manufacturing shop in New York City and receive visits from scores of jugglers after his shows.

"It's hard to find people to make juggling equipment in the Soviet Union," he said. He bought some balls and rings at Dube's shop in New York and was to pick them up at the end of the tour.

In the Soviet Union, his father, Alex Popovich, makes most of his equipment. The 74-year-old Alex usually serves as Gregor's assistant in the ring, but he was not up for this long tour. Alex Popovich, a gentleman juggler himself, taught his son much about the art. His own act included balancing a gramaphone while juggling six records.

Gregor said other heros of his youth were Alexander Kiss and the horseback juggler Olhivikov.

Popovich's first United States tour was not his first tour outside of the Soviet Union. He has won medals and acclaim for his skill at circus festivals in Monte Carlo, Paris and Havana, and was a guest artist at the 1985 European juggling convention in Brussels.

This trip was somewhat different from those in the past, however, because he was traveling for the first time with a wife. On March 20, Popovich married Isolda Abakovi, a member a high-wire act that was also part of the Moscow Circus US tour troupe.