Anthony Gatto, now 16 years old, is working at the Landmark Hotel in Las Vegas and still gaining control over greater and greater numbers of juggled objects. His on­stage performance is impressive enough, but Anthony and his father, Nick, are working toward even higher numbers of objects in practice.

 

Anthony will be at the IJA convention in Baltimore this summer to receive the IJA's first Award of Excellence. The board of directors created the award to recognize individuals who have demonstrated ability in, and dedication to, the art of juggling that has clearly established them as an international leader in the field.

 

The board voted Gatto as the first recipient in light of his accomplishments thus far, and because the Baltimore con­vention will mark a homecoming of sorts for him. Before moving to Las Vegas several years ago, the Gatto family lived in Ellicott City, Md., just a few miles from the downtown Baltimore convention site.

 

Anthony, who set all current IJA individual numbers records and won the US Nationals Championship at the 1986 convention in San Jose, is even more accomplished now.

His stage show at the Landmark begins with five balls. He does back crosses, an overhead cascade with multiplex variations, bounces one on his head while juggling four, and does a five ball shower.

 

He then does a flawless seven ball cascade and half-shower.

With five rings he does pirouettes, half-turns, side throws and pancake throws. He picks up a sixth, juggles them and then catches them on the hook of a prop he balances on his head.

 

He juggles seven rings for a moment, then goes down to three by putting the others under his arms, between his legs, over his head and spinning one on his right leg. He then takes them from storage and builds back up to seven. He also does eight briefly.

He does three clubs with impressive kickups, then three clubs and a ball with several interesting combinations. He does five clubs with a half turn, full pirouette and back crosses. He does seven clubs quickly, then finishes with five torches, including back crosses.

 

Off stage, Gatto is leading an almost­normal teenage life. He was enrolled in a Las Vegas high school last year, but has opted to pursue his studies through correspondence courses that his mother, Barbara Gatto, faithfully administers every morning.

 

Juggler's World caught up with Anthony in the back room of the family home in Las Vegas, where his many IJA medals and trophies from other entertainment festivals are displayed. We are pleased to share the interview with our readers:

 

JW: What's your practice regimen in Las Vegas these days?

AG: In the morning it's about 20 minutes, when I practice a lot of the harder stuff. Then I warm up backstage before the show for a while every night.

 

JW: Are there any props you're practic­ing, but don't perform now?

AG: Not really. A ball and a mouthstick a little, but pretty much everything I do, I do on stage.

 

JW: What tricks are you trying in practice that you're not doing in the act?

AG: Well, 11 and 12 rings and 8 and 9 clubs. I've never done 12 rings because there are so many curtains at the Landmark. I can do 6 in each hand fine, but to line them up between the curtains is hard. There are so many curtains, and each throw doesn't go that well. If I had the space I'd probably be able to flash it and do it in a while.

 

JW: How about with 11?

AG: I've gotten an 11 flash a couple of times. We haven't really tried juggling it yet. I wish I could. Again, if I had height..

 

JW: And the 10 balls?

AG: We just started working on juggles instead of flashes. I think I've gotten it around twice before, but I catch them pretty often now on the flash.

 

JW: Catching them is the problem?

AG: The toughest things are getting them started and catching them at the end. I use the same size ball, but use a smaller numbers club. Then with rings, I use a holster for the last two.

 

JW: Nick said you picked up on seven torches quickly, even though you had never juggled torches before.

AG: It was after I broke my finger late last year. Two weeks after I got my cast off I  started juggling torches. It didn't take but a couple weeks to get up to seven since I could already do seven clubs. I like torches. I do five in the act and it gets the audience excited. The problem with seven in practice is I get so tired of holding them up. It's a different spin too, because of the flame. I've got to throw them a little harder to make them spin.