Festival Reports:

 

British Jugglers Gather in Bath

by Andy Robinson

 

The second British juggling convention took place over the Easter holiday in Bath. More than 500 jugglers basked in glorious, unexpected sunshine and took part in games outside the cathedral.

 

It had seemed as if the first British convention might also be the last. No one was keen on taking up the burden of staging another. However, the Bath and Bristol jugglers accepted the job with only 10 weeks to spare, and did a superb job. The sports hall for open juggling was one of the best in Britain, and the spring sunshine allowed even more room by encouraging. people to juggle outside.

 

The public show was held Easter Sunday, the first day of the convention. Headlining were Ra Ra Zoo (back from an African tour and preparing for a trip to Latin America) with a superb display of acrobatics. Charlie and Haggis represented the organizing jugglers with their polished seven club routine, starting with all the clubs in a pile at Charlie's feet and building slowly and comically with stops for built-in drops. There were some musical interludes from the Bath Buns, and a solo juggling spot from Rex Hornsby, an American whose routine included head rolls with a bowling ball and a somersault over a member of the audience to catch three clubs he'd thrown as high as the ceiling allowed.

 

An unexpected star was born in the shape of Joe from Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire. He made his debut at age 75 with a balancing act. He balanced a small football on a carving knife held in his mouth, and slowly topped it with a tower of wine glasses. He also caught a ball thrown over his shoulder on a mouth stick, flicked the ball into the air, bounced it on his head and both shoulders and then caught it on the mouthstick again.

 

The parade through the historic spa city was excellent. Almost everyone participated, because the organlzers didn't tell anyone where the games would be except . td say, "At the end of the parade!" A Samba band led the throng to the foot of the cathedral for joyous games.

 

The site of next year's British convention was discussed at a business meeting, and Sheffield was chosen in part because the juggling group there is long-established and well known.

 

Karamazov Brothers Highlight Midwest Festival

by Paul Kyprie

 

About 175 people participated in the Fifth Annual Midwest Juggling Arts Festival in Ann Arbor, Mich. The highlight of this year's event was attendance by most jugglers at a performance by the Flying Karamazov Brothers. When the Karamazovs noted the presence of a large group of jugglers attending the performance there was a very loud cheer. This seemed to surprise everyone else in the theatre, including the Karamazovs!

 

The overall level of skill demonstrated by this year's participants was higher than ever. Lots of jugglers did five clubs. Not to be outdone, Jack Kalven was working on six and seven! The six club pattern was triple spin-double spin. Rick Rubenstien did Mills Mess on the back of his hands, as well as with one arm behind the back.

 

Chuck Marquette performed a direct transfer from a regular size unicycle to a giraffe and back. Darren Bedford stood on a balcony and performed "around the world" with a 12-foot yo-yo string. Kevin Bowers and Carl Schenk rode a 10-foot unicycle. Bob Stonik was doing five and six ball multiplex starts behind the back. Aristide Abrahams, John Barry and Brian Wilder performed a feed on unicycles. Tom Miller, a.k.a. The Unicycle Doctor, examined a giraffe with a loose crank and assured the owner that it just needed a couple of spot welds.

Many festival goers enjoyed the wide variety of cycles that Miller brought along in his Uni-Bus.

 

There were several workshops throughout the afternoon. Jim Beals, Mike Brown and T.R. Loon led a jam session with the diabolo. Bill Fowle taught devil sticks, Paul Kyprie taught yo-yo and top spinning, and Dave Brichford taught unicycling. About 50 people took part in a three ball workshop led by Rick Rubenstien, while David Cain demonstrated advanced club juggling.

 

The only other structured activity was a spontaneous game of Combat. Bob Whitcomb and Al Eisenhour were the most frequent winners in a game that rivaled those seen at IJA conventions before it was banned there.

 

This year's festival had a special book raffle Friday night. The grand prize was a copy of "Juggling, The Art and Its Artists" by Karl-Heinz Ziethen. This and several other books were donated by Brian Dube. The Saturday open juggling session also ended with a prop raffle.

 

The party following the show was a gala affair. Many of the weary jugglers found a spot in front of the television and watched videos. Others chose to continue juggling in a racquetball court. Eddie Pont and Ken Krakut passed clubs with Karamazov Brothers Tim Furst and Paul Magid. Al Stanger and John Morgan performed some excellent close-up magic and demonstrated some juggling-type moves with cards. At 1:30 a.m. five large pizzas were delivered to the party, and lasted about five minutes.

 

Special thanks to Jim Beals, Mike Brown and ,other members of the University of Michigan Juggling Club and the Jugglers of Ann Arbor. March 2-4 1990 are the tentative dates for next year's event, so put it on your calendar now!