Holz told me later that being in front of so many fellow jugglers had given him such stage fright that he failed to execute cleanly several of his most exacting juggling moves. Yet even with periodic drops the transitions and overall structure involved such exquisite and highly original sequencing that the majority of the audience clearly appreciated their enormous difficulty.

 

Imagine going from standard head rolls to abruptly looking the crowd full in the face with the ball standing squarely in the center of your scalp. Add to this a quizzical look amounting to "Huh? Where did it go?!" Then he has the incredible control to quickly turn his head first to the left and suddenly dart it back around to the right, as if to surprise the vanished ball in its hiding place. All the while the inanimate subject of all these furtive glances sat perched almost mockingly right on top of its seeker's head. Control combined with character, topped off by such an accurately tossed top hat that after a double spin it simultaneously landed on his head and trapped the mischievous ball beneath it.

 

Finally, with a full foot extension reminiscent of Francis Brunn (and a wing span all his own!), Holz tucked his head forward, snatched the ball from the hollow of the hat in mid-descent and back­handed the hat brim, causing it to turn another 180-degrees to land flush on his right foot. As the piano struck its resolving chord, Holz triumphantly foot-flipped the hat high above his head and, leaping, speared it in mid-air.

 

Clearly it was a tough act to follow! Fortunately, Foolsproof (Rob and Linda Peck) for once really were foolproof in a flawless, but considerably less demanding skit of staged marital strife incorporating run-arounds, hat switches and prop takeaways.

 

Next up was Alexi, a Soviet standout devoting himself to the devil stick. Alexi was smooth and stylish with the standard centerstick manipulations, then progressively interwove more unique and increasingly difficult variations to culminate in a brilliantly accurate dou­ble devil stick finish.

 

In a delightful contrast to Alexi's unbending, almost martial music, Cindy Marvell's artfully choreographed three club routine was set to the title track of the musical "Cheek to Cheek." With Fred Astaire's nimble spirit emanating lyrically, Marvel\'s airy three club patterns perfectly matched the music while her seemingly effortless execution belied their technical complexity.