Fritz Grobe

 

JW: Are you implying that you have to defend your use of diabolos as a legitimate prop for the IJA championships?

FG: I've always felt that whatever you do in the competition, as long as it's technically good and artistically good, should be acceptable, regardless of the prop. That's why I think the Kapell system is good, it allows acts like mine to be considered. I could have done five clubs, but it just wasn't appropriate. I could have done some other prop in addition to the diabolo, but artistically and theatrically it would have been a disaster. I couldn't do anything but diabolos in sticking to my instincts about making it a satisfying experience for me and the audience.

 

I'm really pleased how it turned out because it sets a a good precedent, that doing what you're good at and making it a consistent whole is what matters. You don't have to get up and do every prop you can. It's not a demonstration, it's a performance, and it needs to make sense. For me that meant doing nothing but diabolos.

 

The snide comments are out there, but one of the things I wanted to do was shake things up a bit. Just because it's unconventional doesn't mean it's not difficult or worthy of consideration. It was nice to get some validation that it  was worth doing.

 

JW: What are your plans now?

FG: I'm heading for Europe to be a tourist and attend the European convention to see what they're doing with diabolos. That should be exciting. Everyone has a different style, and I love seeing other people treat props differently, the different approaches you can take. I've never seen anyone do three diabolos, and one of the guys at Leeds, Guy Heathcote, does three well. It happens to me a lot, as soon as I see someone do something I get an incredible drive to work on it. I started working on three this spring, but it's really hard. I stopped working on it before the festival, and decided not do it in the routine because even on a good day I only got it eight of ten times. I expect I'll work on it a lot in the. next few months to really get it to ten out often.

 

I'll spend a week in Scotland, some time in London and Paris, and try to find out where Jochem Schell is performing and check him out if it's not far, because he's close to God also from what I've seen him do with diabolos on video. He has such security with what he does, it's so clean and beautiful.

 

Then I'll return to Bloomington and start working on a one-man show. It'll be mostly based around the geeky character. I want to do 45 minutes or an hour, which is a frightening concept. But from the workshop I had with Avner this summer,.I got a sense of how to write it and from the competition I have a sense of how to train technically. Hopefully it'll all help me put together a show that I can make money with. The day after I was in the paper in Bloomington I got calls from three professional musicians who wanted to know if I wanted to do something with them. That was neat.

 

I also want to work hard on the diabolo. I want that seven minutes or so of top-notch routine just for myself. That means some dance classes and martial arts classes and working with a director, someone else since Steve Ragatz won't be around. Once the one-man show is up and functioning I'll see about doing projects with other people.

 

JW: Are you eventually going back to Bloomington?

FG: Yes. I'll be living in Steve and Lisa's house while they're in Las Vegas with Cirque du Soleil. I'll be taking over his studio, so it's going to be great. You just can't write material in a gym, it doesn't happen. I can imagine the stares I would have gotten if! had worked on my routine in a gym. It's that 11 p.m. ­ 2 a.m. period where you can be all by yourself that's the most productive because you're less inhibited and kind of goofy. I spend a lot of the day practicing the technique, but that only gets you so far, then it's time to learn to present the stuff.

 

JW: Tell us about the studio.

FG: It's a converted two story garage right outside the back door, a 15x24 footprint with 17 feet of ceiling. There's a couch under a loft at one end, a tv, a stereo, and all our props piled up on the side. We put in a nice floor and heat and air conditioning, so it's comfortable. On the walls we've got a posters from our ETC (Experimental Theatre Circus) show in late May, Antonio Bucci bouncing eight balls, Lotte Brunn, Cirque de Soleil, Ignatov and a whole mess of kites. The walls are also covered with marks and dents from flying things.