Showcase Competitions Make Up In Quality for Lack of Quantity

 

The lJA Senior Individual and Team Championships in Fargo were notable

both for their lack of quantity and admirable quality. Fritz Grobes gold medal act in the individuals is detailed in the cover article about him, but his supporting cast for the evening -Jill Westover and Eric Wenokor - was also highly skilled and entertaining.

 

A silver medal was awarded to 23-year­old Jill Westover, a four-time gold medalist world champion in US Twirling Association three-baton competitions. To allow for higher throws, Westover performed on the floor in front of the judges rather than on the stage. She combined juggling, gymnastics and twirling moves to manipulate up to five batons with moves that sent them soaring almost to touch the auditorium's 60­foot ceiling.

 

Westover has competed in twirling since she was seven, but only began juggling two years ago when she took a juggling phys ed class at the University of Portland. She said that she now hopes to work hard on her juggling so that she can earn a living as a performer, which she believes is easier to do as a juggler than as a baton twirler. She and her mother, Joyce, drove three days from Portland to attend, but Jill said it was worth the drive. "People here are really inspiring," she said. "The twirling takes a lot of hard work and jugglers here seem to appreciate that more than most people I know."

 

Eric Wenokor presented a highly entertaining and hypnotic bronze-medal act with three and four balls, juggling and bouncing them, crossing and uncrossing his arms in perfect time to a melodic soundtrack. He has been juggling for 19 years, and performed in America and Europe for many years, but only moved back to this country in 1992 and said he had not performed publicly at all in six years. Fargo was his first IJA festival since SUNY-Purchase, and the first time he has ever competed. (He did reveal, however, that he won the gladiator and long-distance passing competitions at the European festival in Saintes.)

 

Wenokor, a 33-year-old computer consultant, was moved to enter the competitions during practice sessions in his basement. "I have a very mathematical mind and think of tricks in terms of numbers," he said. "I had never bounced balls at all until two years ago, but began thinking of it in terms of passing with another person, because they come back when you let them go. I just started working with that concept and got fascinated by developing tricks on my own. The enjoyment of juggling for me is creating."

 

He continued, "About six months ago I started coming up with so many tricks I wanted to present, I figured the best way to do so was to come up with a routine and present it here. I'm actually very surprised I'm in the championships because I don't really enjoy getting on stage. I just want to present it, finish with these tricks in my mind and move on to whatever I can develop next."

 

The audience, which included his wife, Conni, and 18-month-old daughter, Rebecca, gave him a standing ovation for his creative moves and smooth choreography.

 

The winner of the Teams Championships was Benji Hill and Chuck Gunter, who achieved their goal of being the first team to win back-to­back championships. The

pair had been working together on cruise ships for the past five months, and presented a crisp, well-choreographed routine of clubs and rings that earned them a silver medal.

 

Hill and Gunter won a silver medal in Montreal, and said before the Fargo event that they hoped to win a gold this time. They presented some difficult and precise eight club ultimate passing, five club takeaways and 10 ring passing in that quest, but the judges were not convinced it was gold medal material. Gunter commented, "The five club exchanges are not something you can always do, it's fickle and both performers have to be right on. We spent a couple of hours every day since January practicing just the five club technique. After a year it's comfortable in practice, but it would take another year to be comfortable in performance. We put our eggs in that basket just because it was something that no one else is doing and we wanted to be the ones to do it."

 

It turned out to be their finale performance after two years as a team. Hill left Fargo to return to the cruise ship circuit with his new partner, Robin Chestnut, while the 18-year­old Gunter retired to Panama City, Fla., for surgery to repair tendon damage in his arm.

 

Hill said the competitions provide motivation for him to keep practicing. He commented, "I like the competitions and want to come back and do a solo routine sometime, as well as encouraging others to enter. It's a constant challenge to me. I know that without the competitions I wouldn't keep practicing, and then my act wouldn't develop any further."

 

The only other team entered was the Off­beat Jugglers from Minneapolis (Rob Kobus and Dave Linton), who were attending their first IJA festival. They presented a talking comedy six club and knife act in jester costumes that did not receive a medal. The pair met at the University of Minnesota Juggling Club in 1988 and have been performing at renaissance fairs and corporate events since that time. Kobus is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in instructional technology, and Linton works as a library professional.

 

The championships audience also enjoyed the antics and stunts of emcees David Deeble and Dan Bennett. Bennett did a comedy bowling ball kickup to head rolls, and Deeble perfomed with hats, coins, a dust buster vacuum and ping pong balls. There was also a short skit by those crazy shower guys, Myron Pauls and Paul Babey of Winnipeg, who perform as "No Strings Attached."