BY BILL GIDUZ

 

Five tennis rackets wouldn't be that much harder to juggle than five clubs,

says Serge Percelly, if you didn't have to worry about them spinning as they turn.

 

Because a club has an even diameter at every point along its length, it can spin in the air and not make a difference. But a spinning tennis racket in a five racket pattern, like a pancaked ring in a ring cascade, takes up entirely too much room!

 

Percelly, who has been perfecting his five racket cascade for the past 12 years, keeps them straight and true show after show after show. He's doing it now for the first time in America, working with this year's edition of The Big Apple Circus. The show played twice daily at Lincoln Center from late October through early January, and will tour the country from March 20 through August 1.

 

The circus, now in its 16th season and playing under a 1,700-seat big top, celebrates "Carnevale In Venice." The various acts comprise a commedia dell'arte troupe, with Percelly appearing just before intermission to bring the crowd to its feet with his high-speed act.

 

"I come in blindfolded like we're playing a game of hide-and-seek," he explained. "They spin me around and I act like I'm trying to find them. I grab my racket and two sticks instead, they take the blindfold off and go into my act."

 

His act took its current form about four years ago. He begins his eight minutes in the center ring by devil sticking a tennis racket for about a minute. He puts away the hand sticks and does two balls and a racket for a short while. "Then I go a bit crazy with three rackets," Percelly said. "I like to run around fast, and juggle to make it look faster than it is."

 

He does a lot of double and triple spins, kickups and pirouettes, finishing with one, two and three pirouettes. Without a pause, he picks up a fourth racket to do a routine with triple spins, kickups, splits and behind the back throws. He ends four with constant behind the back throws, and fi­nally the music stops so that the crowd can acknowledge the show so far. He then picks up a fifth racket and does a cascade and some under the leg throws. He finishes the cascade by throwing three high and laying the other two quickly on the floor. He catches the three in a cascade and leaves the ring juggling every throw under his legs.

 

Percelly uses Volkl tennis rackets and receives sponsorship from that German company. The rackets are unaltered except that he removes the original grip, which is too large for his hands, and replaces it with special white tape. That's to match the rest of the costume, which a Nov. 8, 1993 New Yorker magazine article described as "Elvis white."

 

The New Yorker article also said of his juggling, "...he does it with such astonishing fervor that he is far and away the star of the show."

 

The Big Apple's associate artistic director, Dominique Jando, agreed with that assessment, "Serge's energy, personality and charisma in the ring are very important, we need people who can make contact with the audience. He gets a standing ovation from the audience almost every night."

 

Percelly said he's surprised and pleased at the audience's reaction to his act. "Americans really want to enjoy themselves when they go somewhere, and you can feel that," he said. "In Europe it's harder to make them open up, but here they're ready to enjoy themselves."

 

He has always admired Kris Kremo's showmanship, and tries to mimic that sense of good fun. He said, "i try to have a big ball in the ring and enjoy myself as much as I can. I think the audience notices that and enjoys it themselves."

 

It's a happy time for Percelly, who feels at age 28 that he's finally reaching the top echelon of performers. He grew up in Switzerland, living with a grandmother while his parents toured their clown act with various circuses. He began juggling at age 14, practicing alone under the stands as his father and mother worked in the

ring. His early involvement with competitive tennis led to his signature juggling trick. He was familiar with the sport and its equipment, and looked to rackets as something new and different as he began to craft an act of his own.

 

In 1981 when the family was touring with the Boswell-Wilkie Circus in South Africa, he did his first performance in the ring. He has since performed with Circus Krone in Germany and Circus Benneweis in Denmark. Most recently he worked with Circus Knie in Switzerland, at a club in Monte Carlo, and he spent 16 months at the Lido in Paris. Following his stint in America, he's already signed on for four more years with the Lido beginning in November.

 

"After 12 years I'm finally at the point where I can really enjoy it," he said. "Before I didn't know how the act was go­ing or where I was in the business, I was concerned all the time about climbing that ladder. Now that I'm pretty well known, I can relax and not practice like a madman anymore like I used to. I keep working to keep it steady, but I have time to do things I didn't have time to do before."

 

The Big Apple's Jando said the circus has had its eye on Percelly for many years. "We saw him for the first time when he did the Paris youth circus festival in 1978, with his mother as a partner! He was good looking and had good presentation, but was not of the class we needed at the time. We followed his career and noted that he always got good reviews. Then he landed at Circus Knie, which is recognized as one of the best shows in Europe, and he was the real star of that show. We started considering him seriously for a future show."

 

Negotiations with Percelly's agent paved the way for his presence in the United States with a circus that has a history of hiring only the best - Francis Brunn, the Dynamotion Jugglers (Barrett Felker and Jim Strinka), the Gizmo Guys (Felker and Allan Jacobs), Michael Moschen, Vladimir Tsarkov from Russia and the Qiang Brothers from China. Percelly is not the first tennis racket juggler in the Big Apple ring, either. One of the Qiang Brothers did seven rackets solo!

 

Here's where you can see Percelly and the Big Apple perform!

     Brooklyn, N.Y.                 March 28 - April 3

     Boston, Mass.                April 7 - May 8

     Queens, N.Y.                   May 12 - 23

     Staten Island, N.Y.          May 25 - 31

     Bronx, N.Y.                      June 1 - 7

     Brookville, N.Y.                June 8 - 14

     Great Barrington, Mass. July 5 - 10

     Charlestown, R.I.              July 12 - 17

     Hanover, N.H.                   July 19 - 24

     Shelburne, Vt.                   July 26 - 31