A panel of IJA elders, Benny Reehl, Avner Eisenberg and Sam Kilbourne, convened a workshop to talk about "Future Opportunities" for others who feel their increasing age. Veteran performers Reehl and Kilbourne have now topped age 50, and Avner is fast approaching that number.

 

The workshop focused on how you can do less work but get paid more, with the goal of spending more time with family and other things you enjoy. Reehl said, "The road kills, so we are all looking for ways to use our talents without having to do 250 shows per year."

 

Personally, he has developed a show for corporate and educational audiences entitled "Juggling the Factors of Change." In it he uses juggling and magic to point up organizational issues for corporations, helping workshop participants view themselves as "jugglers" with many responsibilities in their hands each day. "I try to show them what a professional juggler can teach them about dealing with this inevitable stress." By doing so for top-paying clients like Fortune 500 companies, Reehl says he has reduced his own stress level considerably and gets to spend more time with his grandchildren.

 

He urged jugglers to advance their theatrical skills along with their technical skills from the very beginning of their careers. He said, "Many jugglers get involved with objects because they can't connect with people in other ways, but it's difficult to develop those skills later in life."

 

Avner advised people to establish a home base, practice aikido for its loving philosophy, and study theatre in order to learn to develop a character.

 

Kilbourne agreed that performers should increase their versatility, develop

other skills in order to appeal to different audiences, and to learn to do stupid things while wearing a suit. Besides his variety performances, Kilbourne still practices law part-time, and has found himself much in demand as a performer at meetings of law groups.

 

Randy Judkins, another "elder" who was not at this particular workshop, but who emceed the Cascade of Stars show, has also moved into the corporate workshop market. Judkins has become a "humorist consultant," talking to corporate audiences in a one-to-three-hour seminar entitled "Here's To Your Laugh Life" about the benefits of humor in life. He gives them a demonstration of his own unique brand of comedy as well. "The main objective is to get them to take their jobs seriously, but take themselves lightly," he said.

 

Two other presenters on the corporate circuit, Michael Gelb and Tony Buzan, also presented a workshop, and set up shop at a bookstore on Church Street to sell autographed copies of their new collaboration, Lessons From The Art of Juggling. The pair have spent the past 15 or more years as corporate consultants, using juggling as a metaphor to help "change the culture around us."

 

Gelb said, "Corporations desperately need to learn how to juggle as a metaphor for their business. The result of our work is a new emphasis on human potential in business, and that's the positive side of capitalism."

 

Jugglers attending the Cascade of Stars Public Show, produced by Dan Holzman in the beautifully restored Flynn Theatre in downtown Burlington, were greeted by a stage full of young concert musicians, The Vermont Youth Orchestra. Balloons sailed through the theatre in the pre-show excitement as an audience of almost 1,200 people found their seats.

 

The show opened with the Jon Held dancers, a group of a dozen friends who had been practicing most of the week, who performed a well-received club swinging and ball juggling routine as the orchestra played Khabolevski and some Slavonik Dances.

 

Emcee Randy Judkins introduced himself as "Sunny Day," the ultimate resident of Maine, and taught the audience some appropriate Down East expressions to utter while watching juggling routines.

 

Bob Cates from Hamilton, Ontario, who was on his way to Lithuania for an Intervarsity Christian Fellowship mission, performed a skillful diabolo routine, and David Deeble did silly stunts with a balloon, dustbuster and scarf.

 

Anastassia Bagrova, one of the Russian performers with Circus Smirkus, did a foot juggling routine, and one-armed Casey Boehmer came on stage to attempt four and five rings. The team of Clockwork, Jack Kalvan and Rick Rubenstein painted a goofy picture of an audience volunteer while passing clubs and a magic marker, then Peter Davison showed a new routine involving a pole and a ring. The pole broke in half to became two sticks, and Davison showed original moves that drew a standing ovation. Kosen Kagami reprised his Club Renegade act described elsewhere in this article, and the curtain dosed for intermission.

 

The second half of the show opened with Judkins clowning around with the orchestra. Dave Finnigan, representing The Cascade Jugglers, presented the Woman of the Year Award, and Judkins gave festival organizer Ginny Rose a bouquet and public thanks for her hard work.

 

Toby Ayer performed his ball juggling and acrobatic piece described elsewhere. Michael Menes twirled and juggled up to five rings, then the lights went out and he did club swinging with flashlight clubs. Jay Pittman, the 1993 Intermediate silver medalist, did ball spinning and Tony Duncan showed his comic skills by enlisting volunteers to hold a slack rope while he juggled sharp objects on it.

 

The show concluded with an extended silent clowning set from special guest Avner Eisenberg. He came on stage as a custodian on a sweeping mission, but complicated his task by spilling cigarettes and matches, losing the head of his push broom and having interminable hat trouble. He played with his body parts, imitated a rooster and made a huge production of balancing a feather. He proved himself a master water spitter, did hat tricks and balanced ladders of increasing size. He led the audience in various choreographed sounds, played with a volunteer, imitated Richard Nixon and ate a huge stack of napkins. Needless to say, such a short description can hardly do justice to his comic genius, but hopefully demonstrates the breadth of his imagination!

 

In classic storybook fashion, the weather remained clear and cool all week long. An increasingly large number of jugglers during the week dropped their prop bags on a grassy traffic island in front of the gym instead of going inside. Rain threatened the Games Saturday afternoon, but held off until the Cascade of Stars show that night. As if to issue a sad goodbye, it fell in torrents early Sunday as jugglers packed their

bags for home.