Championships

 

Individuals

The act and information about Individuals Championship winner Tony Duncan appears in the overview story in this issue. Here's a rundown on other acts which appeared.

 

Silver Medal: Brian Patz, 18, of Albuquerque, N.M., was happy to finish second in his first IJA Individuals Championship, following five years of Juniors competition in which he finished as high as second on two occasions. "I knew it was going to be a jump in going to the seniors," he said, "not so much in technique as in polish and relating to the crowd." One of the highlights of Patz's act was passing one club behind his back as he cascaded five. He also did three and four clubs, five and seven balls, three boxes and five and seven rings. With five rings he did pancake throws and flats. With five balls he did a five ball multiplex shower, a five ball five high pirouette and attempted a seven ring color change. Patz has just finished high school and will attend a junior college in Albuquerque in the fall. He hopes to juggle professionally for a living. As usual, Patz had a large cheering section in the audience. His entire family, including mom, dad and four brothers, made the drive from Albuquerque to support him. They have all attended the past seven IJA festivals.

 

Bronze Medal: Third place finisher was Martin Mall from Osnabreuck, Germany, who won big costume points for a flashy black outfit with blazing red accents. He worked only with diabolo, doing moves both with and without hand­sticks. He showed the American audience many different variations of suicides and grinds with one and two, as well as 10 solid tosses with three diabolos. The audience reacted to his act, as well as that of Duncan, with a standing ovation. Mall has only juggled for 2-1/2 years, and this is his first IJA festival. He was a featured performer in the opening show at this summer's European festival in Hagen as well. The 20-year-old choreographed his own routine, and a friend wrote and recorded the music. He is currently working civil service as an alternative to military service.

 

Others: Charlie Peachock of Kent, Ohio, dressed in black and white to accent his white props, began with three balls and picked up a fourth. off the floor. He did five in a shower, then in a cascade with shoulder throws and half pirouettes. He began a five ring juggle with one balanced on his face, did a full pirouette under three tossed high, and finished five with a pulldown. He did a six ring breakdown, and finished that with a pulldown. He juggled three clubs, pirouetting under a single spin, and also juggled four and five clubs.

 

Christian Hare! of Montreal demonstrated his extensive movement training in doing hat tricks, and also got points for flashy costuming and a very odd prop case. He juggled three balls, did head rolls and neck catches, and also did three and four clubs.

 

Jay Gilligan of Arcadia, Ohio, began sitting on stage dressed in black with his back to the audience and nine differently colored silicone balls arranged beside him on a candlestick-type prop stand. He adopted a menacing attitude and juggled to heavy metal music. His worked with up to seven balls with a high degree of skill, showing variations of multiplex throws and bounce tricks. He concluded with a seven ball lift bounce.

 

Jeff Taveggia of Orlando, Fla., demonstrated a stage act that he performs mostly on cruise ships. He began with three clubs, and worked up to a five club cascade while posed on one knee. He did hat tricks with a derby, then a routine with hat, ball and club. He spun two balls, worked with a ball and mouthstick and showed his ver­sion of "the big trick," spinning a hoop on one leg, a ball on a mouths tick, and juggling four rings. He finished with a seven ring juggle and pulldown over his head.