A woman who can cascade six batons effortlessly?

Surprise! An 11-year-old who juggles and prances around stage like he was born there? Surprise again! A rubber­faced clown with a goofy shock of hair on his otherwise bald head who juggles with a hat rack? A hilarious surprise!

The IJA annual festival is rarely a predictable affair. This year's event in Las Vegas provided attendees with unexpected moments throughout the week, gathering an impressive cadre of performers who exhibited an exciting range of style and skill. Some left with prizes and awards, but all departed with the admiration of many workaday jugglers who felt honored to have shared a memorable experience with them.

The site of the festival in the heart of "Glitter Gulch" meant that jugglers regularly working in Las Vegas were able to attend. They included Jean Besnard, Rudy Cardenas, Dick Franco, Anthony Gatto, Michael Goudeau, Joel Heidtman, Pat McGuire, Anatoli and Vladik Miagkostoupov, Gregory Popovich, Steve Ragatz, and the Qian Brothers. Two other big-time performers whose names appear regularly near the top of the gigantic casino marquis signs, Tommy Smothers and Penn Gilette, dropped by as well. Smothers sat unobtrusively in the crowd enjoying the yo-yo championships, while magician Gilette reclaimed his performing roots by passing clubs in the Hacienda Hotel juggling hall one evening.

It was a delightfully international festival, also. A quintet of German jugglers - Soren Neesak, Jochen Schell, Jens Thorwachter, Volker Meier and Martin Mall - showcased their artistry to cap Awards Night. Scottish diabolomeister Donald Grant astounded people all week with his skill and endeared himself to them with his affable nature. The Japanese daikagura master who won last year's Founders Award, Kosen Kagami, was back to show his skills rolling objects on an open umbrella and balancing a ball on a mouthstick.

The week began with a buffet banquet and presentation of awards to five outstanding jugglers. (Everyone else was presented with IJA logo-imprinted club-shaped wooden duck­call squeakers as party favors!) Rudy Cardenas received the IJA Historical Achievement Award for almost 50 year's prominence as an international juggler. Dan Holzman received the first-ever Bobby May Award for professional aid to others in their careers. Eddie Johnson, who served as the IJA's first-ever vice president, was named an Honorary Life Member. Myron Wilcox received the Education Award for teaching efforts that also benefit his church. And Dick Franco received the Award of Excellence in recognition of his status as one of the art's top current stars.

Following this reverent acknowledgement of well-known personalities were four days and nights of excitement in discovering those who may be likewise enshrined in the future.

Speaking of which... it didn't take jugglers long to notice Francoise Rochais, who attracted attention in the Matador Arena juggling hall practicing six batons. She cascaded them easily and steadily for long stretches, and the rumor mill instantly tagged her as a contender in the championships. She juggled four with a pirouette after every four throws, switched easily from synch to asynch in juggling six, and got about 20 throws of seven in practice, using a velcro holster to hold one at the beginning.

She lived up to the early billing on Wednesday evening, winning the Senior Championship with a crowd-pleasing act that combined an elegant Bo-Peep costume, delicate music, ballet steps and flawless juggling with batons that culminated in 39 tosses in each hand of six. The effect was classically Romantic, evoking a young woman strolling through the fields picking flowers. She was only the second woman ever to win the lJA's premier championships event, following Cindy Marvells win in 1989. Francoise Noblesse, aristic director at the circus school in Amiens, France, where Rochais works, choreographed the routine and was in Las Vegas with her.