Rochais, 21, has a lot of practice with batons. She began majorette twirling at age five, then learned three object juggling at age eight. She first encountered other jugglers at a convention when she was 13, and by that time had spent three years working her way up from four to six batons. She competed in the Festival de Demain in Paris at 1989, finished high school and began applying herself more seriously to her juggling. No one else in her family, including three older brothers, ever cared to learn even a three-object cascade, but supported her in her pursuit.

 

Despite her long history with juggling, festivals are somewhat of a novelty with Rochais. She has never attended a European convention, and this was her first-ever major festival. She chose to come to Las Vegas to learn more about juggling and to see America. She arrived a couple of days early in Las Vegas to see the sights. Her reaction? "lcroyable!"

 

She was understandably pleased with her achievement and the $1,000 first prize. "Every artist has doubts about their work, and this reassures me in my choices," she said. She also won the Cascade Juggling Club's "Woman of the Year" award later in the week. She's hoping to make a career of juggling, beginning in circuses or cabarets.

 

With the 1995 lJA title secured, Rochais let audiences see another side of her personality in the Cascade of Stars Public Show Thursday evening, when she played a comic rag doll who manipulated batons with no less skill, but a lot less dignity, than her earlier character.

 

Second place in the Individual Championships went to Jay Gilligan, last year's Juniors winner, who presented a highly technical act with clubs and rings performed by an emotionless character that Jay created by contemplating the idea of gum chewing. "The idea of chewing gum was a costume choice," he said, "because it's one of the things you're absolutely not supposed to do on stage. It's a bold choice and a good format for showing tricks, because the character doesn't care about what he's doing. This character doesn't care if he drops, so the audience doesn't either."

 

Gilligan called special attention to his gum by balancing a club on his chin while he chewed, and showed other technical skills by pirouetting from a five club cascade with all five thrown high.

 

The bronze medalist was Jochen Schell, a professional performer from Germany who was stylishly dressed, intense and highly accurate in presenting devil sticks and up to three diabolos. He was also attending his first IJA festival, and didn't come with the idea of competing. However, he did want to present his work in some forum, and when he and fellow expert diaboloist Donald Grant realized they could not both be in the public show; Schell decided to enter the competition. The work he presented to the IJA audience was the exact two-part act he performs in night clubs and circuses around Europe.