SIRCUS
Expands This Year for More Fun
by
Erica Kelch
About
175 people ran away to join the
SIRCUS in early October in Cleveland. The SIRCUS (St.
Ignatius/Rubber City Ultimate Symposium) enticed participants not
only with excellent facilities and newly extended hours,
but also with the new and improved city of Cleveland. The Great
Lakes Science Center, Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame, the Harborfront
Rapid Tour and beautiful downtown
shopping centers were all close to the juggling location.
SIRCUS
was previously a one-day event,
but this year the festival ran all weekend.
Jugglers began arriving Friday from Columbus, Cincinnati, Rochester,
Erie, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago and even Madison. The
first
night was all open juggling in the gym and video watching during
breaks. Festival t-shirts
and beginner beanbags were sold at the registration desk, and the
Cleveland
Clubheads table had tourist information and fliers about club
meetings. Two local TV
stations sent camera crews. Jugglers listened to
the Cleveland Indians playoff game on the PA,
and everyone broke out into cheers when our team won. After closing
time, several of us
went to the Great lakes Brewery in Ohio City.
Juggling
resumed Saturday and the number
of jugglers grew throughout the morning. Prop shoppers browsed the
Todd Smith Company
table, whose factory is located in Cleveland. The number of
Fergie Bag owners grew, and
people made a killing at the used prop sale. Bob Whitcomb and
a friend from Columbus
emptied out their basements and sold much of what they'd brought.
More
television cameras and newspaper
reporters arrived. A nearby grade school
juggling
club, the Windsor Jugglers, arrived in
their matching yellow t-shirts. Advisor Kathi Mileti and volunteer
"self-proclaimed juggling resource person" Madelyn
Dinnerstein
reported that the 30 kids were inspired by the
pros to start working on their own new tricks. Unicyclists enjoyed
racing on the upstairs
track that encircled the gym. Bill Dietrich coached Chris on eight
and nine ball numbers juggling.
Andrew
Johnson, advisor to the St. Ignatius High School Circus
Club, announced the day's playoff game score inning-by-inning over
the PA. At 2 p.m. there were breakouts on beginning and advanced
diabolos and devil sticks. Charlie Peachock held a three club
demo/workshop.
Then
the games began! There were a few rounds of three ball Simon Says,
won by Aaron Bonk and Mark Peachock. Peachock and Rob Vancko won the
club balance Simon Says. An
exciting round of club gathering attracted 22 entrants, and Scott
Slesnick set what is believed to be
a new world record with a whopping 53 clubs! (Second Aaron Bonk w.
43, third - Jeffrey Marxen & Quentin Kresser w. 41, fourth -
Laura Provance & Erica Kelch w. 39, fifth - Ken Payson w. 34)
Then Michael Ferguson, last year's champ, again won the fiveball
endurance. Semi-finalist was Otto Mann.
The
open stage show featured Darin
Marriott, Heather Hackett-Brinegar and Matt Jergens from the OSU
Juggling Club doing an impressive act that included line passing with
Darrin lying on the ground, nicely done numbers passing and a
finale with two on unicycles and one on a balancing ball.
Otto
Mann did his unique act "Balls and Cones" with fancy three,
four; five and six ball routines utilizing traffic cones in different
ways. He finished by juggling the cones. "Biga-Bob"
(Whitcomb), who was trying to
launch a new career, did his "Rocket Launch," Scott
Slesnick did his trademark tennis ball and cans tricks. Then
Mark and Charlie Peachock, looking sharp in their formal
juggling outfits, wowed the crowd with their polished
stunts like leap-frogging while juggling clubs, seven
clubs back-to-back,
eight and nine club passing, Charlie's three, four and five
clubs, three, four and five balls by Mark, passing five rings
behind-the-back to each other, and a nine ring finish.
A
raffle of videos, t-shirts, bean bags and clubs followed the show.
Pizza was served and people snuck in a bit more juggling until the gym
closed. About 25 of us headed out for some socializing at a nearby
Spanish restaurant.
Juggling
resumed on Sunday at the Cleveland Clubheads' regular meeting spot - a
large aerobics room with a mirrored wall and high ceilings at an
athletic club. After five more hours of juggling, folks headed home
saying that they planned to meet again at the next
Ohio festival in Kettering.
(For
information on next year's festival, contact the Cleveland
Clubheads.)
