Festival Reviews

Mondo Jugglefest, Chapter 8: Fire and Ice by ]erry Martin 

Editor's note: Apparently, our on-the-spot reporter's brain froze solid, shattering into sparkly pink crystals before it made any cohesive sense out of Mondo8 (Minneapolis, February 7-9, 1997). Hope  you like kaleidoscopes... 

The Gym: Fake tattoo decals instead of gym passes; from a distance, everybody looks like they've got a big bug on their wrist (sure wish the guy who put it on his neck had chosen a different spot). Ample space for unicycles, combat, Wise Guys,  workshops and plenty of sweet club-passing. Fine T- shirts everywhere; great raffle (I make a mental note to buy more stuff from the vendors who contribute prizes). I bring several pounds of M & M's, in 24 colors never seen before (teal, flesh, black) in a clear plastic tackle-box rainbow of candy, free to one and all; somehow, they last until Sunday, when the deep purple ones are the first to disappear altogether. 

The Show: Pretty theater; ugly management. How is it possible to put together such a wonderful evening under such awful conditions? We get into the space three hours before curtain, instead of the full day we were originally promised; there's no heat backstage, and the lighting patches are spooky. I get to re-letter the marquee, and leaning off a tall ladder uses up all my adrenaline - at least I'm dead calm when I perform later. Erin Kasper, the theatrical goddess of juggling, manages to produce, direct and stage- manage - makes us look really good, too - but I can tell that it's a strain and that we'll need some heavy partying when this is over. 

Ready or not - believe it or not - we start on time. Jay Gilligan, John Rauser, Jon Poppele and Ochen Kaylan open with a scarf quartet, revving up the crowd; somewhere, Jugglebug is trembling. Tuey Wilson emcees, using spoons, hats, crackers, safety glasses, skateboard, a bent coathanger and most of his kids' toys. Leif Pettersen spins multiple soccer balls, and Jose el Diabolo (who?) flexes a lot. I do some magic and actually charm people with it(!). Jon Poppele returns to nail his club routine, and the Twin City Unicyclists make the stage smaller with 17 riders at once. What a great audience - "we'd like to take you home with us, we'd love to take you home..." 

Dave Walbridge does the stagehand stuff, perilously close to turning it into an act. Jay reprises his award-winning Rapid City three-ball piece, silver pants and all, but with big-bug-like fake tattoo gym-pass decals up and down his arms. Mick Lunzer's diabolo set is rock solid. John Rauser's lyrical five-ball piece really sings, and Ochen & Jay do a duet with unspun spinning balls. Paul Babey and Myron Pauls tickle the juggling audience mightily with a visual Top Ten list. The Dew Drop Jugglers close (and bring down the house) with new stuff that fails completely. Hey, if I could get laughs like that, I'd be out there biffing, too! With a big-show afterglow like this, I guess I know why I keep coming back for more. 

Apre's-theatre: Fire and ice. Jill Westover twirls flaming batons while skating on the rink outside Orchestra Hall, where Robin Markowitz and Anita Kelling had tossed torches with her in a televised spot Thursday night (is there an all- female juggling team in our future?). 

Jon Poppele emcees the Renegade-style party/ show on the lobby mezzanine inside, and does shaker cups. Mick Lunzer does diabolist yo-yo. Penny Tesarek does her trick (ow!). Paul Babey does Penny's Trick (not!). Winnie-the-Pooh does Paul Not Doing Penny's Trick, then does Penny's Trick. ("If you're not human, having a squishy head helps.") Duck and Cover (Steve Birmingham and Leif Pettersen) do neither, throwing (and kicking) weird club patterns tantalizingly close to that towering glass facade; emcee Jon, whose signature is on the contract, plays the outfield. Somewhere, Tom Kidwell is smiling. I seek out my own fire (-water) and ice (- cubes), and get to toast Erin Kasper's triumph of will before the party peters out. 

Sunday: We organizers are pretty much off the hook now, and get to juggle some, assuming we have the strength, and I am deeply, seriously tired - and still I don't want it to be over quite so soon. Some kid is at the edge of the gym's balcony with a yo-yo on 10 feet of string, and is giggling so hard I can hear him all the way over here. Thirteen club-passers, bored with a double line, are trying some gigantic geometric design over by the vendor tables. Jon struggles with a four-club kickup - he sees more potential in it than I do - and then Jay strolls over, stacks them on his own foot differently, and snaps those puppies up on the first go. 

And here I am with all these amazing people: tell me, how did I get to be this lucky? Where else is there such happiness as this? Did you know that the proper olde English term for a group of jugglers is a "neverthriving" (like a "school" of fish, or a "pride" of lions)? If the person who coined that term had been with us this weekend, I bet it'd be a "deepjoylaughing" of jugglers instead! 

____________________________________

Ohio U. Jugglers Stage Their First Fest by Kia Kuresman 

The first-ever Ohio University Juggling Club festival in February attracted jugglers to the Ping Recreation Center from Madison, Columbus, Dayton, Blooinington, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo and Pittsburgh. 

Saturday, the festival moved to the Baker Student Center Ballroom for open juggling and games. Fieldball was a particular success, letting people show their competitive side as they ran and called for their teammates to throw them the ball. A mid-day break featured a raffle, with winners receiving prizes donated by Dube', Renegade, Todd Smith and the IJA. 

The public show provided entertainment for the community of Athens, as well as the jugglers in town for the event. Erika Klech of Cleveland began the show with an elegant three ball routine. Peter Kaseman of Madison performed diabolo to Nirvana's "Come As You Are," making even the hardest one and two diablo tricks look simple. 

Darin Marriot and Heather Hackett-Brinegar from the Ohio State Juggling Club performed an original, amazing, fast-passed acrobatic ball and club routine. Their finale consisted of eight club passing while balancing on a rolling globe and six foot unicycle. Charlie Peachock's glow-ball light show dazzled the audience, especially when he made three balls become five! Charlie also performed an impressive ring routine. 

The show concluded with an amazing performance by Jay Gilligan. As No Doubt's "Sunday Afternoon" played, Jay performed numerous original three club tricks. The rough nature of his performance caused one of the clubs to break, but Jay continued to balance, flourish and juggle it. He concluded by completely breaking the club in two and throwing the pieces into the audience as a souvenir! 

The Ohio University Juggling Club staff thanks all of those who came and made our festival a success, and hope to see more of you next year!

Return to Index

Next Page