In addition to being one of the greatest jugglers of all times, Francis Brunn is a wonderful human being. The first characteristic I noticed about this intriguing man was his incredible intensity both on and off the stage. After getting to know Mr. Brunn over a period of time, I am impressed by his personal warmth and true love for his art.

Francis Brunn is a classic artist in the truest sense. He lives for his art and flourishes by it. He is a man of great pride and many accomplishments, yet still retains an ingra­tiating humility.

Still hungry in the pursuit of perfection and constantly exuding youthful enthusiasm for his craft of over 30 years, Francis Brunn stands as an inspiration for all jugglers. His seven-minute act represents years of ardent practice and is presented in a royally dynamic and graceful way.

I was fortunate enough to see Francis Brunn perform a number of times during his eight-week engagement at the Chateau Madrid in New York where he most graciously agreed to the following interview.

Gene: What were the circumstances under which you started juggling?

 Brunn: My father was in a French prison camp in World War I. From behind barbed wire he saw a circus juggler warming up, and out of boredom he took three stones and tried it. Later, he showed me how using oranges. He was a champion diver and also gave me instruction in diving, acrobatics and gymnastics.

 Gene: How old were you then?

 

Brunn: I was very young. I went to Performing Arts School in Berlin to learn more acrobatics and do some wrestling. A friend of mine took me to watch a juggler practicing, and I remembered then that my dad had shown me juggling before. That was when I really got started. The first juggler I ever saw was Angelo Picinellima great Italian jug­gler in his time. I was fascinated by him and then read about Enrico Rastelli. I also learned about balancing the ball from playing soocer when I was in school in Germany.

 

Gene: Were you totally self-inspired once you got interested in juggling?

 

Brunn: Actually, I had no official teacher, and was largely self-taught. I used to spend hours at it. I was very inspired watching movies of Rastelli and reading the book on him called "The Miracle of the Dancing Balls" by A.H. Kober. Years later I tried to find my own style and tricks. My father helped me in the beginning, too. He influenced me, but never pushed me. Nobody had to because I loved it. I still love it today because there are so many things to learn. Juggling is limitless. My imagination is the only limit, and it is still lively!

Gene: When did you first start supporting yourself by juggling? Did you do other things first?

Brunn: My father owned a couple of restaurants at that time and I really didn't juggle to support myself because there was no need to, I learned juggling because I thought it was fascinating,

Gene: You do one trick that constantly amazes me. You balance one ball on the back of your heel while you are spinning a ball on your finger behind your back. Then you kick up the ball from your foot to spin it on top of the one on your finger.  Is that a trick you invented?

Brunn: I was the first to do all these things with turning and spinning the ball through the arms left and right mat least I had never seen anyone do them. Most of the tricks I do are my own inventions. Naturally, in my time I did many different types of juggling. At one time I did Indian clubs. I also did more hoops than I do now, and worked with smaller balls. I worked together with my sister, Lottie, who assisted me in the act. I have gone away from this kind of work because I felt very limited. By limited I mean you cannot really use much imagination. The possibilities are fewer. Sure, you can throw hoops, you can do eight or nine of them, but the variations are less. So I found that with fewer objects there are more possible variations.

 

For myself, I find that I am fascinated by controlling one ball. It sounds like nothing, but it is quite difficult to do properly. The body has to be right, the feeling has to be right, there are many things involved. It took me a long time to arrive at this, so it is difficult to explain. It's just a certain feeling I have.