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ENTERTAINERS

European Circus Festivals Include Jugglers

By Frederic Bollmann

To set up the XIII Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow and its auxiliary event, the Festival of the Circus of the Future, was not an easy thing. However, we were still disappointed by the cold social atmosphere. Moreover, the "peons" in charge of managing the traffic of the artists and the friends of the artists destroyed all the aspects of the exchange which contribute to the soul of a festival. The attraction of the shows remained intact, but the joy surrounding it was lost.

Like every year in Paris , the best was mixed with the worst. It's always necessary to accept pain with patience, and enthusiastically support the bad clowns, crying children, and the average level of the competition to, in the end, discover the true circus dream and the few marvelous acts.

About the Jugglers

Dadadeus, winner of a bronze medal, created a character of a genial musician with long grey hair, powdered generously, who exercised his talents with white balls. He worked on a little stage in the shape of a piano, painted black and set on a white circular rug. There was also a marble slab for bounce juggling. Dadadeus was accompanied by his own pianist. All this showed an original theme followed to the end, with no detail neglected.

Olivier Groszer, an excellent juggler of balls and clubs, masters his character. He also proved himself when his tape suddenly stopped in the middle of his act. He reacted naturally, without any aggressiveness, and decided to sing his own music when the sound engineer couldn't quickly solve the problem. Once the sound was back, the juggler found his place to finish on the last note, like he should. He escaped from this bad situation without any embarrassment, and succeeded in turning a problem to his advantage. What class, what skill! Groszer earned a silver medal.

On the trapeze, Uwe Neitzel did everything well, with some juggling. Unfortunately, despite the aesthetic, the emphasis was only on the feat and the risk. A great act now must be not only extraordinary, but at the same time beautiful to watch. He won a bronze medal.

A Chinese act took your breath away. Imagine four charming young women on big unicycles. With perfect synchronization and in totally new combinations, these jugglers threw to each other a varying number of bowls and caught them on their heads. The act was short and reduced to the essentials, which added to the strong impression it left. They won a gold medal.

Red Ryder, a young American juggler, did a humorous act based on his master, W.C. Fields, but Red is essentially a street juggler and didn't touch the audience. He received a special mention from the jury.