Gerard Clarti presented an act with a good scenario where he worked with balls and devil sticks, finishing with two sticks simultaneously. But it was a little too much "new look" for the traditional circus audience.

The Duo Danae, a young couple from the East Germany, were innovative in their presentation of ball juggling. They used two platforms connected with a slack wire, and juggled balancing on their heads on the wire. It was a wonderful demonstration of juggling, which was unfortunately not very well appreciated.

Hans-Jochim Schell juggled with a devil stick, then one, two and three diabolos. He introduced the third diabolo into circulation with a small home-made apparatus. He has not been working long. At age 20 he started juggling balls, but has been working on the devilstick and diabolo for three years. He has had help in putting his talent into an act from Todd Strong, Yves Neveu and Guy Caron.

XV Monte Carlo Festival

The XV Circus Festival of Monte Carlo was held in early February. The show has always been the big reunion of both circus professionals and amateurs. This year, however, we regretted that the Chinese artists were absent for political reasons.

Two good jugglers were at the festival. They unfortunately left the feeling that they were not circus ring numbers, but more suited to stage or cabaret work. Rudy Schweitzer, certainly a great name in juggling, didn't use the entire ring, and this hurt his performance in the eyes of circus fans.

From nearby Nice, Terry Parhad hardly stood a chance for a prize. His ideas were nevertheless very good and his use of a drum for his juggling was something you don't see much. A musician himself, he personally wrote the music of his finale. Feeling very good about now working at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, Terry Parhad nevertheless found himself a little out of place in the Monaco ring.

(Frediric Bollmann lives in Sorvilier, Switzerland, where he edits a circus fans' magazine called "Cirque.")