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VIDEO

The Beauty of Three Ball Juggling.

IJA/Maverick Media. 38 minutes VHS. $25.

With dozens of juggling videos in one hand and Roget's Thesaurus in the other, Robert Peck has created a stimulating and inspiring new look at the beauty of three ball juggling. This 40-minute Maverick Media / IJA video examines three ball juggling by breaking it down into well organized technical and artistic categories.

It begins with the cascade pattern and its simple variations - reverse cascade, chops, clawing and over the head. From there the video moves into the more technical categories - juggling two in one hand to allow improvisation with the other, showering, placements and traps, ball rolling, floor bouncing and body bouncing. In addition, Peck interweaves the elements of other performance art forms such as dance, magic, mime and story telling. There is even a short section devoted to dropping.

The clips used in the video are mostly from competitions and workshops which took place during IJA festivals in the past four or five years. In addition, the video pays homage to history by showing footage of some of the greatest three bailers such as Bobby May and W. C. Fields. It shows that the classic moves they created are still around to be used and modified by jugglers today.

Finally, the video shows us the types of tricks the future may hold with a few clips from the Baltimore Three Ball Open, a notso-polished form of competition where the participants have a fixed amount of time to show off everything they know how to do, and are even encouraged to try things they don't know how to do.

This video uses examples which demonstrate a wide range of difficulty levels. For the beginning three ball juggler, it acts as a library of new tricks to learn, as well as an informative guide to developing artistic individuality. For the advanced, it will reinforce confidence and inspire diversity at the level of performance. Even the non-juggler "would walk away from this video with a reformed appreciation for three ball juggling as a true art form."

Although most of the clips matched the topics in the narrative, it probably would have been considerably less exhausting if just a few complete routines were selected which illustrated each of the ideas covered. The trouble is, (the main point which the video is trying to convey) the successful three ball juggler is typically one who integrates all of these concepts into one technically polished, and artistically elegant routine.

Aside from one brief break about halfway through, showing footage from Club Renegade in Denver, the video is fast-paced. On top of all the quick visual images, the hyper-poetic narrative, filled with lyric vocabulary and alliteration, is almost too much for the human brain to handle in one 40-minute sitting. In fact, during the first viewing, I was only able to assimilate the visual images and had to watch it again to capture the narrative.

In spite of all that, The Beauty of Three Ball Juggling is an informative and enjoyable video which shows us that the range of things that can be accomplished with three balls is only limited by our own imagination and creativity.

by Scott McFarlane

"Anthony Gatto ... To Be the Best."

Gatto/Hill Productions. 35 minutes VHS. $35.

For anyone interested in numbers juggling, Anthony Gatto's records and routines stand as something approaching the Holy Grail. The smoothness, precision and apparent ease in his work leaves one almost dumbfounded. Anyone who wants to sit back and watch a hugely talented and disciplined juggler at work will be interested in this video. But unfortunately, there are a number of problems in this production that don't showcase Gatto's talents in the best way.

Much of the energy for the tape doesn't come from Gatto, but the hard rock music in the background. The format for the tape is surprisingly simple: the camera records Gatto hard at work in a number of practice sessions on a Las Vegas YMCA basketball court. The producer simply put up the camera at some distance and began shooting. Gatto makes only the slightest nod to the "audience" at the end of sequences.

Dressed in running shorts and tank top, Gatto occasionally talks in voice-over, but shares little insight with the viewer, and almost sounds a little distracted. This approach may have been a deliberate choice on the director's part, maybe to give it a more casual pace, but it distances Gatto's personality as well as the subtleties and intricacies of his routines.

There is no dearth of patterns for us to ooh and aah over: 5 club variations; 7 and 8 ring patterns; 7 balls in body throws, multiplex-style, and showers; 7 rings while bouncing a ball on his forehead and developing "breakdowns;" 6 club breakdowns; 7 and 8 balls; 8 club flash; 11 ring flash, and so forth. The camera work in these sections is clean and the framing shows off the patterns to good effect.

The color video Quality is high, with an almost constant musical background. Some slow motion is used, but the "after-image" effect makes it difficult to see clearly the details in hands or objects. In the end, we're left with the feeling that slow motion, "wipes," multiple frame, etc., were simply used to inject some life into what is otherwise a mere mechanical record of Gatto's accomplishments.

The final few minutes are excerpts from Gatto's Vegas act and show his growing ability to project something more than just flashes of juggling to his audiences. But the basic thrust of Gatto's on-stage persona is to move fast and smooth; he is so fast and smooth that I'm sure many in his audiences are unaware of how difficult such skills are to attain.

Ultimately, this video could use a clearer purpose. As a teaching aid (even for advanced jugglers), it falls short of clarity and even basic breakdowns of component parts in a pattern. As entertainment, it doesn't pay enough attention to the viewer, choosing instead to give a "through the keyhole" look at a master juggler at work.

For those of us who like to collect and view snips of great juggling, and for those who might use it as a teaching resource, this is a video to purchase. But how you use it will rest solely in your hands.

by Craig Turner