Herrera received a U.S. working visa and moved to Miami shortly after the IJA festival. He lives with his grandmother and an uncle there, and has begun making contacts to launch a professional career in the free world. He keeps his skills honed by practicing for three hours a day.

 

Mourkes, who performs with his partner, Larissa, has lived and performed in Canada for two years after studying at the Moscow Circus School under Violetta Kiss. His act showed a clever mixture of tap dancing and machete juggling, and culminated in a balance of a large, steaming samovar on a tall pole.

 

Holzman, who has frequently placed highly in the Individual Championship but has yet to win one, debuted a new act, new skills and new character for the crowd in Montreal. "Danny Mulligan" took the stage attired in golfing knickers, argyle socks and a golf sweater, and performed his act with­out a single drop. He adroitly bounced one ball off the face of a golf club, then briefly did two, then three using the club and his free hand. He juggled three, four and five big "golf' balls, which were actually dimpled silicone balls made by Frank Radtke. Holzman pulled three shortened clubs from his golf bag (made by Stu Raynolds) and juggled them like clubs, then finished with an elaborate balance involving three clubs and a ball. Holzman said he has been working on the new themed act for two years, and hopes to market it as entertainment at professional golfing events.

 

France Robert, the only woman in the championship, appeared in black leather to provide stark contrast for her routine with three balls. She also juggled clubs in the act.

 

Larry Vee, from Philadelphia, Penn., presented his trademark blend of diverse skills. Working his way through juggling on pogo stick, on unicycle, on rola bola, balancing objects, spinning objects and hula-hooping, he concludes with a trick that employs five different skills simultaneously. To wit, he stands on a rola bola balancing a pool cue on his chin while spinning a basketball on the fin­ger of one hand, juggling two objects with the other hand and hula hooping.

 

Whitcomb received an enthusiastic reception from the audience for a cruise­ship / tropical island theme act that used a van-full of props. Dressed to the nines head­to-toe in a starched sea captain's uniform, Whitcomb summoned a remote-controlled ship onto stage from which he retrieved an anchor to devil stick and three life buoys to juggle as rings, with a color change! He next invited the audience ashore, shed his uniform for a floral shirt, and balanced a palm tree on his head, from which three coconuts fell that he could juggle. He juggled five fruits at the bar, then changed to surfing attire for his finale. As "Wipeout" played, he donned a long-haired wig, stuck a huge tongue in his mouth and rode a surfboard on a rola-bola. As he "surfed," he pididdled a tray of drinks, spun a fruit bowl on his "tongue" moutstick and juggled a spiked club and pineapple. He intended to stab the pineapple with the club, but the trick fell apart before he could manage that conclusion. The originality of the act and its elaborate props (all home-made in his apartment) were well received by the audience, and better execution of his tricks might well have elevated Whitcomb to Silver. But it was the first time he had publicly presented it, and he suffered multiple drops.

 

Others who competed during the evening, but received no medal, were Jeff Daymont of Long Beach, Calif., 13-time competitor Bob Nickerson of Gallitzin, Penn., and Yvan Roy of Montreal.