Photo by Kann Elstad
Up in the air. junior juggler! A young student in a Eugene juggling class joins the widening ranks of
tossing troubadours as interest in the sport grows.
Juggling picks up in city
By TOM VISOKY
Of the Emerald
One Two Pass One Two Pass One Two
Drop'
With that inevitable drop the human juggling
machine shuts down, but only temporarily Within
seconds the errant juggler picks up his red and
white Juggle Bug club, regains his composure
and the juggling juggernaut is ready to roll
And, again One Two
Students in Tom Dewart's juggling class
move to this beat Every Monday and Tuesday
night. Dewart and his enthusiastic crew gather at
the Lane Community College Downtown Center
to juggle balls, clubs — you name it
Monday night's spotlight belongs to begin
ning students who try to master mysterious yet
basic three-ball juggling tosses The more con
fident students gather on Tuesday nights to work
on complex and outlandish juggling tricks
On this Tuesday, the seven classmates are
polishing up an intricate group-juggling routine
known as a "feed ” Dewart stands at focal point
five feet in front of the students grouped in a
semi-circle Each person holds three brightly
colored juggling clubs, two in one hand and one
in the other
On Dewart’s signal, the group members
simultaneously raise their clubs in front of them,
and, suddenly, the 21 clubs fly
Dewart lets the students synchronize their
juggling patterns Then he begins to trade one
club with each person, mechanically working his
way from one end of the semi-circle to the other
and back again
One Two Pass One Two Pass
The profusion of colorful clubs goes up and
down and flies back and forth with nary a dip in
height or a break in rhythm For a moment the
jugglers merge into a cohesive unit: a juggling
machine
But, invariably, someone's concentration
flags Someone else's grip falters. Finally, the
inevitable happens: a club drops and the machine
stops
But, dropping a club or ball is as much a part
of juggling as tossing Both moves are rooted
deep in antiquity
The Greeks and Romans immortalized jug
gling on various artifacts, including coins and
pottery Medieval minstrels and troubadours
incorporated juggling into ballad singing and
poetry readings
After lying dormant for a few centuries, jug
gling re-emerged in the early 1900s Legendary
jugglers, like the American Bobby May and the
Italian Enrico Rastelli, crisscrossed the country
during the roaring 20s, astounding audiences
with their prodigious flinging feats
Rastelli could do a one-handed handstand
while simultaneously spinning a cylinder with his
feet and juggling three balls in his free hand
With the formation of the International Jug
glers Association in 1939, juggling bounced out of
the vaudeville hall into the community
Dewart, 1980 president of the IJA, has vigor
ously promoted juggling in Eugene In 1976
Dewart started his small juggling class, and since
then he has taught hundreds of people how to
juggle.
LCC offers the class which costs $22 per
term People interested in joining can stop by the
downtown center on the mall during class hours
from 7-9 p m or can contact Dewart at 683-8344
Although there are some talented jugglers in
Continued on Page 20
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