Interviews with Jugglers

Andrew

That was a great show last night, Todd. Tell me about the acts in it.

Todd

Soren Neesak opened the show with club swinging. He usually performs swinging torches. Fire wasn't allowed in the room so he developed a new routine with clubs. If my German is any good at all it was the first time he ever performed that number before a live audience. Jochen Schell has been coming up with very creative ideas with rings for several years and finally put them together into a number that he is beginning to perform. It was probably the fifth time before an audience. Jens Thorwachter is a gentleman juggler who took the week off from etc. (a traveling variety show in Germany) to come and perform. Volker Meier has been working on and performing his devil stick piece for several years. Martin Mall finished his new diabolo routine a few months ago.

The title of the show (at least in my head) was "Showcase of European Talent." The criteria I used in picking the acts were: 1) that they demonstrate a European style that I hoped was not well known in the US and, 2) that the artists were willing to pay their own fare to the US and perform for free.

Andrew

Sorry Todd, I had to misspell some names as accents don't translate from my Mac to anything else. Which of those acts have you worked with as a coach or an inspiration?

Todd

Volker is my student at Die Etage in Berlin. He showed up about three years ago with a extremely good devil stick technique and a good act. His act has definitely gotten better. It's the best devil act I've seen. I'd like to think that some of my input was helpful in getting him to develop and refine his style. Jochen and I worked closely together on his diabolo number. He asked me to work with him a few times to place his ring ideas into a finished number. I started watching all these movements I'd never seen before and kept asking if he could extend a certain movement a try a variation. After a couple of days we had come up with a whole bunch of new ideas but hadn't come up with anything definitive for a choreographed routine. We met one more time a half year later with similar results. Finally he finished the number on his own. Jens asked me to come and help him with the choreography for the ball and club sections of his number. We worked closely setting the tricks and transitions to music. I didn't work with Soren or Martin at all.

Andrew

I don't want to be insulting but clearly these people are much more talented than you are or probably ever will be. What can you possibly do or say that would be helpful to them?

Todd

Even though all the places that keep hiring me call me a juggling teacher I think of myself as more of a coach. World class athletes have coaches and even though the coach could never win a gold medal he or she can still be helpful. I like to think of myself as a talking mirror. I'm familiar with juggling and have a good sense of what is interesting to an audience. It's probably an insult to me but it turns out I have a very common, popular taste in circus and variety acts. If I like something, chances are a lot of people will like it. Jugglers show me their ideas and I give them feedback on how to improve their acts. Sometimes this means keeping something, sometimes it means extending or refining a movement, sometimes it means dropping a movement.

Andrew

I hear you will be moving to Paris to work for the French National Circus School. What would you like to achieve there?

Todd

The school in France is set up differently than the one in Berlin. Along with regular students studying full-time there is an adult education program for people who also want to learn circus skills on a more casual level and a children's program. The schedule is supposed to have me working with complete beginners and intermediates all the way through to working one on one with some of the top young juggling talent in Europe.

Andrew

Do you plan to go on stage at Club Renegade and denounce Dave Finnigan?

Todd

After I hired a lawyer last fall Dave suddenly became much more responsive. He's still trying to take advantage of me, cheat me out of some money he owes me and getting away with fabricating lies to cover his dishonesty but progress is being made. Dave finally acknowledged some unexpected royalties that he earned from the book that I had to find out about directly from the foreign publishers, paid me for some of it and still denies some. We now write letters back and forth while the list of ancillary people involved that receive copies keeps growing. I see some positive signs in that when I refute his lies and provide enough proof he stops maintaining those and comes up with new ones. We are supposed to meet Thursday evening to get some final resolution. I'm waiting to see how the meeting goes. Dave wisely planned to have the meeting at the end of the week, I suspect to prevent me from getting on the Renstage to talk about him. If things don't go well I'll most likely have to go to court and keep people informed through Two-Ply Press or Jugglers World.

Andrew

And the net, I hope. Do you have any more books planned?

Todd

The last book I wrote had nothing to do with juggling and is being printed by a new publisher. I was a bit surprised at how much time it takes to do all the finish work. My next juggling book, The Dice Stacking Book, is almost finished. Kris Kremo and I are working on a cigar box book together. A broken arm is delaying that one and farther down the road is a book on ball juggling.

Andrew

Which jugglers do you like to watch, and why?

Todd

Kris Kremo is the best performing juggler I've seen. He's having fun when he's in front of an audience and it shows. He incorporates technical juggling skills with an extremely strong character and excellent contact with the public. I like jugglers that work well with their music. Many have music in the background and don't take full advantage of it. Jugglers who choreograph their routines to the music so it becomes a dance are my favorites (favourites if you are in England). Jochen Schell's devil stick and diabolo routine is very tightly choreographed to the music and always thrills me.

Andrew

Thank you very much.

Todd

Thanks for the chance to finally get on the net. I'm hoping to get a phone when I move to Paris and can visit more often.

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