Flamingo Club
Meets
at IJA Festival
in Davenport, Iowa -- July 2005
It
was great seeing everyone at the Flamingo Club meeting in Davenport. We
missed you Miz Tilly and Dorothy but you were there in spirit! We had more
women and children at the festival than ever before. We had two meetings ...
one on Tuesday morning to greet everyone and especially the women new to an
IJA festival. Then we had our regular meeting on Friday afternoon where we
introduced ourselves and chatted about festival happenings.
The winners of the Flamingo Award(s) this year were Courtney Voss, age 16,
from Nassau, NY and Amanda Richter, age 13, from Shorewood, MN. The
Rainbow's End Theatre Company of Pennsylvania donated the trophies. Todd Smith
and Athur Lewbel donated 7 clubs and Cathy, Madeline and Dina donated 3
more. Sandy Brown donated 2 gym bags with IJA logo, Don Lewis/the
Quebec Jugglers donated 2 camisole shirts with the JAQ logo, and the IJA
donated 2 "Jugglers That Jugglers Watch" DVDs. Tomoko and Cecile donated
white bins that they used in
their teams act for us to use to hold all the goodies. It was a beautiful
package of prizes for our winners.
Michelle Mills did a nice job of introducing our winners, especially
considering all the difficulties we encountered earlier in the day. Several
people tried to get our award presentation moved to the gym, but we
persisted and with Dave Finnigan and Steve Mills' help we were able to get
it back on the stage where it belonged.
At our meeting we discussed creating a new award for a woman juggler who has
a passion for juggling and has inspired us over the years. We want to give a
colorful scarf to the recipient (who must be attending the festival that
year). Nisha said that she would take care of producing the scarf for next
year's award.
--Joyce Howard
Flamingo Club
Meets
at IJA Festival
in Buffalo, NY -- July 2004
About 30 women met at the IJA festival in
Buffalo, NY for the annual Flamingo Club meeting. We went around the
circle introducing ourselves. Cindy Marvell told us about their newly
opened Boulder Circus Center and handed out brochures. Nisha Drinkard
gave the treasurer's report and brought huge homemade chocolate chip oatmeal
cookies to share with everyone ...... yummy!.
We discussed the recipient of this year's
award and decided upon 11-year-old Clara McCreey. Several members
noted that she has been attending every possible workshop at the festival.
She and her brother did a juggling routine together in the Youth Showcase on
Wednesday night. Renegade Juggling donated 5 clubs, but we decided
that we'd like to give her two more clubs so that she can pass with her
brother and teach club passing to others. Adria Moskowitz and Madelyn
Dinnerstein volunteered to donate the other two clubs.
Women's Forum Held
at IJA Festival in Buffalo, NY --
July 2004
Cindy Marvell, Dave Davis and I hosted the Women's Forum on Thursday
afternoon at the IJA Festival in Buffalo. About 15-20 women and at
least one other guy attended. We brainstormed about things the IJA might do
to increase the numbers of women in juggling. I was impressed with the
thoughts and positive energy. Here are my notes:
- Send gift memberships to women especially in other countries where
women have no voice.
- Encourage women to participate in publicity of juggling -- TV spots,
ads, etc.
- Send JUGGLE magazine gifts to women/family groups and organizations.
- Encourage other groups (gymnasts, unicyclists, dancers, acrobats) to
attend IJA festivals.
- Add more personal stories of women to JUGGLE magazine -- not just
performers but women in local clubs.
- Have an all-women show at the IJA festival.
- Add a women's forum or column to JUGGLE magazine.
- Provide a mentoring program for young girls interested in juggling.
- Inquire about creating a juggling patch for Girl Scouts.
-- Joyce Howard
Flamingo Club Meets
at IJA Festival
in Reno, NV -- July 2003
Dorothy did a great job of running the Flamingo meeting, which had a
goodly number of young ladies as well as us old farts. Cindy Marvell and Jen Salberg both had some historical perspective, Erin from Humboldt talked
about writing her thesis on female jugglers, and we discussed raising money
to cover the new trophies and plaque Dorothy had ordered (via the Web from
Taiwan, picked up in Seattle and hauled to Reno). They were pretty and it
was nice to see all the names on one cumulative display.
It was pretty clear that most folks felt Olga was our main candidate for
the award, and one kid said that she’d heard Olga and Vova were planning to
go home early due to embarrassment from their competitions entries, the
meeting broke up quickly in an attempt to head them off at the pass and talk
them into staying over for the closing show (at which the award is given).
It turned out to be a rumor; they were planning to stay through the end of
the fest. Serious Juggling once
again gave us a good discount on buying some clubs to give to Olga for the
award. There were reports of Olga and Vova's old clubs rattling and
clanking during the numbers competition.
-- Katje Sabin (from her festival diaries on
the IJA discussion forum)
(Our congratulations to Katje and Bill who
honeymooned at the IJA festival this year!)
The New Plaque and Individual Trophies 2003
Plaque
Inscription:
Honoring Young
Women Who Display Motivation, Inspiration and Perspiration Within Juggling
Dorothy Finnigan Juggles Her Way Around the World
From Europe to Australia to Asia and back
to the USA again! Dorothy took her Flamingo Award pink juggling
clubs on a yearlong trip around the world supporting herself with juggling
as a street performer.
JoAnn Swaim Wins IJA Three-Ball Open in 2000
At 21 years old JoAnn Swaim became the first woman to win
the master division of the Three-Ball Open competition of the IJA in
August 2000 in Montreal. Here's a
link
with several newspaper articles about JoAnn.
Young Female Juggler Wins Medal in International
Competition
Dorothy
Finnigan, age 16, from Celebration, Florida, earned a bronze
medal in the IJA Juniors division at the annual competition in Montreal on August
4th, 2000. Dorothy presented a very enjoyable routine that included swing
dancing mixed with juggling. She was coached by former IJA champion Cindy
Marvel who in 1989 was the first woman to ever win a gold medal at the IJA
Seniors individual competitions.
Dorothy's act was the story of a girl at a party who didn't get asked
to dance when the music began. Not to be disappointed and bored, she
picked up several beanbags and started juggling and swing dancing to the
music. Eventually guys began asking her to dance, but she decided the
juggling was more fun and declined the offers. She continued to juggle
beanbags and clubs. Dorothy was radiant in a pretty pink dress with
silver, pink and white props.
It was a very polished act, especially for such a young juggler. She
only dropped once at the very end. She told us later that one of her
contacts had fallen out of her eye onto her cheek during the act. She
calmly plucked it off and placed it on her chair. Then she finished the
act with only one contact and went back afterwards to retrieve her other
contact on the chair. Dorothy displayed the fortitude of a true champion.
Her juggling skill, showmanship and hard work make her an inspiration to
all young female jugglers.
Note: In 1997 Dorothy was presented with a bouquet of pink
juggling clubs as recipient of the Flamingo Club award. She used
those same clubs in the Juniors competition to win her medal.
