Interview With Bri Crabtree

Bri Crabtree is a popular performer at juggling festivals and has been developing as a professional juggler and variety artists for the last several years. David Cain interviewed her to learn a bit more about this up and coming juggling star.

1. Will you tell us a bit about yourself (background, current life) apart from juggling?

My name is Bri Crabtree and I am from San Bernardino, CA.  I was very shy and quiet growing up, always staying up late to read books, or spending hours on craft projects.  I have a BS in Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology from UC Davis.  I have juggled and unicycled for most of my teenage & adult life; I don’t have much of a life apart from juggling & unicycling.  Learning to juggle is the probably the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I love to travel, see live shows, and assemble jigsaw puzzles.  I always have a puzzle I’m working on set up in the living room.

I am totally immersed in a unique artist community in east Oakland, CA.  It’s a live/work space called Vulcan Studios; it’s attracted artists since the early 1980’s.  It’s full of musicians, photographers, painters, all sorts of circus flavored individuals, and even a Thai cafe and bike shop.  The warehouse is divided up into apartment style dwellings, but my unit has an 800 square foot sprung dance floor with a full wall of mirrors, curtains, lights, and sound.  There are about 5 spaces in the Vulcan built out in this manner – we attract quite an array of object manipulators here!  My space also hosts the east Oakland Juggling Club every Thursday night.

2. How did you get started in juggling and variety arts?

I have always been fascinated by magic tricks & illusions, so when I started playing around with these things as a teenager, I was also exposed to juggling, face painting, and balloon animals via books and some primitive internet sites on these topics.  I later met a juggler & juggling history enthusiast, Roy Melanson, when I was part of a clown troupe in high school.  I enjoyed learning the different juggling patterns and props during my spare time….I liked it much more than performing with the clown troupe.  My mom arranged juggling lessons with Roy, a french-canadian juggler who loved showmanship, classic juggling, and the IJA.  Roy lent me IJA magazines, videos, and was even so kind to lend me props to learn with until I could get my own.  You can meet Roy on the back cover of the 1992 edition of Juggler’s World.

 

3. Tell us a bit about your juggling career.

My juggling career is just beginning!  I have been a hobby juggler for over 15 years, and I started performing professionally in the summer of 2011.  It began with a few requests to perform at friend’s kid’s birthday parties, or local variety shows.  My first performances were in small, but loud, intimate venues, underground shows, or kid’s parties.  My business is built on word of mouth.  I believe in doing the best work possible, and I am a work-a-holic 🙂    After getting some basic performance experience, agents started calling me based on recommendations.   Most of my work now is through various entertainment agencies to do strolling entertainment at corporate events, children’s shows, cabaret shows, and kid’s birthday parties.  I am now building my own local clientele for birthday parties; I host a “Kid’s Night” at a local restaurant where I entertain table-to-table with magic, balloons, and juggling.  I would love to work in German variety theater.  I am working hard right now on physical comedy and musical acts.  I just participated in the Moisture Festival, the largest variety arts festival in the world.

4. What are some of the areas of juggling that you specialize in?

I specialize in novelty juggling arts such as hat manipulation & ball spinning.   If it’s unique, I want to learn it!  I love one-off type  tricks such as spinning a toothbrush on your finger, or catching a rose in my mouth from a balance.  Club juggling is also one of my stronger props, as I was obsessed with passing for years.  I love “old school” passing tricks like body throws, tomahawks, double-triple combos, in 2-count, etc.

5. You do more in the variety arts than just juggling, Please tell us about some of your other talents.

I am also a professional face painter, balloon twister, and clown.  I have been doing these activities for over 15 years, I just find them fun, entertaining, and the sky is the limit to creativity and advancing your skillset.  I also design and sew all of my costumes from scratch.  In addition, I build clown gags – the latest one is a tray full of fake drinks that I pretend to spill at parties, dressed as a server.  I love creating a vision, whether it’s a costume or a gimmick, and bringing it to life.

6. Who are some of the jugglers who have influenced you the most?

I absolutely love Charlie Frye & Co.  I’m sure Charlie Frye has been the largest single influence on me.  Not only is he a skilled juggler, magician, & clown, but he is also a master at blending all of his skills into one eccentric character.  The second most influential person is John Gilkey’s zany character & musical act from the 1995 IJA Individuals Stage Competition routine with the coat rack & ball juggling.  I was lucky enough to see both Charlie Frye & John Gilkey on VHS when I was a new juggler, and always secretly wishing I could create something like that.  Bringing imagination into reality is a huge driving force in the motivation of my work, therefore, these two performers are at the top of my list.

In addition, I have always loved aesthetic movement juggling acts such as Michael Menes, Air Jazz, Peter Davison, and the early Peapot Jugglers, especially Ville Walo and Maksim Komaro.  With the Peapot Jugglers, I love all the creative risks they took, but still generating tons of relatable and engaging content.  I just did a quick youtube search and found out that ALL the full length Peapot videos are online!!!  The last performer to leave a huge lasting impression on me is Avner the Eccentric.  I attended Avner’s “Eccentric Performing” workshops at the Celebration Barn last year.  It has totally transformed my attitude about performance and character.

7. Who are some of your favorite jugglers of the past and present? Why?

I don’t have too many favorite jugglers of the past.  It’s hard to grasp someone’s character or showmanship if you haven’t seem them perform live.  I love the aesthetic and technical tricks of Francis Brunn.  I have a huge collection of IJA magazines & videos, and I often page through them for inspiration.  I would have loved to see “Paul Vandy, The Magical Juggler”, who blended magic, juggling, and gags.  For me, it’s more about the performer than the juggling.  Some of my favorite jugglers that I have had the pleasure to see perform live or watch in the gym are Luke Wilson for his creativity, wit, and clean tricks, Performer Kana for her showmanship, technical skill, and grace, Nick Laffey for his creativity and sense of flow, and Lorenzo Mastropietro for his revolutionary hat work, character, and skill.

8. What are some of your short term juggling goals?

Parasol balance on forehead, and tossing my hat onto it.

Juggling 3 objects with a face balance.

Integrating parasol & ring with some contact juggling tricks.

Crazy legs with lasso.

9. What are some of your long term juggling and performing goals?

I want to work in European variety theater.  Currently, I am applying to as many theaters as I can find.  I want to work all around the world, especially Japan and Asia. Obtaining a 3-6 month contract is a foreign country is a goal of mine.  Someone help me out!

10. What advice would you give to any up and coming jugglers who want to perform for a living?

Right off the top of my head, my biggest advice is to call (or email) people back ASAP.  It’s unbelieveable how many young performers are afraid to talk on the phone, but in this day and age of communication, a quick response time is vital to booking gigs.  Second, show up early.  If you have to perform a show but find out you need to move the living room table, or rearrange furniture then so be it. I see lots of new performers who do not leave for a gig early enough only to get stuff in traffic.  Traffic is going to happen!

Create as much original material as you can, or find an identifiable “look” just for you.  Almost EVERY juggler I have seen at a gig wears a collared shirt, a tie, and dress pants.  Find something different to wear!

Take classes!  Stage presence is very important to me, and if you are shy or not a natural “performer”, sign up for a clown or improv class.  Expanding your comfort zone is essential to being able to improvise in new situations, or when dealing with volunteers.  Also along those lines, perform as often as you can; if I am available, I will always say yes to a gig.

Finding your own spirit of play is essential to doing what you love as a career.  Reminding yourself of your small accomplishments and building on them by taking chances will take you above and beyond your goals.  Every day brings another opportunity; I can’t wait to find out where I will perform next.