birthdayspectacular

A Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc. production

hoveyburgess

THE

75TH

Dedicated to Barbara DonnellJanuary 7, 1917 - August 2, 2015

Executive Producer Hovey Burgess

Producer for Bindlestiff KeitH NelsoN

Stage Manager for Mr. Burgess lil’ Miss lixx

Stage Manager for Bindlestiff logaN Kerr

Technical Director for Mr. BurgessJoHNNy HorriBle

Technical Director for Dixon PlaceroB lariviere

Talent CastingHovey Burgess

Catering for Mr. Burgessruss & DaugHters

House Manager for Bindlestiff ellia BisKer

Program Design for BindlestiffJosH BisKer

Press Relations for Bindlestiff tiNa BoNgar

Photographer for Mr. BurgessJiM r. Moore

Sketch Artist for Mr. Burgess aDriaNo Moraes

Production Staff

Hovey Burgess performing the reverse seven-ball bounce at the 11th Annual IJA convention (his first) in Ashtabula, OH, 1958. Photo by Lane Blumenthal.

MAKING THE

LEGEND

ofa

Whenever young people have asked me what exactly I did to become a circus legend, I have refused to tell them anything.

I say instead that the unvarnished historical truth could not possibly live up to the mystique and lore that surrounds any legend—and that I preferred the latter.

But, at seventy-five (75) I am now ready to break that silence.

To be sure, I wrote the definitive book in my field, I have illustri-ous students, and I just began my fiftieth (50th) year teaching circus at New York University. There is nothing unusual about any of that. It reads like any often-told success story. (Ho hum! Yawn!)

Along the way, however, I came up with three (3) innovations that resulted in lasting changes in the

circus world. Curiously enough, these were all in place by the time I was thirty-seven and a half (37½). It did not take seventy-five (75) years.

the reverSe Seven-Ball Bounce

In the 1950s, as a teenager, I origi-nated the reverse seven ball bounce. It is known as the lift bounce today. As of fairly recent-ly I have seen it performed by professional jugglers from Kenya, Ethiopia, Ukraine, France, Cuba, Canada, and the United States.

circo dell’arte

In the 1960s, as a teacher, I put together a circus troupe called the

Like Rubik’s Cube, it is very dif-ficult, and has no practical value other than to hone one’s skill. Judy, Larry Pisoni, and I were the first to do it successfully. Later, Judy, Bill Barr, and I revived it. It was Bill who named it “Hovey’s Nightmare.” It eventually came to the attention of computer scien-tist and juggling enthusiast Martin

Frost. He discovered that there were actually six (6) different sequences or solutions that meet the criteria of Hovey’s Nightmare.

I did not set out to become a circus legend in my own time. It bemuses me that I did. I simply wanted to do what I love and make a living at it. I love Circus.

I did not set out to become a circus legend.

It bemuses me that I did.Tommy Curtin and Hovey Burgess in the Florida State University “Flying High” Circus, 1960.

Circo dell’Arte, consisting of a few NYU students, one high school dropout, and myself. The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, newly formed under May-or John V. Lindsay, had offered fifteen dollars ($15) each, if I could provide three (3) clowns, three (3) jugglers and three (3) acrobats for a celebration in Prospect Park.

In a defining moment, I made a counteroffer of nine (9) per-formers (including myself) who clowned, juggled, and did acrobat-ics. The Circo dell’Arte was born. One of our 1969 performances was captured on videotape by Videofreex, themselves a coun-tercultural phenomenon of the time—a time when an unpopular war raged in Vietnam. Stripping circus of its customary model and trappings, and reducing it to skill and showmanship, Circo dell’Arte, dressed in traditional costumes of the Commedia dell’Arte, may have been at the forefront of the most revolutionary development in circus since Philip Astley invent-ed the modern circus in London two hundred and one (201) years earlier.

Tangible traces of the Circo dell’Arte are scant, but the legacy is manifest. Judy Finelli went on to cofound the San Francisco Circus Arts Center. Cecil MacKinnon became a founding member of Circus Flora, and her son, Jack

Marsh, is now its Artistic Director. Larry Pisoni (the dropout) went on to co-found the Pickle Fam-ily Circus. His daughter, Gypsy Snider, was a founding member of the Montreal-based Les 7 Doigts de la Main (Traces, Pippin, Queen of the Night). Larry also trained Paul Binder and Michael Christensen in club-passing, before they went on to co-found the Big Apple Circus.

hovey’S nightmare

In 1970, a few days after the Circo dell’Arte disbanded, Judy Finelli and I were married, and club passing became our passion. We practiced our club passing for-mations both right-handedly and left-handedly. We got up to pass-ing ten (10) clubs with triple spins for ten (10) passes each, catching all of the clubs. Back-to-back we were passing as many as eight (8) clubs. The more we quantita-tively pushed the envelope, the more qualitatively facile the lesser numbers became for us.

The greatest challenge of all, how-ever, required three (3) jugglers and only nine (9) clubs. Standing in an equilateral triangle, the premise was that each juggler had to do all of the six (6) possible throws once, without repeating any of them, in six (6) beats. That is, right and left to self, and right and left to each of the two (2) partners.

CARLA RHODES is the world’s foremost (and only) rock ‘n’ roll ventriloquist. Mentored by the legendary Shari Lewis, Carla has been throwing her voice since the age of nine. She has toured the US and UK, appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, and opened for the likes of Tim Heidecker, Neil Hamburger, The Eels, and others. Cur-rent projects include a web series with her puppet/collaborator Cecil Sinclaire. Dubbed by New York Magazine as one of the “Ten New Comedians That Funny People Find Funny,” Carla is bring-ing ventriloquism screaming into the 21st century and beyond! (carlarhodes.net)

Vocal acrobat ZERO BOY is an East Village icon. His solo comedic routines have been featured in theater, vaudeville, burlesque, tele-vision, and radio throughout the US and Europe, including appear-ances on Fox and Friends, Good Day New York, and MTV. Recently he played the evil Dr. Drago on Nickelodeon’s Alien Dawn, appeared Off-Broadway in the Yllana Production of 666, and performed on NPR’s The Next Big Thing in a regular “Stump Zero Boy” segment. (ze-roboy.com)

VALÉRIE BENOIT, who hails from rural Quebec, moved to Montreal at the age of 13 to attend the National Circus School. Since graduat-ing in 2009 she has toured the world with companies such as the 7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts de la Main), Cirque du Soleil, and Cirque Éloize, finally landing in New York to perform in the immersive theater ex-perience Queen of the Night, where she started a collaboration with Tristan. TRISTAN NIELSEN grew up in central Vermont and moved to Montreal at the age of 19 to pursue his circus dreams at the Na-tional Circus School. Graduating two years after Valerie, he has also toured the world via his passion for the circus arts.

TRIXIE LITTLE’s innovative acrobatic burlesque artistry is why she is the Burlesque Hall of Fame’s current Reigning Queen of Burlesque! Alongside her hairy husband, Trixie stars in the feature length doc-umentary Us Naked: Trixie and Monkey, which won Best Internation-al Feature at the DocFeed festival and is still touring film festivals around the world. Trixie is “a gynastic whirl of impish energy” (Washington City Paper) and winner of Most Innovative and Best Duo (Burlesque Hall of Fame). Big things truly do come in Little packages!

lifelong partnership and a commitment to circus and variety arts that has blossomed into a full time career as a performer, booking agent, manager, production designer, director, and creative partner with Nelson. When not in ringmistress boots, Stephanie can be found teaching the youth of Hudson and Columbia County how to juggle, walk on stilts, ride unicycles, and other important life lessons.

PHIL MARSH is a singer-songwriter guitarist based in New York City and the Bay Area. Former musical director and band leader of SF’s famous Pickle Family Circus, and guitarist for Country Joe McDonald, Marsh wrote and performed with the East Bay Sharks and the Masked Marauders, recorded with Folkways, and co-founded Cleanliness & Godliness Skiffle Band, Energy Crisis, and Phil & Phil.

JEN SLAW holds three World Records in “huggling” and has shared her special mix of juggling and inspiration at places including TEDx, The Late Show, Good Morning America, and The Today Show, where she huggled Al Roker and Matt Lauer. The New York Times hailed her Off-Broadway show Perfect Catch as “an entirely new and captivating approach to the craft.” Jen designs interactive training sessions to help organizations foster work-life balance, teamwork, and creative thinking. She is the executive director of Juggling Life, a non-profit serving disadvantaged youth through unique circus arts programs. (JenSlawSpeaks.com)

KRISTIN OLNESS just finished the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Cabaret, reprising her role as Helga. She has toured inter-nationally as a principal aerialist with Cirque le Masque, Cirques on Ice, and ImaginAerial. She co-founded Suspended Cirque, and is a co-founding instructor at Aerial Arts NYC. (kristinolness.com)

DICK MONDAY was the director of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College from 1994-1997. During this time, he creat-ed and directed all the clowning for the Greatest Show on Earth. In 1998, Dick and his partner Tiffany founded the acclaimed theatrical clown troupe the New York Goofs. In Dallas, Texas, he is the cre-ator of Slappy’s Playhouse and the director of clowning at Lone Star Circus. Dick and Tiffany continue to clown in circuses and theaters worldwide. He first met Hovey in 1974, when Hovey was his juggling and equilibrium teacher at Clown College.

your performerst o i n t r o d u c e

NOW

Multi-talented New York native STEPHANIE MONSEU, aka Philo-mena, co-founder of the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, is your host for the evening. When two unrelated accidents left her with two bro-ken arms in 1994, she put her fine-arts jewelry business on hold and began performing with Keith Nelson as a fire eater — beginning a

Bindlestiff Family Cirkus co-founder and executive director KEITH NELSON began his career as the fire eater at NYC’s Blue Angel Cab-aret. That same year, he met Stephanie Monseu, and together they began the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, a national touring non-prof-it variety arts troupe. Since then, they have devoted their lives to keeping variety entertainment on the American stage. Nelson has swallowed swords at Avery Fischer Hall, spun six-guns at the Walter Reade, made balloon sculptures at the Apollo, and toured with the World of Wonders, one of the last sideshows on the carnival circuit. He has been featured on shows including Late Night with David Letter-man, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, OZ, and others. (bindlestiff.org)

MICHELLE DORTIGNAC has always enjoyed the uncommon side of art and entertainment. Her training in aerial acrobatics, corporeal mime, butoh, contact improvisational dance, and yoga has led her to perform in a wide range of unique and diverse locations, including the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage, the Joyce Theater, the Dallas Cow-boys Stadium, and the airport in San Salvador, El Salvador. In addi-tion to a career performing in the air, on the floor, and for film, she has developed her own style of yoga, Unnata® Aerial Yoga, which has gained worldwide acclaim. (AerialYoga.com)

TANYA GAGNE, part carny, part sailor, part showgirl, part flower-child, is one half of the award-winning, neo-vaudeville sensation the Wau Wau Sisters and a long-time, proud veteran of the Bindlestiff family Cirkus, LAVA, Circus Amok, La Clique, and La Soiree. She is the founder and director of the Trapeze Loft (1999-present) as well as Big Sky Works (2010-present), a circus school and mutli-disciplinary community arts and performance space in Brooklyn. She has been teaching aerial and circus arts for over 15 years (when she is not touring the world!) and curates all sorts of of curious and amazing events and shows by local and foreign artists.

Brazilian-born artist ADRIANO MORAES has been fully dedicated to the art of live burlesque shows for the last year, producing around 100 pieces a week. He is a regular at the Slipper Room, Bushwick Bur-lesque, Dead Sexy, Church of Titillation, Pink and a Smile, Miss Rose Sexploitation Follies, and many other shows. His last major work was decorating the bathroom of the upcoming venue House of Yes, re-producing the whole graphic novel Incal on its walls. He was part of the Eisner Award-winning comics anthology Dream Another Dream.

“His theatrical energy and welcoming friendly in-teresting energy kept me connected and

interested in pursuing something I might have not. I went with the circus.”

BOO BOO DARLIN’ the “fun time gal” hit the burlesque stage in 2009 in Richmond, Virginia, producing and performing Richmond Vari-etease, one of the longest running burlesque/variety shows. The in-ternational and award-winning burlesque performer is equal parts funny AND sexy. When she is not busy strip teasing she is helping people with what they are eating at Prune Restaurant, where she was first introduced to the incomparable Hovey “I will have my hot chocolate with half a marshmallow my way, damn it” Burgess.

MICHAEL DAVIS remembers: “I was just out of high school, I had a job deliver-ing pizzas, I was performing improvisation on the weekends, and my best friend/ roommate was going to San Francisco State College studying theater, and one of the classes was ‘clowning.’ It was 1973. I wasn’t attending school. My friend would come home from the clowning class and say ‘here’s what we learned.’ Whatever he showed me it seemed I could already do. My friend said, ‘you should come down to the class!’

I did, and the teacher let me stay even though I wasn’t enrolled. I went to Ringling Brothers Circus Clown College auditions because I didn’t have money for a ticket and I wanted to see a circus. I had never been to one. I auditioned and was accepted. I did get to see the circus for free. When I arrived in Venice, Florida, I met Hovey, and he was certainly a great person to meet. His theatrical ener-gy, and welcoming friendly interesting energy, kept me connect-ed and interested in pursuing something I might have not. I went with the circus, became a street performer, working on Broadway in NYC, TV shows in Vegas, a one man show, and Teatro Zinzan-ni for several years. My introduction to NYC, where I eventually lived for 10 years, was meeting Hovey and Judy in the Bowery and walking around. I remember it well.”

TARA QUINN has had the honor of performing all over the world, from luxurious cruise ships to the slums of Kenya. Every audience is a chance to spread the joy she has discovered in the movement po-tential and deep inner workings of the human body. Her path has in-cluded a degree in exercise physiology, competition as a NCAA gym-nast, yoga, meditation, Thai massage, and the study of acrobatics, dance, healing arts, and circus arts. Notable credits include Celebrity Cruises, the Venetian Casino and Resort in Macau, Cirque Polyne-sian, the Dreamtime Circus, the Amani Circus of Kenya, and the San Francisco Opera’s Aida. She loves to do the seemingly impossible—to be living proof that humanity can push past its limits.

PINKIE SPECIAL has been entertaining NY audiences with burlesque and hula hoops since 2002. Since then she has brought her silly fun and energetic style of performance to many stages across the states and several countries. Pinkie is the co-founder of The Animal Crack-ers Eccentric Dancers and The Trash Can Twins Burlesque duo, and teaches hula hoop at the New York School of Burlesque. Pinkie has recently started a punk rock band called the Stilette-Ho’s.

HOVEY BURGESS thought that circus was timeless and immutable until 1956, when he saw the multi-ring Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus fold its big top for the last time, concurrent with the release Trapeze, a motion picture filmed in Paris’s permanent one-ring circus Cirque d’Hiver. A decade later, under the mentorship of Commedia dell’Arte expert Carlo Mazzone-Clementi, Hovey began teaching circus techniques for actors at NYU. JUDY FINELLI was a member of Hovey’s first class. Their juggling connection was instant and dynamic. They would pass clubs together for the next fourteen years: at the Electric Circus, with the Circo dell’Arte, and on the big screen; they even became the first and only husband-wife juggling team in which each served as president of the International Jugglers Association.

After their relationship, Judy joined the Osmani Sisters juggling trio, toured with Cir-cus Vargas, became artistic director of the Pickle Family Circus, and co-founded the San Francisco School for Circus Arts. Later physically disabled by multiple sclerosis, her ambition has become to write, produce, and direct shows through her nonprofit, Notoriety Variety. Hovey continues to teach, perform, and inspire. Both in the class-room and from the front row, he has been a singular inspiration for countless perform-ers—supporting dreams, uplifting talents, and raising hemlines from the small time to the big top worldwide.

Hovey Burgess and Judy Finelli

JIM R. MOORE is a professional photographer documenting the va-riety arts. His work has appeared in the New York Times and Village Voice, and has been exhibited around the US. Jim began performing over 30 years ago and started documenting his peers at that time. After 15 years as a professional mime, he began documenting the world’s eccentric and variety arts full-time as a professional pho-tographer and videographer. His photographs (and his person) ap-peared in the 2009 Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire.

ELLIA BISKER ran away with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus in 2002 and never returned. In addition to serving on Bindlestiff’s Board of Directors, she is an award-winning songwriter and performer who leads indie rock band Sweet Soubrette, is half of the musical duo Charming Disaster (as heard on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale), is a member of parlor rock ensemble Kotorino, and is the singer/ lyricist for the Funkrust Brass Band. She also co-produces the Super Fun Variety Show series with her brother Josh Bisker. She was honored to receive a bouquet of roses from Hovey Burgess following her first Sweet Soubrette performance in the 2006 Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Winter Cabaret. (elliabisker.com)

LIL’ MISS LIXX, the Candy-Coated Cutie, is the most adorable bur-lesque dancer in New York City. She regularly graces stages such as the Slipper Room, Coney Island USA’s Sideshow by the Seashore, and Abrons Art Center with her Lolita-like charm. She got her start stage managing/kittening for nightlife superstars the Pontani Sisters and Murray Hill, and is honored to do so for Hovey’s Birthday Gala.

Kidnapped by the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus when she was just an in-fant, LOGAN KERR was raised under the big top, where she teethed on juggling machetes and learned to unicycle before she could walk. She has never known another life, except for brief escapes to moon-light at Circus Smirkus and obtain a bachelor’s degree in Environ-mental Science. When she isn’t selling merch and rousting about, she plays a mean banjo. It is widely agreed she is bound for greatness.

JOHNNY HORRIBLE, aka John Goddard, is a New York-based interna-tional stage media technician, specializing in burlesque and variety entertainment.

Special thanks to the ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO for archival video footage for The Non-Stop Juggling Burgess Duo.

The incomparable Hovey ‘I will have my hot chocolate with half a marshmallow my way, damn it’ Burgess.

To my first juggling teacher and life-long circus show tastemaker:

Happy Birthday Hovey!

Love,

Michael Bongar, Class of ‘73

Happy

birthday

w i s h i n g y o u a

Happy 75th Hovde!

Best wishes from young-er half of The Orlandos (something new in calis-thenics).

Would have been there if we had a dog sled.

— Tommy

Happy Birthday from

Jennifer Miller and Circus Amok!

- Judy Finelli, formerly 1/2 of the ‘Non-Stop Juggling Burgesses” “Happy 75th to Hovey, Chairman of the Board of Notoriety Variety!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAYHOVEY!

from

CECIL & GERRY, MELINDA & SACHA,

LILY, WALKER & OTIS, JACK & BROOKE,

NICK & JUNE

You have enriched our lives!

HOVELY

YOU HAVE ACHIEVED 873!

THANK YOU.

YOU’RE WELCOME.

Happy Birthday from one eccentric to another!Love, Jim Moore

Hovey Burgess!to circus legend and masterHappy 75th BirthdayNYU wishes a

artbykeg.info Facebook: Art by Karen E. Gersch

Dearest Hovey:

From sneaking you food at the 1973 Mime Festival, to NYC's DTW, to Malta's Popeye, to Amazing Grace Circus!, to that amazing tribute the NY Times gave you, you have inspired and taught a generation how to 'do circus'. Thank you for your friendship and your 'zanni'!

—Carlo Pellegrini

Dear Hovey, wishing you a very happy birthday!

With love & appreciation for the many years of warmth, inspiration and encouragement, and also for all those roses.

Love, Ellia

Happy 75th Birthday, Hovey Burgess!

And best wishes to Bindlestiff Family Cirkus

from your friends at

(we love you Stephanie & Keith!)

Happy Birthday Hovey! chashama loves the Bindlestiffs!

Earlier this evening, Hovey hosted a small birthday gathering at his favorite restaurant, PRUNE. Prune created a special menu of Hovey

favorites just for the occasion.

Appetizers:

Oysters on the half shellChicken liver mousse with cognac jelly, buckwheat crisps

Slab Jersey tomatoes with warm salted butter

Entrees:

Grilled half lobster, tarragon butter, boiled new potatoesHalibut with cherry tomatoes in a spicy tomato broth

Grilled lamb blade chop with greek salad

Family-style side dishes:

Chanterelles on toastCharred okra and mixed onions with berbere spices

Shaved corn salad with golden beets

Family-style desserts:

Chocolate pots de crèmePeach melba

Lemon soda jello

Wine and cocktails:

CavaAlbarino

Nebbiolo blendBiciclettaNegroni

MargaritaMartinis

He lives here. We love him.

Happy Birthday, Hovey!

May the sound of applause always sing in your ears and the joy you brought us always held in your heart.

Love, Rasa Vitalia

BindleStiff wiSheS to thank

Christine Jones of WICKED GOOD CHIPS and RED BARN EATS, Hudson NY, for the delightful donation of four dozen hand-craft-ed cupcakes, and Lewis and Risa Dimm of FAIRVIEW WINES AND SPIRITS, Hudson NY, for the donation of bountiful bubbly, all in honor of Hovey’s 75th Birthday.

The fine people at DIXON PLACE for their unwavering commit-ment to the variety arts and their support for Bindlestiff.

CHASHAMA and ANITA DURST, whose invaluable friendship and support are part of the bedrock of Bindlestiff’s continued success.

Happy birthday, Hovey,from your family at Bindlestiff`!