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W ednesday, February 16, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B1 OFFICIAL M ED IA S P O N S O R O F T H E OAKVILLE W A TERFRO N T FESTIVAL Focus O c ik v Q le / W aterfront fe ttO v a l Oakville Beaver Focus Editor: WILMA BLOKHUIS 845-3824 Ext: 250; Fax: 337-5567; Email: blokhuis@haltonsearch.com J U G G L IN G J IU E By Angela Scully SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER here's no stopping the clow ning around that goes on at Pine Grove Public School. Even the teachers encourage it - especially John M ark Deneau w ho's been showing students how to juggle for the past decade. "I was originally hired to teach m usic," explained the spectacled Deneau, "but then the prin cipal said to me, `Maybe you could do phys. ed '." M ajor renovations to the building, however, had rendered the gymnasium out of bounds for seven months that year, so unconventional ideas were called for. "In desperation one day, I bought some cheap scarves in the ladies' department, and had the kids juggle with them." Because the scarves floated down when tossed up, even the youngest pupils were able to keep them in perpetual motion. They could then graduate to the growing stockpile of soft seed-filled balls, 11-inch plastic rings, and clubs that resemble bowling pins. Juggling fever soon gripped the school, eventu ally swelling the ranks of the ensuing Pine Grove ' Jugglers Club to approximately 100 students from Grades 3 to 6. M em bers Sam antha Law son and Katie McCarthy say the challenge of picking up new tricks is what keeps them hooked. The 10-year-old girls eagerly displayed patterns called the Cascade, the Reverse Cascade, the Shower, and Under the Leg to a visiting reporter recently. Fellow enthusiast Zachary Newburgh, 10, has already taken his skills into the global market. Bored waiting around in a Venezuelan airport with his family recently, he dug out his gear and placed his baseball cap upside down on the floor. "I started to juggle with the pins and balls, and people put bolivars (Venezuelan dollars) in my hat," he recounted with a grin. Grade 4 student Curtis Lush is also contemplat ing a career as a clown. He started out with scarves three years ago and has progressed to handling four balls - or whatever's handy. "Fruits, nuts, apples, oranges, grapefruits, rocks, socks. These kids juggle with anything they can find," said his m other D arice Lush. Notwithstanding close calls with ceiling lamps, she's still a fan. "It's great, especially the way kids of all shapes and sizes can participate." At a recent demonstration, 97 jugglers paraded into the gymnasium, each keeping a trio of colour ful balls in the air. Rings and clubs were then tossed up and around by individuals or passed between pairs. Others showed off speed juggling scores of around 290 throws a minute with three balls. A throw is counted each time a ball leaves the hand. Professional m agician and ju g g ler Dan Truesdale also took to the stage joking and flipping around batons with long nails protruding out o f one end - a definite do-not-try-this-at-home act. "T here's trem endous talent and enthusiasm Photo by Barrie Erskine here," said the Kitchener-Waterloo area resident, D an T ruesdale, also k now n as `J est D an d y,' perform ed for the students at Pine G rove School who had conducted a workshop at the school. recently. H ere he ju ggles five balls. T ruesdale, a professional m agician and juggler, w as a guest Deneau would like to see a lot more youngsters o f the P in e G rove Ju gglers C lub. H e also conducted a juggling w orkshop at the school. involved in these types of positive, non-violent r Photo by Barrie Erskine N ino D ragic, 7, alm ost stole the show from Dan Truesdale - N ino volunteered to pass the garden tools to Truesdale, but w hile w aiting, he decided to stage a show o f his ow n. hobbies. "I am convinced that we need to offer alterna tives to video games and The Simpsons (a television cartoon)," he announced to hearty applause from parents watching the show. The father of four is hoping juggling programs expand into other area schools. `T h e benefits go beyond improving eye-hand coordination. They learn to focus, concentrate, and to persevere, which is so critical." And given its fun-loving contagious nature, clowning around in Oakville will surely reach new heights. Request For Proposals The Ministry o f Community and Social Services invites qualified Proponents to submit separate proposals to operate residential young offender/children's programs at the ·follow ing locations: · · · · · Maurice H. Genest Detention Centre for Youth (London) Syl Apps Youth Centre (Oakville) York Detention Centre (Toronto) Project DARE (South River) Sault Ste. Marie Observation and Detention Home cF A B R ^ IC FASHION m c m h im L jm D CANADA'S LARGEST m n n ir n ic T n m iiT n n FABRIC DISTRIBUTOR The government o f Ontario will continue to own these facilities. New service providers will be subject to high provincial standards o f operation. Qualified Proponents must have an established background (minimum 5 years) o f providing one or more * o f the following: · · · residential services for young offenders residential services for children with social or emotional problems residential child welfare services · For Project DARE, Proponents must also have an established background in wilderness programming. · For Syl Apps Youth Centre, Proponents must have an established background in both residential young offender services and residential children's mental health services. A separate Request for Proposals (RFP) for each facility is available for a fee, exclusively through MERX, a national electronic tendering service on the Internet (www.merx.cebra.com): by phone at 1-800-964-MERX or by fax at 1-888-235-5800. Each RFP provides detailed information on the scope o f the project/operation and process for proposal submission. In order to submit a proposal, interested Proponents must attend the mandatory Proponents' conferences and site visits for each facility which will be held within the next two weeks and noted in each RFP. ENTIRE IN-STORE STOCK! VOGUE & BUTTERICK PATTERNS (of equal value or less, same brand) Offer valid Feb.16-Mar.5/00. Not valid with any other discount offers. BUY 1ass GET 2 FREE! OPEN SUNDAYS 12-5 Sale in effect on selected in-stock merchandise from February 16-March 5, 2000, while quantities last. Additional 50% discount will be taken off our prices already reduced by 50% off our regular prices. Look for the red sale tags. All sales final. © Ontario 140 R ebecca St. O A K V I L L E 8 4 4 -7 7 2 8