LaSalle Brothers

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Jugglers

By Dominique Jando

Martin (Marty) and Jake LaSalle were born July 18, 1984 in Salsbury, Maryland. Identical twins, they certainly attracted others’ attention, but they were not destined to a performing career: Their father is a professor of forensic accounting at John Jay School of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, and their mother is a nurse in a neo-natal intensive care unit.

Nonetheless, they both began gymnastics training at age eight in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Then, they discovered juggling, and when they reached their teens, began training intensively with Benji Hill, a former comedy juggler turned juggling coach. They started performing at juggling conventions, bringing their acrobatic skills to their act—a spectacular addition that quickly led them to a professional career at the early age of fourteen.

In 2001, they were awarded the Gold Medal at the International Jugglers Association Team Championships, and they won a Bronze Medal and the Big Apple Circus Award at the 2003 Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris. After that, they took some time away from performance—Marty to study economics at Columbia University, while Jake studied anthropology and completed the pre-medical curriculum.

After graduating with honors in 2007, they returned to performing, spending the 2008-2009 season as a featured act in the Big Apple Circus production of Play On!. But the brothers separated at the end of the season to allow Jake to complete his medical studies at UCSF in San Francisco. Marty chose to stay in show business, taking a managerial position at the Big Apple Circus. They have not turned their back to their performing career, however, and hope to resume it some time after Jake’s graduation.

Over the years, the LaSalle Brothers have performed their act in over a dozen countries—including an engagement at the legendary TigerPalast in Frankfurt, Germany—on cruise lines, at several NBA arenas, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on television, and at many corporate events.