Dynamotion Jugglers

BARRETT FELKER & JIM STRINKA - Jugglers

By Dominique Jando

Inspired by juggling legend Dick Franco, Barrett Felker (b. 1959) learned juggling while in high schoolA display of equestrian dressage by a rider mounting a horse and leading it into classic moves and steps. (From the French: Haute école) and made a name for himself in the juggling community through his mastery of five-clubA juggling pin. backcrosses. Following the example of Kris Kremo, he started a solo career in 1980. He toured the world with the Harlem Globetrotters and was featured in numerous European nightclubs until 1984.

In 1983, Felker saw a performance of Circus Knie in Switzerland and began to consider working in the circus. Three years later, he appeared for the first time in a circus ring, at the Big Apple Circus. He performed a juggling duet he had created with Jim Strinka, called Dynamotion.

Strinka (b. 1957) began his juggling career as a street performer. He honed his performance skills with the Circus Arts Troupe, a group with which he performed in schools and shopping malls in 1980-81. Felker and Strinka had met in 1977 in Arizona, where Strinka lived, while Felker attended Arizona State University. They reunited some years later in Boulder, Colorado, and in 1985, they began working together on a “passing act” that became, after five months of intense rehearsals, Dynamotion.

Felker and Strinka performed their act in Africa, South America, and Europe (notably at Circus Krone, in Munich). They eventually parted ways in 1987. Felker later teamed up with Allan Jacobs to create another successful juggling duet, The Gizmo Guys.

See Also

• Video: Dynamotion Jugglers, at the Big Apple Circus (1986)