Enrico Rastelli

Enrico Rastelli (1896-1931) was an Italian juggler, considered to be one of the greatest jugglers ever.http://youtu.be/mowNKg1vhl8
Rastelli was born in Samara, Russia into an Italian circus family, on December 19, 1896. His father was Alberto Rastelli, a circus aerialist and juggler. Enrico was trained in a variety of circus disciplines, including acrobatics, balancing, and aerial skills.http://www.juggling.org/papers/history-2/index.html#Rastellihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Rastelli
He performed as a solo juggler in Circus Truzzi, and then in his father's circus from 1915 to 1917. When World War I and the subsequent Revolution forced them out of Russia, he fled to Italy with his family.LIGHT THE CANDLES FOR ENRICO RASTELLI - Juggler's World, Fall 1996
Rastelli spent almost all of his free time practicing, spending six to twelve hours a day juggling, and was known to receive visitors and handle business affairs without taking a break from practicing.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, who performed in the "gentleman juggler" style with objects such as hats, canes, and bottles, Rastelli chose to restrict himself to objects more suited to throwing and catching - typically balls, plates/discs,https://www.juggle.org/the-history-development-and-innovation-of-juggling-rings-updated-and-revised/ and wooden sticks. His choice of three simple props influenced the standard props used by jugglers today (balls, rings, and clubs).
For some reason, Rastelli never used the cascade pattern for numbers juggling. He would juggle 6 or 8 objects, but he never juggled 7 objects in his act. He juggled 5 objects by doing 3 in one hand and 2 in the other. When he heard that Pierre Amoros had set a record juggling 9 balls, Rastelli skipped 9 and directly attempted 10 balls.
On December 13, 1931, at his home in Bergamo, Italy, Rastelli died of an infection from a cut in his mouth, reportedly caused by the mouthstick he used in his act.http://www.juggling.org/books/alvarez/part6.html Several thousand mourners attended his funeral.http://www.juggling.org/fame/rastelli/ A life-sized statue was constructed in his tomb, depicting Rastelli spinning a ball on his finger.
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==References==
Category:Jugglers
Category:Performers
Category:History