Nanjing – Modern Vaudeville Press

An International Circus Affair on NPR!

Mark your calendars for October 22nd!

An International Circus Affair will be on San Francisco’s NPR station, KALW! Jeff’s reading will be aired at 7:19 am during Morning Edition, then coming on again at 3:48 pm on All Things Considered.

Not in the Bay Area? You can tune in here!

Raz in Authority Magazine

Jeff was recently interviewed by Authority Magazine‘s Maria Angelova:

“Instead of trying to get out of your comfort zone, expand it.”

– Avner Eisenberg (Avner the Eccentric)

Avner is a long-time mentor and his idea of expanding your comfort zone helps me try new things, like writing An International Circus Affair, my first nonfiction book, which meant organizing an intimidating number of interviews and writing in a style that at first felt strange. Expanding my comfort zone let me adjust my self-image to include this new skill, and then embrace my now larger comfort zone. I was also able to use what I know from… [continue reading]

#1 New Circus Theater Release

9.19.2024

An International Circus Affair is now the #1 new circus theater release on Amazon!

Jeff Raz on Drop Everything!

9/14/2024

Jeff Ras was featured on the International Jugglers’ Association podcast, Drop Everything! with Dan Holzman.

The pair talk about Jeff’s start in the circus, the Pickle Family Circus’ early days, and Raz’s upcoming book, An International Circus Affair.

Link

An International Circus Affair

How a Nanjing Acrobat in San Francisco Changed American Circus Forever

A new book by Jeff Raz

with Stephanie Greenspan, Ori Quesada, and Devin Holt

December 2024

An International Circus Affair book readings:

Thursday, December 5 at 7pm; Circus Center San Francisco, 755 Frederick St. S.F.

Saturday, December 7 at 1pm; Dell’Arte International, 131 H Street, Blue Lake CA

Tuesday, December 10 at 7pm; Arcata Playhouse, 1251 9th Street, Arcata CA

San Francisco Book Launch!

Come celebrate the launch of An International Circus Affair with a book reading/book signing at the famed Club Fugazi in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.

3:30pm on Saturday, October 19th

You can just walk right into the club at 3:30 or you catch the 2pm matinee of Dear San Francisco, a show that is featured in the book, and stay for the reading.

Three of the authors — Jeff Raz, Ori Quesada and Devin Holt – will talk about the history of the Nanjing/San Francisco circus connection, read from the book and take questions from the audience.

About the Book

In 1989, the Artistic Director of a San Francisco circus, Judy Finelli, met briefly with Lu Yi, the Director of the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe, in upstate New York. It was, as Judy now calls it, “a moment that changed circus forever.” Lu Yi would move to San Francisco to teach the 2000-year-old art of Chinese acrobatics to the jugglers, clowns and aerialists of Judy’s 15-year old Pickle Family Circus.

This book looks at the 20 years after Lu Yi’s arrival and how his acrobatic training and his students’ prowess changed San Francisco and Nanjing, as well as circuses around the world, including Cirque du Soleil and The 7 Fingers.

What They’re Saying

“A very readable account of a pioneering cultural exchange in the arts between the United States and China. Very worthwhile reading.”

-Paul Binder, Founder, Big Apple Circus

“At the time, I was just playing the positions without thinking about the greater picture. What did I know?

1. Without a real circus school American Circus students would never arrive at the highest levels of skill. How could they?

2. It wouldn’t hurt to start small and make sure we knew as much as possible. At least the students would not need to unlearn bad habits! I credit Hovey Burgess for inventing a way for people to begin learning the basics. Fortunately, I learned more from my second acrobatics teacher, Joe Price, an ex-Vaudevillian who taught on 52nd Street in Manhattan, Krasimier Krastev from Bulgaria, Mr. LuYi and many others so I knew the way to prepare students would not be easy. I had no illusions.

3. I might never see it in my lifetime, which would have to be okay.”

In fact, I did begin to see the results pretty soon after LuYi began as head of school and through his company, “Acrosanct”. I saw much, much more than I thought would be possible! I was overjoyed by the success of what Wendy and I began in 1984! I can now envision a school lasting for many years. Who knows where the circus school might become 50 years from now? Depending upon eternity, maybe, just maybe I will see it from some alternate universe….”

-Judy Finelli, former Artistic Director, Pickle Family Circus

An International Circus Affair: How a Nanjing Acrobat in San Francisco Changed American Circus Forever captures circus history at its best, using a single acrobat’s life and achievements to explore the circus atmosphere and its features and major participants. The story details how an international meeting of East and West played out in the big top arena, changing the circus world forever. This encounter allowed circuses to develop new opportunities and attractions, leading to its survival of hard, changing times.

As a participant in this process rather than an observer or reporter, author Jeff Raz holds his own claim to circus fame. His mentor, Master Trainer Lu Yi from Nanjing, China, is the main subject of the book. Lu Yi took Chinese circus techniques to Australia and America, and then worked with Raz to bring the American circus techniques back to China.

All this was accomplished in eras where East/West relationships were not always smooth. The cultural relationship between Nanjing and San Francisco that is the focus of Raz’s history evolves over a 20-year period, a time of many changes both between and within America and China.

Readers might expect the lively descriptions of acrobatic prowess and circus action—but, in fact, there is as much discussion of business models, show development, and the psychology of two cultures meeting minds over the circus world.

Heavily footnoted references allow researchers to access source materials, but don’t detract from the pleasure factor of delving into this world for readers who may hold less prior circus familiarity.

The insights on working with students in the Youth Circus and developing new generations of entertainers and audiences alike are particularly vivid. These hold the ability to attract not just circus professionals and participants, but viewers from outside performance circles.

Interviews with students and major participants also enhance the coverage by providing diverse insights into circus dreams, operations, changes, and challenges.

Libraries that choose An International Circus Affair will find that the book expands its audience to include business readers, cross-cultural analysts, and historians as well as general-interest readers. This gives it a strength and appeal that makes it a top choice. Performing arts libraries as well as general-interest audiences will find An International Circus Affair exceptional.

– D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review