Jenny Jaeger

JennyJaegerPoster1 (1)

Jenny Jaeger was a Russian juggler who was born into a performing family in Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine) in 1909. Her entire life was devoted to honing her skills in the art of juggling. Her father, Willy Jaeger (1882-1939), was a well-known juggler. Jenny was a child prodigy, debuting her solo act at age 8. She was juggling 8 balls for two rounds at the age of nine and flashing 9 balls at the age of 12. She performed a flash of 10 balls in her act at the age of 15 and continued to feature the trick for four years, although some sources say that the ten ball flash only lasted one year. Her father insisted that she stop including it in the act as it required too much practice. Her act also featured amazing balances of up to five objects at the same time, six rings while bouncing a ball on her head, and a unique trick of bouncing a prop on her head that consisted of a stick with large rubber balls on each end. The prop would flip 180 degrees with each bounce. Jenny Jaeger continued to perform until 1960 and passed away in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1986.

JJaegerProps

These are rings and balls used by Jenny Jaeger in performance. Donated by Stephan Colloredo-Mansfield.