Italians have been juggling for centuries and one of Las Vegas’ finest juggler is part of that tradition. He comes from a history of family circus performers for centuries, he stands 5’4’, speaks 5 plus languages and is considered legally blind. However he is billed as one of the fastest jugglers performing today at 66 years old, Nino Frediani.

The Frediani family became famous in the 18th century in Italy and Spain. They were the first and last to do a three-man high column standing on a running horse with no rigging. “My father was on top,” states Nino “and they're still in the Guinness Book under Human Achievements for that trick.” ( refer to the photo that dates back from the 1900’s.)

“I was actually born while my parents were traveling with the Portuguese Circus in 1940. My mom was working with my dad in the ring when she felt the first pain and I was born in the dressing room.

How About Some History on Juggling

The art of Juggling dates back 2000 years BC. While most historical written records and medieval illuminations have men juggling, the first records of jugglers in Egypt, Greece, and the Pacific Islands were women. The oldest known depiction of juggling was found in  the Beni-Hassan tombs from the middle-kingdom of the ancient Egyptian civilization. These women jugglers were found amongst acrobats and dancers in one of the crypt's wall paintings. The drawing itself was made about 2000 years before the birth of Christ.

Nini Frediani stands side by the side of some of the greatest jugglers that ever lived including fellow Italian juggler, Enrico Rastelli.
 

Enrico Rastelli (Italy), generally considered to have been the greatest juggler who ever lived, elevated juggling to a high art. Rastelli is to juggling what Caruso is to tenors. His many feats included such incredible separate tricks as juggling ten balls, eight "sticks" (small clubs), or eight plates, and he was able to continuously bounce three medium-sized balls on his head. Many Americans saw Rastelli at the Hippodrome in New York in 1923. The world has since seen many great jugglers, some of whom have matched Rastelli's individual accomplishments and Nino Frediani is one of them. Nino is also billed as the fastest juggler of his time.

Webster defines juggling as, to perform tricks of dexterity, to throw several objects into the air one after another, catching them and throwing them again repeatedly and rhythmically without a pause.

The more professional way of juggling is called Cascading, which is crisscrossing objects alternately by throwing them up and catching them using both hands in symmetrical fashion. While we have good records of people showering six balls, several people have now managed to cascade nine.

Another form of juggling, for which there is no standard term, might be called Pairing. Here half the objects are juggled separately by each hand, in an alternating rhythm that creates the illusion that the objects interweave. Because of the natural rhythms of the two patterns, Pairing is normally used for juggling an even number of objects, while Cascading is used for an odd number. Many jugglers use one system exclusively.

Considered legally blind, Nino was born with a hereditary condition called an atrophy of the optic nerve. One of the top French Ophthalmologists came to see me perform at the Eiffel Tower and she said, ”I can’t believe what I’ve seen you do.”  All I can say is that my philosophy is that I pretend to have 20/20 vision and that I don’t feel sorry for myself

My dream for 20 years was to come to Las Vegas to perform. In May of 1980, my dream came true becoming the opening act in the show “City Lights” at the Flamingo. It was my first time in America.

Nino is also the inventor of the 3-ring routine in which audience members throw the rings onto the stage and Nino runs the stage right and stage left catching them with his head. Following in his father’s footsteps, is his son Romano Frediani, currently performing in Japan and who also stands in for Nino when needed.

Now performing in the Crazy Girls show at the Riviera, Nino Frediani is still amazing audiences with his performance and dexterity as a world class juggler “Italian style.”