Juggling a Career

Larua Ernst started juggling at Washington Middle School for a part in a play. She moved on to Hempstead High School then to college, and it was there she taught herself to juggle and perform with all kinds of apparatus including a human sized hamster ball. And she's been on TV's America's Got Talent. Howie Mandell loved her.

January 2011

Video by Gary Olsen

The curtain opens on the stage of the cavernous Eleanor Roosevelt Middele School Auditorium, and out rolls a hamster ball. A very large hamster ball. Inside the ball, talking and strolling about as if it was the most normal thing in the world is Laura Ernst. Oh, and she's juggling. Inside the hamster ball. You simply have to see it to believe it, and we have the footage right here in perhaps the craziest Crazy Cam! episode ever.

At the microphone hosting this special episode is Ceondra Kowalske, a student at Roosevelt. When Laura asked her what skill she might like to learn, "juggling three balls, multiple hula hoops, rolling around in the hamster ball," what do you think Ceondra wanted to do? You guessed it. "Hamster ball! Oh please, oh please, oh PLEASE?"

The stage show for students at Roosevelt was nothing short of Wow! But the story of how Laura Ernst went from Dubuque, Iowa to the stage of the television talent show, America's Got Talent, is a great story of a girl following her dreams and working hard at her artistic endeavor. Ceondra asked the former Irving School, Washington Middle School and Hempstead High School student just how she got where she is.

"I learned how to juggle at Washington Middle School as a cast member of Pippin," explains Laura. "We all had to learn how to juggle. I dropped something every performance," she laughs. But the experience stuck with her. "I had so much fun doing it that when I was in college, I began studying various forms of juggling and I taught myself the art. I juggled all the time. There were a lot of dateless Friday nights when I would just juggle."

Soon street performing, talent shows, and Renaissance fairs provided an outlet for her talents, and she began posting videos of her performances on the Internet (www.cutejuggler.com). That's how she came to the attention of the judges of America's Got Talent.

Ceondra asked, "What did your parents think of all this?" "They went along for the ride," explains Laura, whose mom and dad were in the audience at Roosevelt. "My mother is a teacher here in the school district, and I teach juggling myself,." adds Laura.

Something that most students didn't see in the stage show that Laura performed afterwards for our Crazy Cam was a spectacular aerial act high above the auditorium. Two long and wide ribbons of blue silk cloth hang from the catwalk and the totally athletic Laura climbs them effortlessly and performs tricks to music. It's exclusively here on this video.

Bonus Video of Fabric Routine

Click here for an archival version of the movie you can keep forever.