Fancy Footwork

Chester Cable’s name and picture appear in the Guinness Book of Records for juggling the heaviest item--a 130-pound table--on his feet, then twirling it side over side as many as 30 times in one minute.

He set the world mark in 1979, but almost 20 years later the 67-year-old Cable, now mostly bald and wearing glasses, has not lost his touch. At the L.A. Circus, which performs at Universal CityWalk through Jan. 4, you can see Cable in action as in the good ol’ days.

A tent with 500 seats and a big ring in the middle has been set up behind the Hard Rock Cafe at the east end of CityWalk. In it you can watch Cable juggle a 10-foot-long, 137-pound metal table and a large, 42-pound wheel. With his feet. He does it with seemingly little effort while a live band plays tunes from James Bond movies.

“This is my 50th year in show business,” Cable said. “It’s still a lot of fun.”

And so is watching him spin and twirl the large, white table as though it were a light, foam item. Cable does it while lying on a small bench in the middle of the ring. His is one of many acts that make the L.A. Circus unique.

The traveling show is a nonprofit circus funded by the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. Created six years ago, the ethnically diverse, 31-person show performs for free at many inner-city locations throughout L.A. and conducts workshops for children in low-income neighborhoods.

In fact, it was during a performance in the Fairfax district that a Universal scout spotted the L.A. Circus and made a deal to bring the show to CityWalk.

“We go all over city parks, from Nickerson Gardens (in Watts) to East L.A.,” said L.A. Circus director Mini McKay. McKay is a former trapeze artist who also appears in the Guinness Book of Records for performing in front of the biggest flying-ring audience--85,000--at the L.A. Coliseum in 1980.

She says that because many of the performers in the L.A. Circus are related, there’s a sense that the troupe is one big family.

“We have a lot of people with a lot of heritage,” she said. “Many of our people are third-generation circus performers.”

Others, like Cable’s son who is a stagehand, are involved behind the scenes. At least three acts include siblings and one features a father and his sons.

Among them is the 7-year-old Hula-Hoop dancer whose older sister, also a trapeze artist in the show, assists her with the large, colorful hoops. The performance features the tiny child, who recently appeared on David Letterman’s show, twisting and turning to fast-paced music. In the finale, she is lifted in the air by a cable, hips rapidly moving to keep a large hoop spinning around her body.

Then there are the three Ramirez brothers from Peru. Dressed in shiny green shirts and black pants, they race around the ring while impressively juggling an assortment of items.

The Vita family, which is African American, features a father and his four sons performing a variety of tricky and thrilling acrobatics to soul and jazz music. At one point, one of the brothers does a headstand on his muscular father’s head, cheered on by the dancing brothers.

“We’re very eclectic and young and old,” McKay said. “We’re also multicultural, which is something we need to be, considering where we usually perform.”

Among the highlights of the hourlong show is a one-woman trapeze act featuring a former member of the popular French-Canadian Cirque du Soleil who performs dangerous stunts while swinging from about 25 feet above the ground. There is no net below her but a cable is fastened to her belt.

The show concludes with the Dancing Gauchos, a two-man, one-woman group from Argentina. Clad in white lace outfits and black boots, the trio alternates between playing huge drums and swinging bolas, weapons made of a long cord with heavy balls at the end, used for wrangling cattle.

BE THERE

The L.A. Circus at Universal CityWalk, Hollywood Freeway at Lankershim Boulevard. Performances at 4 and 7 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 1, 4, 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday-Sunday through Jan. 4. $10 for adults, $7 for children. 622-4455.