High flying

Kellin Hentoff is an accomplished juggler. His routine, which was one of three winners at the Annual Groundhog Day Juggling Festival in Atlanta earlier this year, is both impressive and whimsical. Hentoff plays the role of a “Kooky Cook” while juggling an array of kitchen items, including at one point, a potato, a ladel and a fork. Hentoff ends the routine juggling three large knives.

In the competition that brought together professional jugglers from across the country, Hentoff stood out. Not only for his routine, though. He won as a 9-year-old.

Hentoff has been juggling since he was 6, and the routine took him only a month to learn.

He is a member of the St. Louis Arches, an acrobatic troupe directed by Kellin’s mother, Jessica Hentoff. They performed at Flat Branch Park in Columbia on Thursday night as part of the Twilight festival. The members of the troupe range in age from 6 to 16.

The shows are carefully constructed. Deon White, 13, said they “base people on special skills.” He said the troupe tries to create a buildup in its performances, placing the most impressive portions at the end of each act. A routine called the St. Louis Globetrotters begins with four acrobats balancing on large balls and concludes with a jump rope routine performed on top of the balls.

The group usually practices at least twice a week for two or three hours.

“Once you get used to it, it’s not really hard at all,” Hentoff said.

The Arches say they don’t let the danger inherent in the high-flying, knife-juggling performances bother them. Over the course of the performance, Iking Bateman, 15, makes some of the highest jumps, including a leap off a mini-trampoline that sends him through a hoop another acrobat holds while standing on the shoulders of a third acrobat.

“I just think about putting on a good show and performing for the audience,” Bateman said.

Hentoff said he doesn’t think about injuries. He has, however, had some near misses.

Once during his juggling routine, Hentoff caught one of the knives wrong and cut his forearm. Fortunately, the cut was shallow and his arm was fine.

The troupe’s members expressed different feelings about their future with the group.

White and Bateman can’t see themselves staying on much longer. They each have performed with the Arches for three years but said they want to devote more time to other sports.

White said he plans to stay with the troupe until he is in high school, but his passion is basketball, which he hopes to play professionally one day. Bateman sees himself with the group for only another year. He wants to try wrestling and basketball.

Hentoff, though, who has spent four years with the Arches, said he will be in the group for some time to come. He said he is glad he likes it.

“I don’t really have a choice,” he joked. “My mom runs it.”