JUGGLING CHAIN SAWS & SANTA CLAUSE

KANSAS CITY -- In high school, Dennis Mills was the studious sort who concentrated on the debate team. He's not quite sure how he wound up concentrating on chain saws, axes, torches, knives, Santa Clauses -- just about anything that can be juggled.

"I always expected to have a more serious career," he said.

Mills and his wife, Carrie, the other half of the Mills & Mills comedy and variety act, will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Academic Auditorium. Tickets are $4 general and $2 for students, faculty, university employees, anyone under 18 and over 60.

A special workshop for elementary schoolchildren will be given from 10-11 a.m., and for high school and college students from 2-3 p.m. Tuesday.

The performance is sponsored in part by a grant from the Missouri Arts Council

Juggling actually was one of Mills' boyhood loves.

"I've been juggling and doing crazy stuff like that since 11 or 12," he said. "By the time I was 16 I found out I could make money doing it and found out it was a lot of fun."

Dennis and Carrie met while still teen-agers. She gave him a ride home from a performance festival in Kansas City. There has been theater study in New York and other groups in Kansas City, but the comedy and circus skills of Mills & Mills are what they've come back to.

As an opening act, they have performed with Billy Ray Cyrus, McBride and the Ride, and Maynard Ferguson. Performances have taken them to Costa Rica, El Savador and South America.

They view themselves as performance artists, but he admits that "the rest of the world sees us telling a few jokes and doing unserious things. That's OK; you can't take yourself too seriously."

The act has changed some through the years. "There were times we did a lot of mime, but we found we really enjoy talking to people," Mills said.

A unicycle, stilt-walking and wire-walking are all part of the act, but Mills says, "What we really do is a comedy and variety show."

The comedy part of the act comes out of an easygoing rapport with the audience, he says. "Once they like you and trust you, you can do anything you want to."

They try not to offend anyone. A lot of good material has been cut from the show simply because a few people find it offensive," he said.

A lot of people still don't believe juggling is his job.

Actually, you'd be surprised at how many people can juggle, Mills says. "A lot of gym teachers teach juggling for coordination."

But when it comes to juggling chain saws, he's one of the few who do.

"You have to pay the rent," he says.