Looking Sharp

If a man refers to his wife as a “target girl” and then proceeds to throw fourteen-inch knives at her, one might want a divorce court at the ready. But for Mike and Rosa Gross, it’s all part of the couple’s award-winning act, One Sharp Marriage, which they perform at private functions, fairs, and even on television shows.

 

Deftly maneuvering two of the custom-made, one-pound knives in the couple’s backyard practice space in Windsor, Massachusetts, Mike details the physics of a knife throw and how he developed the skill. “It’s a lot harder to throw when there’s a human being there,” he says, “especially the woman you love!” Rosa stands against a wooden board, a balloon clamped between her teeth, her face calm. As the silver blade sails just inches from her nose, bursting the balloon and sinking into the board, she doesn’t even flinch.

 

Such confidence and showmanship comes from eight years of performing together and twenty years of marriage. In one segment, a blindfolded Mike throws knives to the sound of Rosa rapping the board; in another, she’s spun on the “Wheel of Death” as Mike expertly frames her rotating body with a gleaming silhouette. “This stuff is dangerous,” Mike concedes. “It’s the nature of the act.”

 

As One Sharp Marriage proves, honing a talent for knife-throwing takes physics—but a successful performance requires chemistry.—AMcG

 

THE GOODS

One Sharp Marriage
Windsor, Mass.