Juggling

Juggling is a talent that only a handful of amount of people have intended to really accomplish at a high level. The first real evidence of juggling was discovered in ancient Egypt between 1994 and 1781 BC in a series of images depicting of people tossing balls in the air. However, it is possible that juggling existed even as far back as 2000 BC, or perhaps even before then.

You can see jugglers perform just about anywhere. On the streets, on stage or in a circus. Juggling festivals have occurred year after year in different cities across the globe, including one of the biggest festivals, the IJA (International Jugglers Association) Festival taking place in a different city every year.

A little bit about my experience with juggling. When I was a kid, maybe around when I was six or seven, I became fascinated with the great art of juggling. Me being a kid growing up and kind of eager to learn this special talent I told my dad that this was something that I wanted to learn how to do, and it ended up being a fun experience while it lasted. I ended up with some juggling balls and started taking it step by step ball by ball and learning to toss one ball hand to hand, two balls hand to hand, three balls hand to hand and so on until I was able to juggle FIVE balls. It wasn’t as much as I’ve seen other jugglers accomplish but it gained me a lot o attention.

Moving along, I learned to juggle clubs, try out the diablo, knives.. yes you heard that right, and I was only 8 when I started juggling those suckers. Don’t worry, they were stage knives that weren’t sharp enough to do harm. Oh, and even better, torches lit on fire. Yes, ON FIRE. Then rings came along as well.

Starting I was still living in Oklahoma, but only briefly was I gaining attention there by kids in my first grade class, I met with a known professional juggler a few times here in there once a week for a little while and gave some good advice and taught me some basics. Then, through some custody battle with my parents divorcing when I was even younger, I ended up relocating to northern Idaho. After the move is when it went to a whole other level. A youth juggling group called Levity formed in beautiful Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Levity consisted of nine year old me and other kids who were just about my age and perhaps even a few years older. Throughout the Spokane, Washington and Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho area, we would perform at places such as half time shows at high school and college basketball games, private and public events, a children’s hospital, and a private birthday party. Forming within the Coeur d’Alene Juggling Club that would have a meet every Monday night and practice for performances every week. Not only we would perform in just that area, but we have had the opportunity to perform a couple years at the Portland, Oregon Juggling Festival, the IJA Festival in both Reading, Pennsylvania and Buffalo, New York. FYI, I was only able to make it to Buffalo for the 2004 festival. Just when we were gaining attention, we almost had the opportunity to appear on nationwide television on The Late Show With David Letterman.

Unfortunately due to me having to miss several performances at a young age because of court ordered visitation between my mother and father, I was sadly dismissed from the group. To this day, Levity is no longer a group but my former instructor David Groth, who is also a 5th grade teacher, still teaches juggling and holds Monday night juggling at the local elementary school where he works and also out at Lake Coeur d’Alene during the summer. Well, that’s at least what I’ve heard last about him.

There you have it. A little story of my experience with juggling.

Now, let’s start with some basics of juggling and where to start. First, you would need a small ball. Could be any kind of ball, but let’s start with one that can fit in your hand. Toss the ball back and forth between both of your hands. Second, get another ball and start tossing that one as well between both hands while tossing the other ball at the same time. Okay, just keep tossing each ball back and forth until you can manage to catch each ball simultaneously. Next, take another fine little ball and throw that in between both hands into a cascade of balls being tossed between both hands. Now, if you want to take the risk of tossing more balls between both hands perhaps on hand. Take a forth ball and put two balls in each hand. Here’s the fun part, take one hand and toss one ball after the other within same hand and two the same with the other hand. This may take some time because after two balls, an odd number of balls can be tossed easily between the two hands. Now let’s go to five balls, then six, then seven and so on so forth.

Okay. Now to another object, which is the club, which is used the same way as the knive and torch will be juggled. Take the club by the handle and toss it spinning upwards to the other hand, and back and forth. Then, take two clubs and toss them upright spinning back and forth between the two hands, then three, then four, then five, and so on so forth. Then, if you want to risk it, take a stage knife and do the same routine, then two then three then four and so on. Now, take a torch and practice the same way, but first don’t light it or them on fire until you’ve picked up the routine. Then, take a ring, then two, three, four, and so on and toss them back and forth in a pattern. Now do the same with other known juggling objects like bowling balls, shot puts, footballs, basketballs, baseballs, just about anything you can possibly toss between your hands. Pick up a unicycle and learn to ride it. Learn to use cigar boxes, learn to contact juggle, learn to use a diablo, learn to spin, balance and toss other things with your hands and the rest of your body, toss things around between each other, but don’t get hurt.

Congratulations! You have learned how to juggle. Now go out there and show everyone what you’ve got and gain some publicity by performing for people, and perhaps making a little extra cash off of it as well. Join a juggling club, pass along the your friends, your family, your co-workers, your kids and as many other people as possible and we might all being tossing things around like no other. But please, keep it safe. Merry Christmas, and Happy Juggling.