JugglingSubculture.com

A quick video for your Tuesday afternoon enjoyment.

Lately I’ve been toying with the idea of putting a juggling routine together that would be set to music. This is something I’ve never done. I’ve stuck to the street juggler’s perspective that personality is your best tool to sell your juggling show and that people too often rely on music as a crutch to help them perform. But as I get a little older, and as my technical skills have progressed, and as I’ve noticed that every time I do a show I lose my voice for three days, I think it’s time to have at least one musical routine in my repertoire. It will be an interesting journey trying to pick music, to pick tricks, and to put an act together that will be entertaining, show off my skills, but not make it look like I take myself, or my juggling, too seriously.

Here’s one routine set to music. This kid picked a good song (you can’t beat U2), presents his skills in a nice progression that mixes well with the progression of the music, ads some dramatic movements, and, even with fairly “elementary” skills, seems to really connect with his audience.

Last month, Brüder Christoph and Manuel Mitasch broke the world record for passing 12 clubs. They stuck 76 catches on August 21st at a juggling convention in Krems, Austria. If you’d like to learn more about these guys, brush up on your German and visit their Web site.

Really though, the video says it all:

Michael Karas recently wrote this post on his blog, The Karasel of Progress, about his decision to pursue juggling as a professional career. Karas does a good job of articulating the dilemma that comes with making such a decision: should you compromise your artistic integrity to be marketable and make money, or should you stick to your artistic guns and eat Ramen noodles every night while you’re waiting for the rest of the world to get it?

Karas has some entertaining videos on YouTube. He’s obviously a very talented and creative juggler/entertainer. I don’t think he’ll have any problem making this career choice work and keep his artistic integrity in tact at the same time.

Here at JugglingSubculture.com we say: Go get ‘em Michael!

Here’s a video Michael Karas posted from the Montreal Juggling Fest back in May:

Ross Berenson recently launched a Web site selling juggling t-shirts.

Ross really got this right. These shirts are great! He used a high-quality, American Apparel t-shirt, with a simple, hip design that any juggler would be proud to wear.

I just hope Ross keeps going from here. The Juggling Subculture could use a lot more well-designed t-shirts, stickers, posters, hats, bags, (and so many other things), to help us proclaim our hobby/sport/pass-time to the world.

Check it out and buy a shirt from Ross today!

One of my first posts on JugglingSubculture.com was about a couple of recent commercials that featured juggling.

The other day I was watching a show on HULU and came upon some more!

Residence Inn has been putting out a series of commercials with people performing circus stunts in order to show off the different features provided for guests on long visits. Here are two from the series; one featuring a fire juggler/breather, and the other a plate spinner.

Enjoy.

I came across this article from the Boston Globe comparing two of the golden boys of juggling, Anthony Gatto and Vova Galchenko. Recently on an episode of Celebrity Circus, Galchenko beat a world record for 5-club 5-up-360’s, performing the trick 21 times in a minute. Gatto responded with a YouTube video of himself performing the trick 24 times and declaring the record bogus. The juggle-off continued as both parties sought to out-do each other over YouTube until Gatto opted out with somewhat of a regret for starting duel in the first place.

Clearly both men are extremely talented jugglers. Both come from very different schools of juggling which are hard to compare. Even Galchenko admits, however, that Gatto is in a league of his own when it comes to consistently performing at very high level. Whoever is the best, it’s great to get this kind of press for juggling. It brings excitement and interest to the juggling subculture. I think Galchenko and Gatto should face off on some more fronts just for the publicity it draws!

Forget about who’s the best, who’s your favorite juggler, Anthony Gatto or Vova Galchenko?

1 comment

Here’s a video posted on YouTube by Mick Lunzer. There are two things I like about this. First, I’ve been interested in hoop juggling for a while. Not many people do it, but it seems like has good potential for entertaining tricks. I don’t know if the hoops are just hard to find/make, if they are hard to juggle, or what, but I think the juggling subculture needs to embrace the hoop.

I also like how Mick describes the process of developing a new trick. He gives a great simple explanation of taking something he can do, imagining what he could ad to it, and working on it until he sees progress. It really captures the self-discovery aspect of juggling that is so appealing to us jugglers.

I just got 1.6lb ExerBalls for my birthday. What better way to gain a little muscle than by juggling! I’m also  hoping that building some upper body strength will help me with 5 club and 7 ball endurance. Lately I’ve been dropping 5 clubs merely because my arms get tired.

I’ll let you know how they work out.

(If you’re looking for more exercises to increase your juggling ability check this out. Or for something a little more entertaining try this one)