I started juggling at the age of 17 as a member of the KSA (some kind of boys scouts).
As an animator I had to weight some time in the forest before some kids would come to do some assessment. A colleague of mine told me he killed the time by juggling some tennis balls and he showed me how to juggle 2 in 1 hand.
I don’t remember exactly how I transitioned into 3 ball cascade but I for sure remember that I was using these web animated applications where you could give some parameters and this little stick man would show you the pattern as slow as you wanted. Juggling lab was one of those and still exists.
There was in those days also some tools like that for diabolo which was actually my first circus technique. When I was around 9 years old my brother and I had a diabolo and we learned a few tricks like the elevator, grinding, spaghetti’s, … And off course throwing it as high as possible and try to catch it. We did that so much with a failed catch from time to time, the diabolo ended up losing bit by bit all it’s rubber.
PS. I was (starting to get into) computer programming in that time so it kinda fitted in.
Many jugglers have actually a background or skill in hard sciences like physics, maths and that is no coincidence.
From a summertime hobby to more serious practice
By moving to the small province capitals like Hasselt and Leuven in Belgium I started to meet other jugglers in the parks. They inspired me and motivated me and I went to my first juggling convention; a gathering of jugglers and circus practisers from all around the world where skill sharing is one of the core aspects besides many shows,, competitions, …
And what kind of convention it was: The European Juggling Convention in Toulouse in 2013 organised in the surroundings of the LIDO, the local circus school in a country with a rich circus tradition. A new world opened up to me! There’s all kind of jugglers from the pirate and party style of jugglers, the traffic light jugglers that finance their travels like this till the gym rats that spend hours and hours
Great organisation as well with top french cullinaire discoveries (duck) and great veggies and fruit shop on site!
And I discovered I was not alone with taking notes in (dedicated juggling) notebook 😀
Anyway, it’s all about meeting: new techniques, styles, food, and people…
Here’s a little portrait that a sympatic fellow juggler made of me during the EJC of Toulouse
Check also my album with photos in Toulouse and at other (European) conventions.
Pedagogics: from traditional to revolutionary
I have since young always loved being around children so the step to circus teaching was quite obvious. I did a 20 day course from circuscentrum where they they you the basics of different circus tecniques: mostly acrobatics, juggling and balance but also with touches of clown, creation…
I started working for Circus Zonder Handen, a Brussels based circusschool with a nice social approach and link to local communities with migration background in area’s like Molenbeek. Other associations followed after, a few worth to mention are Clowns without Borders, Muzische workshops, Kurioza, …
While travelling I met some interesting, I would almost revolutionary, approaches on teaching juggling: the 5 steps by Craig Quat. What for sure is revolutionary juggling is Functional Juggling, a method which is the result of an attempt of making juggling more inclusive. Craig Quat has been working in a therapeutical setting with people who are not able to learn juggling in a traditional way. But for sure they can juggle through the initiative, non-verbal approaches developed by Craig Quat who even claims that juggling can not only change yourself but potentially the whole world, even politically. I love those kind of thinking and practise, especially when it provokes a lot of resistance from more elitist jugglers.
Check the website QuatProps.net where you can freely download his ebooks, tutorials for building juggling aids, etc…
Expressive juggling: juggling is art!
I don’t have the talent, neither the discipline I think, to become a very good technical juggler that can compete in the sport which juggling for sure is. I am not at all so into competive sports anymore but juggling is a great way of expression and a great excuse to move, to dance, to play!
Anthony Trahair was one of the first persons who helped me to dive deeper to find the Pearls of Juggling!
He shares the foundings of his approache through workshops (at conventions), retreats and a great book about juggling.
Juggle (or move) like the elements or animals or colours would do!
More recently a 5 day “Intuitive juggling” workshop in Berlin with Stefan Sing opened a whole new box of approaches in the relationship between juggling, movement and expression. It has renowned my interest for ball juggling. Despite the fact that I love beïng on stage with my clownish hat manipulation number, I feel most free to express with 3, 2, 1 or no ball juggling. When the flow (a state mind!) is there the clown is also around the corner.
Read more on my philosophy and experience in clowning…
I will later add some video’s of jugglers that also inspire(d) me!