RIT Juggling Club

Company McQuiggs is taking their thrilling three person show on the road and going south of the border this spring.  For most United States citizens, "South of the Border" is Mexico, but for these three, who are currently studying at École de cirque de Québec in Canada, they only have to travel South of Mexico New York..(Yes, there is a city called Mexico, New York) Company McQuiggs, will be presenting their act PLD at the RIT Spring Juggle-In Public Show on April 11th. In PLD , Nathan Biggs-Penton, Willem McGowan, and Kellin Quinn join together to create a show filled with tangled arms, uncomfortable catches, and a routine that involves 48 props in the air at once.  Nathan and Willem will also be teaching workshops during the weekend. Kellin will be going to the Mighty Taco down the street form RIT to get some of that famous "South of the Border" cuisine Juggling acts aren't really created to be described with written words though, they are created t...

More Yet-to-be-approved Juggle-In events by Ward Hartenstein INTROVERT ENDURANCE COMPETITION Contestants will gather in a large dimly-lit sparsely-furnished space. A silent signal will be given to commence the event. From this point on, competitors will avoid eye contact and limit verbal interactions to monosyllabic murmurs. Meanwhile, intense mental activity must be maintained, as monitored by neural electrodes attached to each contestant. Physical juggling is permitted, but is not required. Whether or not juggling is overtly displayed, contestants must exhibit pronounced activity in the intraparietal sulcus area of the brain. If the level of intraparietal activity falls below a level of 2.3, the contestant is eliminated. Prolonged eye contact or conversations are also grounds for elimination. The participant who maintains a pristine introverted juggling mental state for the longest duration will be declared the winner. Please note that this event may last much longer...

 FAMOUS FEMALE JUGGLERS! by Ward Hartenstein Lottie Brunn (1925 –2008) is generally regarded as the fastest female juggler of all time. She and her brother, Francis, were born in Germany and came to the United States in 1948. She performed 8 rings at the age of 14 and had a phenomenal career performing all over the world. Her act featured ball spinning, combination tricks, and toss juggling with balls, rings, and spring head clubs. Lottie was given the IJA Historical Achievement Award in 1992. *Ward Hartenstein is a collector, creator, musician, historian and juggler. He will also be attending the 38th RIT Spring Juggle-In , you can catch up with him there.

There was a good turn out to club on Wednesday despite the wind and cold. Some highlights of the evening include the following: Everyone was excited to see Alex Rozanov back at club, and Tim Peterson stopped by to say hi before he headed out on 5 week touring job with a Theater company. Harrison continued his new fashion look of mixed business casual, which started at the beginning of the semester.  Always unique, his own special look is comprised of shirt, tie and tail. Not a "tails" like a tuxedo, rather a more casual fox tail. Alia set a new personal best for 6 club passing with 10 passes in a row.  Yasmeena was feeling adventurous and had Luke and I teach her multiple things relative to club passing.  She learned how to walk through the center of a 4 count pattern. how to stand in the center of the pattern and walk out and how to do club take-outs and steals from the 6 club pattern. Solomon brought his latest pair of whips and demonstrated some 2 handed...

Grace Alexander is coming to the RIT Spring Juggle-In, April 10-12, 2015.! It's often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. That being the case, what would  you say about Grace from this picture?  I'm thrilled that she is joining us at the Juggle-In this year.  Due to restrictions on campus Grace will not actually be using a lit Hula Hoop in the show, but she is sure to burn up the floor with her moves. More about the show here

That's right, Kyle Johnson , a Bay area resident and native to the West coast is slated to travel to the Far East ( of the continental U.S) to perform at the 38th RIT Spring Juggle-In on April 10-12, 2015. Arguably many people would say that the "Far East" was the Orient, but from here that would be farther East.  We do at least have a really good Sushi Resturant in town. ( Osaka Sushi) A prolific contributor to the IJA ezine with countless " trick of the month " videos, he was also recently listed in the Top 40 Jugglers list for the 4th year in a row. His incredible ball juggling and mind blowing contact skills are mesmerizing Most importantly he's coming to Rochester for the Juggle=In and we can't wait to have him here. Kyle will be performing in the Public Show of The 38th RIT Spring Juggle- In, April 1-12, 2015 In the meantime you can catch up with him on Facebook Kyle Johnson at his website http://www.pullingshapes.com/ or just ...

Last night the RIT Juggling Club rocked it's first ever performance at a major sporting event, doing a 9 minute set for the RIT basketball halftime show with an audience of over 300 people.!  It was a great representation of the skill we have at club and a huge success.  Present were club members who came out to cheer on the group (Danny, Dave, Harrison and Michelle) and Yasmeena who became our official photographer for the night.  The show included pinball style juggling by Jake Hart-Predmore, diabolo by Sebastian Ferlo, Rings by Alex Rozanov, 3 and 5 club work by Sam Border, club passing with Luke and Jeff, numbers ball juggling with Sam and Alex and a diabolo routine from Avery Thompson.  Greg Moss also came out to help keep things in order and make sure the performers had what they needed for sound and microphones. Pictures from the event will be coming soon.

Everyone at RIT is psyched about the return of Sky King as our house DJ this year at the RIT Spring Juggle-In. This will be her third year now driving the music, and just like getting your first internet smartphone, once you have Sky playing your music you can't imagine doing it any other way. Many of you know that Sky brings a magical touch to her music playlists, but you might not know that she actually does magic on the side as well. Last year Mark Hayward was filming his great 365tricks series and he got Sky to do a trick for the camera. check it out at his site., or just click the link Sky's Magic . Here's a picture of Sky working her magic from the laptop at the 2014 RIT Spring Juggle-In.

  It's SuperBowl Sunday, which got me thinking about competitions.  Don't get me wrong, I'm no hardcore sports enthusiast, in fact I even had to look up the names of today's teams.  However, I have recently become a fan of competition. Po Bronson wrote a fabulous book called Top Dog which focuses on the science of winning and losing.  (great NPR piece about it here ) In the book he covers what makes winners different, and what the benefits of competition, even in the arts, can have. Competitions help drive people to be better, to strive harder and to take risks and go beyond their comfort zone.  Competitions are also just fun to watch, as we all love seeing someone pull off that impossible last minute shot, or impeccable high dive. At the RIT Spring Juggle-In this year we will continue our tradition of competition with games on Saturday afternoon.  Whether it's 3 ball blind, 7 ball endurance or Best Trick of the convention it's always amazing to watch the...