Too Many Juggling Balls

The Nantwich Acoustic Festival for 2007 has been cancelled due to the terrible weather. This was a really great festival last year and I was really looking forward to it. Everyone in the UK is going to have to learn to cope with this wet weather otherwise there will be no events or companies left to trade at them.

My four club practice is starting to feel more like a chore each day, I`m going to have to think of some way to make it interesting and exiting again. I have been ball juggling pretty hard for the last few days, the 800g DX pow3r balls make my 110g henrys feel totally weightless. Psuades (red & black) are probably my favorite balls, it`s such a shame they are not available anymore.

Club Juggling Takes Its Toll

Still trying to keep up 2 hours of four club juggling a day. Yesterday, my session went so well I surprised myself. Really long lasting and perfectly shaped async fountains throughout my session left me feeling empowered by the dark art of four club juggling. Today I again managed some long runs with an async fountain, landed some double triple throws and had some limited success at switching between sync and async fountains using a single triple throw. I now have blister on my left hand and some pain emanating from my right wrist so I might have to miss a session tomorrow :(

LarmerTree 2007 festival

I think that was the busiest and most insane Larmertree festival to date, I even managed to fit in some circus stuff between the drinking and dancing ;-) Mushypea run a great circus area every year with really well organised workshops, it is also an opportunity to get some individual pointers as most jugglers are more than willing to share their skills.

Most of my time was spent with my diabolos as Martin was there, so we could compare our progress and swap two diabolo tricks with each other. Stevoid demonstrated the two diabolo S-fan for me as well as showing me an easier way to start the S-fan involving a right stick grind to position one of the diabolos, I think I will be working on it for some time to come.

Rick has similar goals to me, in that he went to the BJC and also wants to be able to cascade 5 clubs. He was kind enough to let me have a go with his pirouette clubs which have a very long handle and are much lighter than the beach clubs I use. I took part in his hat manipulation workshop, I`m going to have to get a hat as I enjoyed it so much.

I attend Steve`s acrobalance every year, this year he taught me some much more complicated maneuvers performed by two people. Unlike every year before, this years weather was cool, so the workshop didn`t feel as physically punishing as I have come to expect.

Crazy Weather For Crazy Juggling

The freaky weather is really starting to get to me !

On setup day we where walking in 2 inches of mud with a further 2 inches of surface water. I decided to wear sandals, knowing that my feet are waterproof and fast drying and my shoes are neither. The weather decided to pick up for the Saturday and Sunday, it was red hot by 10:00 am each morning.

The show was nowhere near as busy as we where expecting, I can only assume the horrific weather of late has put people off the idea of leaving their homes. Daz was up for club passing all weekend which of coarse resulted in lots of throws and laughs. Diabolo was the most popular item for young people to either pick up for the first time or practice hard all weekend, as many did.

I`m off to LarmaTree this weekend, the huge juggling area is run by Mushy Pea and is staffed by 4 or 5 seriously skilled performers. I`ll take part in a few workshops, the acrobalance is always great and I need some 2 diabolo inspiration as well as some help getting 3 diabolos going.

Woburn Abbey Juggling In The Mud

During the 72 hour period we where on the grounds of Woburn Abbey, there where probably 2 or 3 hours that it did not rain. The grass was damp and soft when we arrived, it was like a swamp by the time we left :)

It was surprising how many people visited the show considering how heavily it was raining. The public really where not in the mood for having fun or buying anything and we didn`t even bother putting equipment out in the workshop area due to the mud. We did however spend all weekend juggling and diaboloing in a marquee with a very high roof, trying to inspire people with wet feet to try a circus skill.

I didn`t attempt 5 clubs at the weekend as there was not enough room for me to avoid injuring anyone ! So I worked on my 4 clubs, 5 balls and 2 diabolo routines, along with the usual mad range of circus skills including yo-yo, contact juggling and balancing skills. I only have a few days before we set off for the next show, this time of year gets really crazy and we totallt loose track of where we are and where we are going next.

Next stop is the Ely Folk Festival, a well established festival with lots of entertainment, music and a real ale tent. With a little luck my feet will be dry by then !