So here are the pictures from Juggelfest 2013 (I made it out the 2nd day, although later than I thought, thanks to my always-late family.)  It was totally fantastic, if you’ve ever considered going.  I would recommend juggling/circus acts for anyone with a desire to do wacky exercise and the least bit of coordination.  The best part was, I got in for free because I showed up about 3 hours before it closed.  I love places that do that. This is two jugglers passing, I think the terminology is.

This is four jugglers passing, which is the square of the awesomeness of 2 jugglers passing.  Apparently, the trick is ) be a great juggler and 2) learn the pattern to pass (yeah, there’s a very specific pattern for each number of people and the more people you add in the more ambidextrous you have to be.)

So beyond juggling were all these other circus tricks and props.  There were a fair amount of very talented young children, as well, rocking the props.

Even though every one there was fantastically talented, I still saw a lot of this happening.  I must say, it was the most good-natured and determined groups of people I’ve seen in a long time – even if there were multiple people working on a trick, nobody seemed frustrated with failure.

The purple ball is spinning.  Because why do one trick when you can do two?

But why do two tricks when you can do three?  One can only begin to see the array of talents (and the long hours of work that must go into developing them!)

She is learning a new trick on a very new prop (it’s only 8 years old! More on this later) I absolutely love the way her tattoo looks when she tenses her biceps.

And this is why people juggle or take photographs or make awesome cakes – joyfulness.

Nearing 70 clubs

So this is the winner (I think) of the club gathering competition.  Someone with a very steady hand and good timing tosses you juggling clubs (one roughly every second) until you drop one.  A popular technique was to catch 5-8 and quickly place them between the legs at the beginning in order to maximize the number of clubs held. Though there were many fine contenders, this brave chap won with 72 clubs. I was fascinated by their ability to hold clubs and catch them in the same hand.  And, of course, by their fantastic sense of timing.

As promised, the continuation of the new circus prop. (Most commonly used props – balls and canes, for instance, have been around some hundreds of years.)  This one is brand new and it’s known as the Roue Cyr. (Check out his website and may I just say, if you have been searching for that elusive full body workout, this is it.) It’s, I believe, 8 yrs old and it’s fantastic! The guy in the picture, Mr. Cirque – based out of Houston and he does parties, entertainment, ect… – manufactures them and is, as you can tell, a master of using them. 

Just when you thought they couldn’t get any cooler – this was probably my favorite thing to watch, and he was kind enough to answer my questions and do a performance for me, even though he must’ve been exhausted from nearly two full days of practicing, competing, and showing others how to use the Cyr.  I really appreciate it!

A very hypnotic prop.  I suggest magicians look into procuring these for their acts -I couldn’t take my eyes away.

I don’t even know how to feel about this.

And my favorite picture for last.  Thanks to everyone there who was kind enough to answer my questions and demonstrated things for me! I was a little nervous about asking questions and it was a huge relief to get such kind responses!