Mazel Tov!

I've written about my juggler friend, Yaakov, who I introduced to a woman I met. Well, last night was their wedding and it was a blast.

There was a nice contingent of jugglers (including a couple who I had never met before). There was some 40 minutes of juggling with some dozen or more performers taking turns showing off.

I was nervous what to do since Yaakov has seen my show dozens of times (and Leah recently saw my full 45 minute show, too). So, the day before I decided to perform something that I had kind of worked on before but never really thought of performing since it's too similar to other things I already do. But as a one-time thing, it seemed appropriate.

I did 3 beanbags and a big inflatable ball with occasional headbounces - mostly 534 with the 5 bounced and going into solid headbounces (without juggling) and back to juggle all 4. I also did 4 bags with the big ball and I would switch from cascading all 5 to head bouncing and then return to juggling all 5 objects. It didn't go as smooth as in practice, but it was nice. The intro had some humor that went over well.

I was also pulled onstage to do a knife runaround with someone who I know does the runaround with a wrong rhythm so we ended up just doing a couple side styles and got through without any drops even though I was very nervous about this spontaneous appearance.

Not only did I know the jugglers, but I knew quite a few people that Yaakov works with. Also, I once worked with a relative of Yaakov who I hadn't seen for some 8 years. My electrician was also there which was a surprise.

The whole evening was really a lot of fun. I wish them a wonderful marriage full of love and happiness.

The Jerusalem Circus

Tonight was the annual Jerusalem Circus show. The Jewish Arab youth circus is aimed at teaching tolerance and I've seen their shows for the past 5 years. The early ones were staged in the lobbies of schools but the past few have been in professional theaters. It's interesting to see many of the same performers year after year and how they've developed.

In general they put on a fairly professional show and director Slava Oleinik should be commended for what he's contributed. The skills are impressive, costuming and lighting fairly polished, and the routines thought-out.

This year, however, I didn't enjoy it as much as previous years. Sadly the solo juggler had way too many drops between some fantastic tricks. The 4 person club passing act didn't have one pattern in more than a dozen finish cleanly. The clowns weren't as clever as past years and my daughter even commented on one skit that she remembered being funnier last time. There was a Charlie Chaplin rola bola act that was one of my highlights this year and last - great skills, good character, and nice use of humor. Unfortunately, that was about the only memorable act. Previous years generally had a star or two but this year they seemed to make too many acts into ensemble pieces. For example, the tissue acts had too many people strolling around the stage so the main artist's skills weren't highlighted properly.

Regardless, I'm fairly certain I'll bring my kids again next year. I never like to miss circus opportunities.

Circus Wow

2 weeks ago my parents took us to Eilat for a long weekend. Aside from enjoying the sand filled swimming pools and sea excursions, the hotel I was staying in hosted the WOW Show. I knew I'd regret not going so I took my dad to see it with me (while my mom stayed with the little ones). The stars were the China National Acrobatic Troupe and they didn't disappoint.

I wish I had written down notes during the show, but I think I remember most of the acts (at least I remember the memorable ones, obviously). Acts included a nicely choreographed diabolo ensemble, some amusing magicians doing lots of spoofs, some heavy metal trampolining, a tissue duo swinging over the audience, acrobalance and throwing around girls with bowls balanced on their feet, a great risley (foot juggling and flipping of another acrobat) act, and a trick bike routine culminating in a dozen girls on bike.

But for me, there were two acts that stood out. These are skills I'd seen on video before and would say are at the highest level of circus skill.

The first was a slackrope routine. Tricks included handstands, headstands, swinging, and riding a unicycle upside-down (shoulder on seat and peddling with hands). This was comparable to a routine I saw win either a gold or silver at the Monte Carlo Circus Competition some years back (I saw it on video). The Wow Show kid looked to be about 10 years old and truly exhibited world-class skills.

The second great act was a cups and saucers kickup routine. I'd seen Rudy Horn's classic skill performed live once before when I saw I Chinese circus act that came to Jerusalem many years ago. The improvement in this show was something I have on a Chinese circus video which is to perform the whole thing on top of a rolling globe. It was amazing to see it performed to perfection! Here's the best photo I could find online of the stunt (about halfway down).

Overall the show was definitely worth the money. The skills were pretty high level but I thought that the presentation had a lot to be desired. In some places they tried too hard and in others it seemed like they didn't hardly consider performance aspects. It was definitely worth the 59 shekels (special price for Isrotel guests).

I'm Back

For all you faithful readers, I'm back. I survived having my parents stay with me for 2 weeks and got through the Purim holiday shows with 2 shows every day last week.

So... Let the blogging begin!

Excuses, Excuses

Maintaining a blog isn't easy. Not only is it hard to think of new content for it all the time, I have to make time to write. Well, the past week's been a bust. I haven't thought of anything notable to write about and I haven't had all that much time anyway.

My days have been filled with taking care of my girls and settling into my new part-time job. The only time I have for it is after they go to bed, but I've got other things to do as well. As soon as I come online several people seem to show up for chat. Then there's email correspondence to deal with. I don't remember the last time I got so far behind on online juggling news either.

I also haven't had time for pursuing my juggling career as much as I had hoped. The good news is that the job is going well and the pay more than makes up for the loss in marketing my juggling. But juggling is still my goal and I have serious plans.

And I'm also serious about this blog. Stay tuned...