Pete
Welcome to the magic Café, perhaps we can find common ground on another subject in the future. I want to tell you that I do contact juggling, and club swinging for my own amusement, but not for money.
Thanx
Al

Hey,

I was just checking back on this old post to see if anything was new and I noticed that my last, tame and joking post was erased. It was only the 200th time in my short time here something was censored by the over trigger happy to erase moderators.

another example of - Land of the Free... Free speech and everything else we are supposed to hold dear.... Hahaha ...More illusions..

Dear SensiStrange
I feel bad for you your posts are always so witty and well informed.
uncle Al

Well, I would personally be somewhat reticent in making any statements about what is boring and what isn't, but to each his own. My wife and I make our living with an act that combines magic and kinetic juggling (CJ), so I could certainly refute its lack of marketability. UV sensetive acrylics have been our answer to visibility problems and it sounds like there are others.

As for poi and three-balling, it completely depends on who is performing. I've seen excellent poi and three-ball performers and some that in my opinion left something to be desired. If anyone thinks poi is easy, try weaving a figure 8 behind your back. I know I can't do it. It's all art, why argue about it?

Sable

how bizarre - I do magic to entertain myself yet have made money performing poi.
just because you don't make money doing it, that is no reason to dismiss it completely as a performance art.

you stated that "Poi is a joke and an in general an imbarrasment to all serious jugglers on this planet." and that "poi, or club swinging it has very little value in the market place, so if your intention is to entertain yourself go for it, but no one else will care." which I find quite insulting to myself and those performers involved in these arts and, quite frankly, is wrong - I think you'll find mr moschen did very well out of cj and clubswinging.

I am a serious juggler yet I also spin poi - I do not consider it to be a joke, nor am I an embarressment to myself.
to be fair, I doubt you have seen or looked for good poi performance and thus are quite unaware of what is possible within the discipline nowdays.

I know several professional contact jugglers and poi swingers that make very good money from their performances.

if you are interested in expanding your viewpoint you might like to check out the websites of some groups that specialise in these fields:

http://www.tepooka.org/
http://www.flameoz.com/
http://www.impactartists.co.uk
http://www.fullmoonperformers.com/

if you have never heard of phoenix fire (as I'm sure you haven't), you certainly should check them out.
they are a full, circus-level fire and uv performance troupe based in austria with skills based primarily in clubswinging, poi and staff spinning.
they have a full-time team of over 20 performers with an additional full-time backstage crew and perform year-round, worldwide.

and, by the way, 'pele' is definitely not a 'pete'


cole. x

Contact juggling looks very kool. There is some pics of it on http://www.hersheymagic.com

Cole
You are too tense, if you can hold the audience's attention for a whole show with contact juggling and/or poi my hat goes off to you, and when compare yourself to Michael Moschen I realize I am speaking to truely gifted extrodinary talent.
U DA MAN
Al

Hey you live in PA, how come you weren't at the sideshow gathering? I know that you just juggle and all, but even as a performer aspect it was definatly worth going to.

(drove from Omaha for it, set a new world record, and got married on stage)

Al - thanks for taking the time to post.

you obviously took no time to check out the many performance groups that manage to do exactly what you seem to think is an impossibility and you are evidently happy with your closed minded opinion - fair enough

I never compared myself to moschen and never would - I *know* that I don't have the body for a thong.

so yeah, maybe I am too tense - either that or its just you being presumptuous once again...


cole. x

Cole
As I said before, contact juggling is beautiful to watch, and dufficult master. You do have ALL of my respect.
Good luck friend
Al

I don't know how far the digression has gone but when I contact juggle I normally go through all the moves I know and do them 10 times in everying direction with each hand, if I drop it-I start over...I save the hard stuff for last so I don't just look like an idiot for however long I do it. as for frequency, I'll contact juggle everyday for a while whenever I have free time SOMETIMES and then I'll go for months without touching the stuff (normally when its cold out since I practice outside). CJing in my experience is not like riding a bike, I am rusty when I start it up again, but it only takes me a half hour or so to catch up to speed.

Jared
I suggest you practice every day even if it is just for 10 minutes, your skill level will slowly progress without the fear of getting rusty, and you should also measure your progress on a weekly basis because some days you will struggle, and other days you will shine.
In my opinion
Al

In addition to everyday juggling and magic I also contact. I picked it up about 9 years ago. It good stuff, but I think you really can move away from using only a ball. I've seen Moschen and his show is about 90% contact juggling. Of that 90% only about 10% is done with balls. He uses acrilic rods, rings, tubes, and lots of other stuff.
Forgive the rant, bu I'm sick of contact juggling being only viewed as using a ball. there is way more out there that you can use. Play around with stuff.
BTW Viktor Kee live is way better then the Cirque DVD shows. He's amazing.
Juggler

Red head
Contact is very cool for the right ocasion, or to include to your show. I think it is a beautiful art, and I recently heard of a contact juggling association, which I never heard of before, so if someone at the Café knows more please tell us.
Al

Juggeral,
you're right on that contact juggling is sweet for the right occasion. My point above was about being more creative with the concept. I contact juggle a ball in my show, but as home I'm working with acrylic rods (about 15inches). I wish that people would explore more then just a ball or even 8 balls.
Let me repeat it, Contact juggling does not have to be done with a ball.
juggler

New here and just reading through some old posts. I saw several suggestions on what to use to practice, but I didn't see anyone mention what I mainly use:

Lacross balls.

They are heavy and, most importantly, they bounce! I work somewhere that requires me to do a lot of walking from parking lot to desk. So I will usually carry a lacrosse ball with me to practice as I go. It's great for someone like me who has "busy hands" and needs something to do with them.

One down side, is that they are rubber, so they only work great for practicing one-ball stuff, maybe two. But the nice thing is you're not adding any chips to your acrylics.

I use a grass hockey ball to practise it is heavy but makes a hell of a bang when dropped