Street performance is the art of gathering people to convince other people to be part of a group that is watching you convince people to be part of a group that is watching you create a large group of people that will be willing to give you money for creating a large group of people that otherwise would not have anything to do with each other.
It is, in a nutshell, salesmanship. As a street performer you sell your act, your character, personality and one big “unmissable” trick that is worth sticking around for.
In South Africa, real street performance is technically illegal, classed as type A unnecessary fun with extreme risks of over stimulating independent thought. The government simply cannot allow people to have fun as fun is difficult to tax… Unless you know the secrets of street performing, then taxing fun is very simple indeed.
General tips:
Dress nicely and speak clearly. experience shows that people give more money to well spoken, well-dressed folk. have you ever seen a shabbily dressed banker or lawyer? probably not. Hell, nicely dressed drug-dealers get to call themselves doctors and have whole companies designed to take money from people incase they need to give them more money than they actually have.
Smile. Krusty the clown sells cheeseburgers, and even he can muster a smile when its called for. Smiling shows that you have things under control and that you are having fun. There are plenty jobs out there that require you not to have fun, street performing is not one of them.
Slow down. Don’t stress if people leave in the first part, if they haven’t got time to stick around to give you money you don’t want them in your show anyway. People are rushed as it is in their lives, its easier for people to relax if your are relaxed and relaxed people laugh more.
Be funny, cute, or sexy. People have some basic reactions to performers and condensed they are: “haha” “aaw” or “whoa” I chose to try be funny by using the ‘path of least resistance’ concept.
So, these are just some basic ideas to get you started, more to come on choosing a pitch, crowd control and show format
Juggling teaches us to develop and utilize our peripheral vision by having to be aware of the entire pattern without focusing exclusively on one element.
One of the most useful tools when first getting the grasp of a three ball cascade is to look through the pattern and not at each ball. you will notice that everything will be a little blurry, put down the beer, wait a few minutes and try again. Eventually you will learn to trust your peripheral vision and you will be able to drink and juggle at the same time, although you might think you are funnier, more impressive and juggling more objects than you actually are. Warning : juggling is not as easy as driving, although you may be very good on the roads after a couple of drinks, never attempt a fire walk of death over an innocent audience member unless said audience member is one of your friends and has also been drinking, In that case, two less idiots in the world is a good thing.
Try an experiment with one ball: Look straight ahead with the ball in your right hand and hold your left hand out in a natural position ready to catch and don’t move it. Throw the ball without looking at the ball but looking ahead at the wall in front of you. try to throw the ball directly to your left hand. This sounds obvious but when you try it you will realize that your catching hand will more than likely naturally compensate for your throws. The object of this exercise is to train your throws so you don’t have to think about catching and deepen your awareness of your peripheral vision. Once you get good at aiming your throws and keeping your catching hand still, try it with your eyes closed.
After doing this exercise for awhile bring the same awareness into your three ball cascade, you will notice that your pattern becomes more stable because your hands won’t be waving around all over the place making up for bad throws and your head won’t be bouncing around looking at each ball.
In my opinion, the most important thing when starting learning to juggle is to do everything on both sides FROM THE BEGINNING. I know this advice smacks of when your teachers said “if you do your homework everyday you won’t have to study”. From experience I can tell you that cramming tricks on your left hand that your right hand was able to do three years ago is not fun.
As soon as you have got a pattern or trick under control with your right hand try it on your left side, because your right side already knows how to do it, it will probably be easier for your left side to pick it up.
Another thing is to always break the trick down into its smallest parts. don’t be afraid to zen out using two balls instead of hitting your head against a wall with three. Success comes from success, the more success you have the more you will be inclined to continue forward on your path of success. Dropping is like being rejected by the opposite sex, the more it happens the more likely you are to give up trying and take up some obscure hobby like… like…er scrabble or something… So My advice is to go from lots of success with two balls, then try again with three then go back to two balls, then back to three and continue in this way until you have it. This technique may not work with the opposite sex, but it will make you a better juggler, which will lead to better success with the opposite sex.. and my next bit of advice is to not believe everything you read on the internet…
You can find peace and relaxation by hiking for days up to a distant cave in the himalayas to hang upside down with an enlightened guru, contemplating your navel, comparing navels and talking about how britney used to have a nice one OR you can pick up some lemons and give them back to life (in a sense)
Juggling is a great way to increase your heart rate and challenge, focus and calm your mind, creating new neural pathways (juggling makes you more cleverer and increasing dopamine levels which in the end lead to smiles which lead to people smiling at you which lead to phone numbers and, well, the rest is up to telkom.
all of these statements have been proven and validated by some guy in a white coat that can’t actually juggle.
At the heart of it, juggling makes you focus on what is right in front of you in the here and now. Do an experiment and throw something sharp into the air and try to catch it. Are you focused on the leaking washing machine and the screaming kids? probably not. Most people will be focused on the mantra : “don’t drop it, don’t drop it” saying this in your head (in my experience) will lead to cuts, bruises, burns and no phone numbers. It is better to focus on your intention to catch it rather than your fear of dropping it. At least, thats what I learnt in the himalayas.
So, for your well-being and happiness, come to a juggling lesson, learn to juggle on the internet or just start throwing sharp things in the air.
and increasing dopamine levels which in the end lead to smiles which lead to people smiling at you which lead to phone numbers and, well, the rest is up to telkom.