By Vanessa Howell
Tonight we saw the first night of the new Cape Town juggling club (Monday nights 8pm @ observatory community centre)
I did some crazy passing with Andre (another Jo’burg escapee) and met George who has been juggling for a couple of years and has some mad three ball skills. Congratulations goes out to George for his first qualification with three clubs, hopefully we will be able to throw things at him in the near future.
Byron showed everyone that Poi swingers can give the juggler a run for their money.
All in all it was a successful evening. The best thing is though that it happens every week, so no excuses everyone, come round and learn some new tricks or learn to juggle your first pattern. lets juggle!
By Vanessa Howell
Ladies and gentlemen, piccanins and pikatus!
Its time to throw stuff, catch stuff, break stuff and burn stuff!
The 13th annual South African Juggling and performers convention is set for
24th and 25th of April at the observatory community centre in Cape Town.
All are welcome! Jugglers, unicyclists, slackliners, poi swingers, staffers, balloon twisters, flair tenders, foot baggers, dancers, yo-yoers , mimes, hula hoopers, trick mice tamers, etc…
Come all ye freaks and normal folk, ye hips and squares, tossers and droppers.
We will be hosting workshops for those that want to learn the basics, or for the more advanced tricksters.
There will be a renegade show for all performers to try new acts in front of the toughest audience out there on friday night and a professional public show on Saturday night that you can bring the kids and granny and grandpa and uncle bill that you don’t talk to anymore because he drinks a bit too much (there will be drinks available)
Equipment, food and delicious, healthy smoothies will all be on sale.
For those coming from Johannesburg there is some accommodation at my house and we will be having a small after party/braai there on Sunday.
Juggling club:
Every Monday night I will be hosting the Cape Town juggling club at observatory community centre (room 2) from 8 till 11pm. Come learn, practice or just have a few drinks.
By Vanessa Howell
There is change afoot!
Don’t look down there’s no money there. I’m not talking about the kind of change you don’t want to find in your hat after a show, nor the kind that you begrudgingly give the guy who waves his hands at your car in incomprehensible circles in the hopes of communicating the fact that you don’t know how to drive. I’m talking about Obama kind of change!
Obama is about to change the face of the world, end poverty, fight world hunger, pull the U.S out the toilet and maybe help me get another visa.
There is another change happening! There is more hope coming! The South African Cape Town juggling scene is about to get a passion injection! I may not be charismatic, suave and awesome at public speaking like Obama, but I have a dream, well more like a nightmare, that the South African juggler will disappear like the value in the Zim dollar. Not as there is breath in my lungs and reasonably priced petrol in my tank! I call upon any object manipulator out there, whether you are a juggler, a poi person or an avid yo yo guy (as long as you can do three yo yos) lets band together and create a community that can grow and flourish and nurture young performers, if for no other reason than to have people say “wow, look what he can do!” because that’s always nice.
I am looking towards The University of Cape Town for a hall for a weekly juggling meet, meaning hopefully we can get young people in short skirts into juggling (Hey Juggling has way more street cred than the chess team!) Any people will do though, new people learning how to juggle means more jugglers to juggle with! It’s win win!
I will be posting new videos and text every week or so with tips and tricks, basic to advanced with all kinds of props. I will include performance tips as I learn myself. From passing clubs to slack-line to unicycling and flair bartending.
One very exiting development is that I will be joining forces with the man who started it all for me and has kept juggling alive for 13 years in South Africa. Garth (otherwise known as ‘The Jolly Juggler’) and I will be working together to bring gear at reasonable prices to Cape Town. I will be handling all the Cape Town distribution and sales. Balls, clubs, diablos, slack line set-ups, rings, stilts, Kevlar wick for the fire folk and modeling balloons will all be available.
Keep your eyes on this site and your balls in the air! South Africa, we have work to do to compete with the rest of the world, not that it’s a competition or anything, because no matter what Jason Garfield says, Gravity will always have the last word.
And that word is:
Catch.
By Vanessa Howell
Details on the South African Cape Town juggling and uni-cycling convention coming soon!
This event will be a weekend of trick sharing, non-stop riding and juggling, competitions and shows. More than likely to take place late April. Date and venue details are on the way.
By Vanessa Howell
I’m finishing up business in Johannesburg and heading to Cape Town! The fresh air and the sea does one good. I will be performing at the V & A waterfront for the rest of the summer along with private functions.
Im going to be the new guy in town so I look forward to meeting all the other performers and internationals that frequent the waterfront.
