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British Juggling Convention 2012
British Juggling Convention 2012 HLGCBS
H: Entering BYJOTY and getting a pretty good reception from the crowd. Didn’t win anything, but it was great performing in a proper big top alongside some really great young jugglers!
L: Waking up in the middle of the night with a cold nose – it happened several times!
G: Enter BYJOTY – yes!
Run a couple of successful workshops – yes! (Anybody with feedback on my 4 and 5 ball beginners workshops? Good and bad, all is useful!)
C: The Gandini Juggling Project - didn't it have to be? All of their performances were incredible, and I loved Smashed!
B: I had to miss a few workshops I really would have liked to go to due to my involvement in BYJOTY – ah well, I can’t enter again anyway and I’m very glad I did.
S: Getting to play Gladiators late on Saturday night with some of the Gandini jugglers, Tony Pezzo, Luke Wilson and Francoise! Great fun!
#hlgcbs #bjc2012
H: The black & silver disco: a top notch band, lots of bouncing around & really nice to see so many people make the effort to dress up (or down) for the occasion.
L: The campsite clearing on Sunday, continually thinking, "Right that lot are still packing up, they'll sort out that pile of rubbish..." then on the next trip seeing that the people had left it all behind.
Many thanks to all those who did sort out their own rubbish.
G: Help out lots - Check.
Win some games of gladiators - Check (still a poor second to Simon though).
C: The Gandini Juggling Project. It was their festival. 2 amazing dedicated shows & a storming spot in the Public Show. They are the absolute pinnacle of juggling today.
B: My lips. The cold wind & sea air ensured they were cracked & falling apart for most of the festival. I'm not sure what the staff at Waitrose thought of me but all I bought was excessive quantities of cider & vaseline.
S: Didn't get lynched about this website.
The 25th British Juggling Convention
Tuesday
The BJC started on the 10th of April for me. I arrived at Kev's at 7.45am just after Simon who arrived just after Kev woke up. We rammed the car full of stuff. It was an easy, uneventful drive up (which I think is a first) & we arrived on site at 9.30am. We met Mini & Emily who told us that the fencing (for which I already had my gloves on & was ready to launch into) hadn't been delivered on time as expected. So instead we went for a second breakfast & a cup of something that was almost but not entirely unlike tea at McDonalds.
The build was already well underway. The Cirque Normandie tent was up, the beer tent & the Food Groove kitchens were a hive of activity. The first batch of fencing finally turned up at about 10.30am & around 8 of us laid out the panels in place. Daryl loaded up his car with the blocks & Sciz was looking very regal as he rode sitting in the boot, depositing blocks in place as they went. Once all the panels were in place we pitched our tents while waiting for the next batch. By the time the second batch of fencing arrived there were a lot more willing hands available to help. So much so that it was a bit of a piranha feeding frenzy as people scrabbled to get the panels out. It soon settled down though & I enjoyed being part of an assembly line with the SJC crowd which was fantastically efficient & the fence shot up. Good work peeps.
On my travels through the campsite I saw Sciz holding Graham's arm in the air, which I thought was odd. Graham was looking very translucent because he had dislocated his shoulder. He maintained a very impressive stiff upper lip while in obvious pain as we waited for the paramedics. When they arrived I was on arm supporting duty. They cut away his shirt to see what was wrong & yes even I could tell that something was amiss. Out came the gas & air so that they could manoeuvre his arm into a sling. I took a step back as the paramedics took over & braced myself for what I thought would be a blood curdling scream as they carefully brought his arm down. But in the end there was just an, "Ahh, it just went back in!".
Graham was carted off to A&E but was back later in the evening.
As the sun went down, we celebrated a successful day's work with pizza, pasta & a few beers in the beer tent. Everyone was pretty tired though so most people turned in before 10pm.
Wednesday
The morning started much the same as the previous day with a lot more carrying & fetching: carpet, tables, chairs, water, beer kegs, more fencing. Crawley Dave had made a start on sign posting the day before but we still had a lot to do so I said I'd help him out. I honestly thought that putting up the necessary signs would take about 2 hours (Mini burst out laughing when I told him this in the evening) but it ended up taking all day. We weren't helped by not having a great understanding of the site layout & an uncooperative printer, but still why shouldn't it take a couple of hours? I've got more to say on signposting now which I shall save for another Big Post.
It was a real struggle to get main organiser Amie out of the office & into the bar, but we finally managed it & got our first pints of the Juggling Convention Ale in at about 10pm. We welcomed old & new friends & nattered a lot. Before we knew it it was way past midnight. Time flies in Southend.
Thursday
I was up early so trekked to Waitrose for a pint of milk & some tins of Vaseline to combat the cracked lips we were all suffering in the dry sea wind. Turns out I was too early as the doors were closed. I don't like to say that I broke in but I did time my run to slip between the doors when the trolley attendant came out. The staff all gave me strange looks as I was walking around the store. To their credit they were happy to serve (get rid of?) me.
I had some breakfast then went to the main hall for a juggle. The space was fantastic & possibly one of the best we've ever had at a BJC. Many tennis courts in size with a high ceiling & good lighting. The courts were split in two by a raised walkway which provided a convenient & social viewing platform. The stereo system was set at one end so that there was a loud side & a quiet side which I think kept people happy.
I juggled clubs for a bit, passed with Simon & did some handstand practise which was really painful on aching shoulders. A shout went out for volunteers to carry the unicycle trials course so I joined a group of a dozen people who all helped carry various logs, tractor tires, benches & other broken bone inducing material.
After lunch it was time for...
The British Kendama Open
Conveniently organised by The Void of The British Kendama Association to coincide with a heavy downpour the competitors & spectators sheltered inside the Cirque Normandie tent. Although it didn't provide the greatest protection from the elements as the panel of judges had to also shelter under umbrellas.
Louisa (not Laura) & Kevin both competed in the beginners division & both did well in difficult conditions - it was very cold & the light was very poor. The eventual winner Andy did a fine job though to complete the whole ladder with just 4 misses.
I had a go in the advanced division drawing Tom Derrick in the first round which was great fun. It was really cold so we did some exercise to warm up. We seemed to be on stage for ages as we both went through miss after miss on numerous tricks. I managed to get through to the next round picking up points with a knee bounce & 2 slip on sticks.
In the speed trick challenge I spent my 20 odd seconds trying to untie the knot I created...
For the next round in the advanced division I was drawn against Matt Nix & inevitably didn't score a single point. Matt exemplified what I love about the BKO in that he was a great sport & helped me out by demonstrating what I should be doing on the tricks I wasn't familiar with (what do you mean I should've revised, I've been busy with the Edge!).
Matt continued with his usual solid performance to take his second title of British Kendama Champion.
Many thanks to Void for organising & also Sunrise Kendamas for their generous sponsorship of the event.
After all that excitement I went back to my tent for a quick nap. I must have been more tired than I thought as I woke up around 3 hours later just in time for...
The Open Stage Show
I was a little bit late but found there was plenty of space round the sides. The seats were hard & uncomfortable & the lights were shining straight at me at eye level, but I've had worse. I was surprised at how much empty space there was up in the stands, even more so when I heard that loads of people had been turned away because capacity had been reached!
The show opened with Jeff in a monkey suit aping round the stage, then with great timing he launched into a poi routine using his suit's oversized arms. Although it went on a little too long it was a well thought out & fun routine that set the show up with a great atmosphere.
Next up was with a sexy club swinger. It was a nice act with some slick moves but it lacked flow for me. The gentleman juggler performed a variety of tricks with hat, cane & cigar boxes with good humour & a lot of surprising touches. Pouring a drink from the end of a stack of cigar boxes made me laugh out loud.
Jake performed a beautiful silky smooth devilstick routine. The music was a great fit to his style & it was well choreographed with a wide variety of 1 & 2 devilstick trickery. I liked the careful manipulation of two devilsticks one balanced on the other in a cross shape. Easily Public Show standard.
The next act saw 2 contact jugglers sporting their acrylics on their heads start with some amusing & impressive darting glances at the audience & each other to various musical queues to the soundtrack (Teardrops by Massive Attack). The act included some very nicely performed synchronous contact & some very impressive 2 person body rolls. Easily Public Show standard again.
I thought Naoya Aoki started off pretty flat with his diabolo routine. But then he went vertical which was truly exceptional. There were loads of moves & surprising stalls that I had never seen before as well as the crowd pleasing multiple genocides performed without a noticeable slip. The circular circus ring really suited the vertax style enabling everyone a great view. Possibly the best vertax I've ever seen. Well deserving of the standing ovation he received.
Rob Firey juggled hats & rings, the hats were very good, but the rings left me underwhelmed, but very impressive for just 2 months worth of practise. Another Rob performed a staff spinning routine using a prop with 2 large umbrellas at each end. It was a nice idea but but didn't hold my interest. Perhaps because the prop has too much drag to do anything really complex?
Closing the show was Seb with a club juggling & manipulation act. It was big & impressive with lots of flashy flourishes & some big multiplex tricks with 5 clubs & a 5 club cascade with outside spins was a worthy finish for the Open Stage.
Very well done to Matt for pulling it together. Lots of variety, lots of quality.
Later in the evening concern was expressed over the security or lack thereof. They seemed to be more interested in hanging out in the bar rather than manning the main gate to the campsite despite repeated requests to do so. I impressed Simon with my badge control (kettling) ability until they came back.
The Old Skool
New for this year was a Grumpy Old Men/QI style panel show hosted by Jay Linn. The panel consisted of Guy Heathcote, Ben Cornish, Dave Jellybean, Michael Ferguson & Toby Philpot who were tasked with spinning yarns from their experience over the years prompted by various cue card subjects. It's difficult to write anything meaningful about this other than it was a really enjoyable, interesting & very amusing evening's entertainment. One which I hope will become a regular fixture at the BJC.
One highlight for me was Guy trying to find a way to defend poi, "um, ah, um ah..." ad infinitum, "they come in lots of nice colours!"
Renegade happened in the beer tent this evening due to the Cirque Normandie not wanting alcohol in their tent. Bungle did a fine job as host for what little I saw (a guy stripping on a unicycle, Jack singing a song, Pete doing some whip cracking). But it was difficult to get a good view so I spent most of the time chatting at the back.
Friday
We woke to a thick blanket of fog. I tried out the showers in the leisure centre which were a lot warmer than those in the block at the campsite. The showers were split into cubicles, but the shower heads all shot out the door so you had to stand outside the cubicle to receive any water. The showers were also button activated but the moment you let go the shower stopped which made showering difficult. Many apologies to those people walking through who witnessed some of my 'hands free' methods of keeping the shower running.
After breakfast it was back to the main hall for a bit more of a juggle. My right shoulder was still very crunchy but functioning. Tony Pezzo was drawing a lot of admiration with lots of studly club tricks such as (6x,4)* with the 6s on singles, 5 clubs with a balance, 5 clubs with triples from one hand, singles from the other.
Andy from Hastings taught me the highlights of a passing workshop he attended earlier that focused on zaps (short half spin passes). I particularly liked a simple 4 club pattern where both jugglers pass zap zap zip,one on straights one on crossings.
In the afternoon it was time for...
British Young Juggler of the Year
Our comperes for the evening were Rosie & Charles who I thought were a lot of fun, very lively but at the same time relaxed & maintained the energy between acts. My only criticism is that costume is just as important for the compere(s) as the acts & they did bring on the next act before the stage hands had finished setting up on a couple of occasions.
Opening the show was Mark Watson with what I think was the first comedy juggling routine seen in a BYJOTY competition so well done for that. It was a very well put together routine revolving around a 'How to put together a BYJOTY routine' audio track. It was very well thought out & well performed. It was choc full of in-jokes that made me laugh out loud, but I wonder if this counted against him in the judging because it would not be a re-usable act?
James Maidment wore sparkly shoes & performed a slick cabaret act. I was offended & highly amused by his opening kendama trick.
Ashley came on stage wearing a bright orange shirt & a spangly waistcoat. That's good - a nice visible costume. But wandered around stage as if he was just passing through but decided he was going to do a show. Who wears an orange shirt & spangles if they are not going to perform (too picky?)? He juggled balls & clubs. Pretty good but didn't stick in my mind.
The next act had loads of stuff going on with a flip chart that I couldn't read from where I was sitting round the side. His ball juggling though was pretty sensational with lots of Dave Kelly style behind the back blind tricks & combinations. It was a bit droppy but very highly skilled. I think a dropless performance would have seen a much higher proportion of the audience vote go his way.
Jason Lu woke up on stage & performed lots of nice siteswaps with balls. The routine was good & relatively drop free, but didn't excite me at all.
I'd already seen Sam Goodburn on the renegade stage at Crawley so I knew what he was capable of. We were treated to a wide range of Really Hard Stuff™ such as a unicycle kick up mount, juggling 2 balls on one foot & foot stalls while juggling on a unicycle. As an act I felt it was very disjointed, but the wow factor was enormous.
We then had a ball passing double act who did lots of side by side patterns with interesting takeouts. I could tell they were very good, but I couldn't get a good view of what they were doing from my side on seat. Shame. Well done them for a creative way of getting round the votes for individual performers only rule.
A chap from Wales pranced about in a flat cap & wellies which was fun & I always like the catching of a hat on a club balanced on the chin. I don't like overuse of the enforced rhythmic clap though.
The final act was Luke Hallgarten who is currently studying at Circuspace with a dynamic club routine. He used all of the stage well, & juggled with lots of last second catch tricks. Another slick & well presented act.
While the votes were totted up we were treated to the best trick competition. Highlights included Sam with a 3 ball 1 up pirouette & also a helicopter kick up back into a 3 club cascade while riding a unicycle. Numbers legend Alex Barron pulled off a DB97531 back into a clean run of 7. There were some very nice 3 diabolo suicides. One very tiny lad did an excellent genocide combo trick & also a sweet vertax move which really wowed the crowd. I expect big things from him in the future.
This was by far the most professional, stand out BYJOTY show I have seen. Ieuan deserves a lot of credit for the build up to the show which clearly had a positive impact & is one I hope will continue. For that he can be forgiven his faux pas of incorrectly announcing Luke as the winner of the competition. There was a lot of confusion but it turns out that Sam Goodburn took away the top honour of British Young Juggler of The Year.
Again, well done Ieuan. Top job.
Circomedia/Circuspace Showcase Show
In the evening there were going to be two performances each of the Circomedia/Circuspace Show & a performance of The Event by the Gandinis. There was much deliberation over which to see first. We decided to go for the Circomediaspace show because we thought the tent would be marginally less freezing earlier on in the evening.
The opening act was very odd & involved 3 people crawling on stage carrying chairs, then arranging props on & around them in different ways. Perhaps an advert for Ikea?!
As per previous years the acts were interspersed with skits by the first year students to some funky electro swing sounds which we enjoyed dancing to in the back row.
My notes for this show are lacking but I remember a girl in a white dress & silver hoops doing lots of very fast & smooth hoop swinging. A contact juggler did a piece with a large stage ball that could be wedged in various places of a chair, this act in particular contained a lot of nice ideas but lacked polish. A guy in a stripy t-shirt performed a great rocky ball juggling act with lots of impressive 4+5 ball shower material. Very upbeat & enjoyable. A club juggler was amusingly carried on stage & positioned in a collapsed state around a table. I particularly liked the point where he had 2 clubs balanced on the upturned table's legs then causually walked through with a 3 club cascade & went into 5. Nicely done.
The Gandini Juggling Project - The Event
The queue for the first Gandini show wound its way through every corridor of the leisure centre but well worth the wait.
It was really nice to see young jugglers Jon Udry & Arron Sparks make the A team.
It is a little pointless picking out individual bits from a Gandini show because it works so much better as a whole but I'm going to do it anyway. I was impressed by Kati's 3 ring triplex pass. I liked the section where the whole troupe balanced a club while 2 of the troupe took turns to steal clubs for some snappy 3 club spots before handing them back. The Melee of the whole troupe juggling lots of balls doing more Really Hard Stuff™ was phenomenal. Each time someone pulled off a big trick they'd shout 'yes' or 'no' depending on whether they landed it or not. Great to see some WJF level juggling in an artistic setting. There was a spectacular 4 person 20 ring line. Sean running forward to rave about a Prechac pattern in typical Seanese, then hearing it again in German then Italian really made me smile. As did Arron sprinting in circles, good running that man.
In the evening we got decked up for the black & silver party. I just had a nice shirt & trousers with a ridiculous silver bow tie. Kevin wore his beautifully tailored pink dinner jacket which is possibly the sexiest jacket I have ever seen & received a lot of attention for it. Although perhaps not quite so much attention as the lovely young girl in the silver hot pants. Who again did not receive quite as much attention as the equally lovely Tom Derrick sporting nothing but a bow tie & a thong.
The band for the evening were the awesome Scooby. They played a great set list of covers from all eras that encouraged a lot of bouncing & shouting. I danced myself sore & shouted myself hoarse. Yet another band leaves a BJC delighted by the enthusiasm of their audience.
Saturday
...was a very groggy morning. Emily, Kev & I helped tidy up the aftermath in the bar in the morning. I had a chat with the barman to say thank you for what a great job they were doing, I think this was one of the best run bars we have ever had at a BJC. The barman was all smiles & gushing about what a great time he was having.
Even by my standards I over did it with breakfast.
I helped ferry the parts of the huge balloon dragon made by the BBMC to the seafront. I traveled on the bus completely hidden under a mass of latex which was fun as I got to play at being the disembodied voice of the dragon to scare the kids. We took the parts to the parade starting point & assembled them together.
I've never really been interested in the parade but I did watch it move off from the big viewing tower. I liked the idea of having a team of whip crackers clearing a path at the head of the parade. The Samba band were excellent & I really liked the group of contact jugglers wearing their acrylics on their heads too.
The space for the games was too small for the number of people & the PA system was too quiet, but Pete & Russell did a fine job as hosts. I had a go at 3 club gladiators but there was no space to move & I didn't last very long. Simon & I had a respectable attempt at the long distance passing.
Before the games finished a group of 9 of us went off in search of somewhere to eat. Main organiser Steve recommended some Italian places near the theatre so off we trekked. The first restaurant we tried was completely empty, but they decided to refuse us entry. Now I know I do look a little tramp like but really? We still come from Royal Tunbridge Wells don't you know. In the end they probably did us a favour because the next restaurant we tried couldn't have been more welcoming. All the staff had a great sense of humour especially the Maître d' who enjoyed brandishing Cat's whip at his serving staff. Good food, good beer & good company. It was a great evening out.
Which was only going to get better because then it was time for...
The Public Show
You know it it going to be a good show when the likes of Luke Wilson & Arron Sparks can only make it to the level of stage hand :)
Donald Grant ably took the reins as compere.
Opening the show was Phil Os with a spectacular diabolo routine. It did unfortunately contain some unnecessary glow & I have to agree with Mini though that the soundtrack was about 100 decibels too quiet. Aside from that it was big & bold with no build up, just straight into the spectacular stuff. All performed with high energy & appropriate head banging. A storming start.
Ian Marchant did a comedy street routine which would have been awesome on the street but went on too long for the theatre. I really liked his finishing trick despite taking too long to get there.
Matthias Romir performed 2 spots in the show his clown character shuffled on stage & performed some really nicely done hat manipulation with disappearing/reappearing glasses but unfortunately he milked it a bit too much. He then went on to create an amusing juggling mini man by wearing his hat & glasses on his bent knee & a coat around his leg. My favourite trick was the shower with the balls rolling down the brim of the hat.
Matthias' second spot used a weighted helium balloon that threatened to drift up into the rafters, in between pulling it down again he would perform some snappy club manipulation & juggling. Excellent timing. He then pulled up his hood & inflated a balloon in front of his face & drew a cute smiley face on the front then continued with lots technical club manipulation performed blind. Woo!
Smashing the shows camp homo erotica quota was Gunnar Erik. In amongst some astonishingly solid hand balances with seemingly zero flailing or counterbalancing with his other hand (the aloof & controlled flicking of dust from one of the canes was a nice touch) was a lot of tongue in cheek posing including gratuitous pectoral & buttock flexing. Donald also helped send up the act as his assistant. Nice chest hair Donald!
Closing the first half were the Gandini Juggling Project with one of their beautiful gloclub routines. I'm told that there was an almost mistake but it totally passed me by. Well deserving of the standing ovation.
From the US, Tony Pezzo performed a sensational ring routine beautifully combining technical & manipulation. The 5 ring outside pancake throws was sensational. Best ring routine I have ever seen.
I don't get Rod Laver. I've seen him perform his ping pong ball routines dozens of times now. But he still amazes me, & I still laugh really hard.
Tigris performed a hula hoop act with contortion. High skill indeed but I was not excited by this act.
The finale was Françoise Rochais who juggled parasols & rings in period dress before whipping the costume off & going into some modern high level technical juggling with batons. It was slick, classy & dropless. A fine way to close the show.
Congratulations to Luke & Donald for assembling a very fine line up & running an excellent show.
Back to site I had a brief spell in the bar tent. I wasn't particularly fussed by the band that was playing so went over to the hall. I chatted to Void about kendama for a bit before being enticed into the late night combat. It was good to see our Simon playing really well & that it is not just me that he can make look stupid without any visible effort. It was also nice to see a lot of the stars from the public show joining in as well.
Tony Pezzo called me an arsehole (asshole?) for taking him out, at first I thought I must have clipped him when I hit his club but no apparently I'd just taken him out from behind (dude I was totally beside you!). I don't think I'll ever get these limitations on play. At TWJC our only rule is 'try not to hurt anyone', which unfortunately wasn't being succeeded at. I retired myself after taking a fist to the face to staunch the flow of blood from my mouth (in the shower before I went to bed I also found 3 massive yellow & purple welts, only 2 of which I could account for).
I sat out for a while to recover & watched from the walkway to see Hairy take one to the face which resulted in a chipped tooth. He then started the next game by charging into the centre of the circle screaming, "COME ON YOU FUCKERS!" then proceeded to systematically charge (& I really mean charge) at each person in the circle in turn knocking them out then running back to the centre to reclaim his dominant position. Each attack he made was what I'd term kamikaze but he was pulling off attack after attack. With every person he took out the excitement built that he might win the game & myself & the other spectators cheered him on. Seeing him take out the last remaining combatant was a moment of pure joy & Simon, Nigel, Andy & I applauded our respect.
Sunday
In the morning I cleared the wreckage from the beer tent again then pulled up the nails & the fuck off tape in the camp site.
There was a pause for the business meeting which was very positive. Good luck to York for 2013.
In the afternoon it was time for the sad occasion of the BJC closing show...
The Gandini Juggling Project - Smashed
It was another typical Gandini piece, a huge well choreographed masterpiece with lots of interesting stuff but this show included a lot more humour than usual. On the back row we were all chuckling to ourselves throughout the whole show. There was lots of innuendo revolving around the boys trying to woo the girls, Jon Udry's manic dancing fit the bill perfectly, Owen always makes me laugh the way he hams it up. I thought the section where the girls crawled on all fours while the boys performed floor juggling moves on their backs was rather odd. The section where everyone ran a 5 ball cascade while Sean tried to distract them with a rolled up magazine - waving it in front of the eyes, poking in the stomach, even garroting the juggler was a lot of fun. Even more fun was when jugglers took turns to perform Really Hard Stuff™ while everyone else screamed "BORING!" & other jeers to put them off until they dropped. The whole show was on a constant upward gradient finishing with a chaotic china smashing finale that was immense. Pure magic.
Tents came down over the afternoon Simon & I spent the whole time constantly picking up rubbish & ferrying bin bags to the pick up point. Seriously people how hard can it be? Interestingly I found a Blackberry phone partially trodden into the mud, I believe 3 wallets were also handed into lost property. Be careful people!
By the evening we were among the last on site, just us, the Cirque Normandie & Food Groove crews & a couple of other jugglers. The bar staff who were still full of smiles told us that they would be leaving a couple of started barrels of Juggling Convention Ale that would be chucked in the morning so we should help ourselves. Result!
So we certainly did, we took up residence in the kitchen where I cooked up pretty much every bit of food I had left for Kev & Simon & we had quite the feast. We also finished off our cider, vodka & made a good dent in the leftover ale. We were joined by 2 lads from the Scottish Borders Juggling Club, John from Southend & 3 peeps from the Food Groove. We chatted about the festival & all the shows. I thought it was really nice that one of the non-jugglers from the Food Groove was able to pick up the Sean & Kati were together by the way they juggled together.
Kev received a call from Amie asking him to give one of the keys to the Cirque team, so the pair of us made the daring expedition across a pitch black campsite with the world's most ineffectual wind up torch. We tripped over & walked into every single obstacle on the field & got tangled in the plastic net fence. We finally made it to the Cirque caravans making a very drunken & giggly racket while failing to find a door to knock on. We were startled by a shadowy figure sneaking up on us out of nowhere (probably thinking we were the local yoof), but in the end he was happy to take the key.
The next morning we had to chip our way out of our icy tents. John from Southend joined us again to help finish off the remaining fencing which all had to be restacked for pickup. We spent even more hours clearing loads of rubbish. It is amazing what people will throw away, the Salvation Army were very grateful for a lot of left over food from the Food Groove & also some tents & brand new duvets that were also left behind. Next year people might want to reevaluate the mixers they buy. We must have easily poured away over 30 half started bottles of soft drinks.
I don't think I have ever been so exhausted after a festival. I had a wonderful time. Thanks again to everyone for reminding what a wonderful world the juggling community is. Congratulations to big cheese's Amie & Steve & their team of Kevin, Graham, Dave, Emily, Mini, Jane, Sam & Lorri for pulling together a superb event.
#bjc2012 #conventionreview
Re: The 25th British Juggling Convention
Wednesday
Travelled to the BJC by bus, train, tube, train and bus. Arrived about 2pm on site to be offered a cup of tea while I put up my tent. Got set up, went to Waitrose with Tom, Steph and Caspar for food and then headed to registration. Collected my registration stuff, finished getting set up, then settled into behind the registration desk. This year we attempted to keep a better record or not just those who arrived, but also of what merchandise had been sold. Worked okay I think, not too much additional work. My eye was still bothering me so I had a pretty early night.
Thursday
Started my day with a German Wheel workshop - big up to the ever popular Torwood Wheelers! Then took over from Sam P. and Jane R. at registration. Closed up registration desk and then went with Paul R and Sam P to get a fabulous sheish kebab that evening. At this point I have to give my thanks to Luke W. for being omnipresent when artists arrived - I never had to go hunting for him, which made my life at registration so much easier - note to others running a show at other B/EJCs. Missed the Open Stage show as I was covering registration desk (it doesn't run itself you know).
Friday
Opened up registration desk (before 9am), did a few hours before attending Paul Silver's very interesting workshop on light. Friday was a very busy day. Friday afternoon was BYJOTY, where I was running drop count (I've been involved in the drop count for the last 4 BYJOTYs), assisted in the counting this year by Alistair and Dr Alice (from Leeds jugglers). I did enjoy the "acts" this year, definitely more professional this year - more thought given to the entire performance. The extra work in preparation does pay off. Went back to registration desk, then saw the Gandini show - I always enjoy watching them, I have especially fond memories of watching Owen and Malte at my very first proper juggling convention (in Dublin). This was all followed by the party; was surprised at the lack of effort by some of the younger jugglers (especially in comparison to the slightly older bunch).
Saturday
Opened up registration desk (it's a bit of a trend). Bit of a stressful morning as we had sold out of gala show tickets, so the only ones available were at the theatre. As this was the day of the parade/show, it was relatively quiet; I was covering the desk until about 3:30 when I then caught the bus into the "Travelcentre" of Southend, where I wandered down to the seafront to catch the aftermath of the big toss-up. Went for food beside the theatre - where I was spotted by a family who I had helped out at the site earlier in the day (and again on Sunday morning) - they'd christened me the "green lady". We had just settled into the reserved seating to discover that the theatre staff decided to open one door, but not the other. As this would have caused a riot if it had continued, we decided to do the theatre staffs' job at the other door to let jugglers in at the same time. Discovered that this was due to a staff member "running a little late". Despite having what should be one of the best seats in the house [about 6 rows back, bang in the centre], I was disappointed with my view, mainly due to the flat nature of the seating plan. Back onsite on the second lot of buses, I headed over to the Ladybird tent for the alternative games, hosted by Rob T. and assisted by Steve C. Tasteful (!?!) nakedness ensued. Contributed some of my Glen Moray whisky to the cause there.
Sunday.
Mainly consisted of packing up, tidying up the registration area and selling merchandise, all before seeing Smashed. Then walked to the train station, got train, walked, tube, train (first class upgrade meant that I avoided the pigeon shit in Paddington - that in itself was worth the extra £5) and bus back to my bed.
Monday
Went to work. Just about coherent. Went home, decided to have a nap before juggling then got a message from Lynne asking if I wanted my excess baggage dropped around to my flat - I had been so tired that I slept right through Monday night juggling!
What was missing from all this? No juggling. Every year, I bring my props. Each year, they remain in my tent. Really, I shouldn't bother bringing them - I should just borrow some clubs if I do find time to juggle. I do juggle, honest (as those who attend Altern8 in Bristol on a Monday night will testify), but I'm also exceedingly good at drinking tea.
I had a great time, although I did find the shade of lime green on the crew t-shirts and hoodies a little harsh on my skin tone, especially when tired. However, they were visible from a distance and easily identifable, and didn't show a huge amount of dirt quickly which are the main criteria for crew colours.
I did also attend the "How to run a BJC" workshop - can't remember what day it was on (either Thursday or Friday). So why do I do it (all this volunteering, not much juggling at conventions) - well jugglers are brilliant [and I did attend a record number of workshops for me - BJC2011 was the first time I've ever attended a formal workshop at a
large juggling convention].
I've written a series of brain dumps that I may refine into something more cohesive on running different aspects of juggling conventions; an awful lot has steeped into my brain over the years and we need to ensure that the knowledge is passed onto others to avoid the same mistakes being made. It is, after all, preferable to learn from the mistakes of others rather than your own.
Anyone who missed out on getting a #BJC2012 t-shirt or hoody: they are now available for a (very) limited time only in the BJC online shop .
Nah, went for a massive blog post instead (and even then didn't do it justice): https://t.co/dVL9ekCd
I see your "massive blog post" & raise you "you can't possibly expect anyone to read all that?!"
Brook Roberts - - Parent #
I read it :) A good account of the week - I don't often read forum posts that long!
A lovely read, thank you! I missed Hairy's gladiatorial frenzy, but enjoyed reading about it greatly.
Errata:
It was only Matt's 2nd BKC title.
"focussed on zaps"
girsl
While we're at it, their was an incorrect "their" in place of there. But to point that out would be really petty.
PS - interesting review.PPS - yes, it's delibarate.PPPS - so is that.
Thank you for the corrections.
I could have sworn Matt has won 3, but I was thinking of his SRC win.
BJC 2012 Business Meeting.
A round up of the #BJC2012 business meeting is here - bit.ly/HROa4n. Any further suggestions and offers of help to ideas@bjc2013.co.uk please!
Any particular reason for the Word document? Any objections if I stick that up on Big Talk which would be a bit more accessible?
Well done for the most positive business meeting I've been to in years.
I particularly enjoyed the bit where the guy from New Zealand suggested we should integrate more with the clown festival!
Now also available as https://thebritishjugglingconvention.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=BJC_2012_Business_Meeting_report , I hope more copies aren't necessary!
RegularJugular - - Parent #
necessary maybe not, although I think as a 'hive' for information of that kind of specialist value the edge wants it, but perhaps big talk is not the place for it.
RegularJugular - - Parent #
although I'm not really the one to talk, I'm just fascinated by the 'meta-dynamics' of the community
Nope, just that I didn't want to wait to put it up as a Big Talk post when I was posting it everywhere I could think of (feel free to post links to the wiki version anywhere you think it would be of interest that I didn't get to) and I was too lazy to copy & paste and then reformat it as post text. I am a Lazy Juggler, after all ;)
I just got back from #BJC2012 approximately one slap up meal ago. I had a fantastic festival, which was just what I needed. I'm going to spend the next few days writing what I thought of it all hopefully to finish before the weekend which if you want to read everything that I've got to say you might want to keep free in your diary...
For now I'll drop one of many many highlights for me: The manic Saturday night gladiators was great fun if a little brutal, I picked up a number of flesh wounds over the course of play.
I sat out for a while to recover & watched from the walkway to see Hairy take one to the face which resulted in a chipped tooth. He then started the next game by charging into the centre of the circle screaming, "COME ON YOU FUCKERS!" then proceeded to systematically charge (& I really mean charge) at each person in the circle in turn knocking them out then running back to the centre to reclaim his dominant position. With every person he took out the excitement built that he might win the game & myself & the other spectators cheered him on. Seeing him take out the last remaining combatant was a moment of pure joy & Simon, Nigel, Andy & I applauded our respect.
I have never worked so hard at a convention & can honestly say that it is in fact very easy to spend many hours volunteering every day without missing out on anything.
I've got lots of praise for a lot of people but for now I'm just going to say kudos to Topper & Simon who worked like Trojans especially over the last 2 days. Next year we'll wear nothing but red cloaks & a loin cloth (oh wait that was the Spartans, nevermind, I'm sure Tom D would gladly join us).
Coming back, logging in then seeing the Edge light up with notifications was a very pleasing sight. Thank you Marvin for looking after the place while I was away.
Right, best deal with this queue of invitation requests...
I look forward to reading when up it is written.
It also now know who you are, we very briefly spoke near the start of the party, just in front of the band. I was the one in a dinner jacket with a homemade silver bow tie.
#BJC2012 Photo thread. Share yours!
Here are mine - more than half of which are not kendama-related! https://tlmb.net/galleries/BJC2012/
I think my phone cam may actually be better than my iPad cam.
Official BJC pics: https://yfrog.com/user/BJC_2012/photos
No-one else got any? I'm sure there must be some Basefook galleries out there....
Just back from a great BJC. I wondered about writing what might be my first ever HLGCBBQS but nah, I'll just ramble a bit instead. Highlights included:
Being back at a UK convention. I've liked the Dutch and German things I've been to since moving but there's no place like home!
Watching the 40 minute Gandini show from a sofa in the overlooking bar with the sound muted.
BYJOTY - Was great to have the luxury of a difficult struggle to decide who to vote for. There wasn't a bad act and it was the most 'on message' BYJOTY I've seen. I voted for Luke Hallgarten in the end (though I'd totally failed to recognise him from the last time I saw him at Lestival years ago). I thought Mark Watson also went undeservedly uncredited. Cheesy, but it did actually work! It was also interesting that there were no diabolo acts. That's quite a change from a few years ago! Kudos to Ieuan for pulling the whole thing together so well.
It was strange to fly home from an airport 10 minutes drive from the convention on a packed flight conaining only three people who had been at the convention. Also fun that the airport staff seemed so friendly, but then I guess they've only had two weeks in which to become jaded.
Very little juggling. Was good to have a pass with Mamph for the first time in ages but don't think I did any more than that! A little diabolo, but my main success was probably a bit of hopefully useful 3 diabolo advice for a few people. Though now I look back perhaps I should have just told them not to bother with all the effort and suffering.
Only three weeks 'til Lestical...
Cedric Lackpot - - Parent #
Luke introduced himself to me in the gloom of the BYJOTY tent, where I'd snuck in early to spam the fuck out of L! He said "Hi Jay, remember me? I was in the Lestival show" and I just stared blankly at him and after a while he said "It's Luke". It was a struggle to match the lean, young adult face staring back at me to the slightly chubby nerd who rawked at L!
Also, I completely agree re Mark Watson. His act will either be forgotten, or eventually belatedly remembered as one that fitted the brief like a glove. I've chatted to Mark about it already, and some of the Fever crew, and we're all in agreement that it was a seriously underrated piece. I look forward to great things from Mark, so long as rampant capitalism doesn't get him first!
Oh yeah, and although I'd wondered how the Grumpy Old Jugglers thing would actually turn out (I'm sure I'm not the only one [looks pointedly at Jay]) it really worked. I'd wondered if some of them would cheerfully rattle on by themselves for the whole thing, but I think you just about kept them under control. I wonder how repeatable such a format is?
I'm completely determined to repeat it, and I've already been trying to strongarm Kati Yla-Hokkala into sitting on it.
Little Paul - - Parent #
Yay!
Tom Derrick - - Parent #
Mark's act certainly didn't go unnoticed at the judges table, but we were limited with the prizes that we were able to give. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see Mark to tell him how much I enjoyed his act.
I thought Ieuan did a great job organising it, but I did mention that I thought a couple of very good acts went uncredited.
lukeburrage - - Parent #
How did the awards change this year so someone who deserved it couldn't be rewarded for doing a good job? The way I set up the awards was that everyone who did a good job got recognition. If the show improves and the competitors do better acts as a result of the rule change, that's cool, but from the comments here it seems someone might have got a bad deal out of it.
As I understand it (from the explanation given to the audience before the show), it was as follows this year:
BYJotY is unchanged - audience vote. [Sam Goodburn]
Best trick [Sam Goodburn, cascade -> club kickup -> cascade, all on a unicycle] is more or less unchanged, although Gballz gave a prize of 5 balls to the best ball trick in the best trick competition this year [Alex Barron, db97531].
Judges' Choice has been merged into the medals.
If a gold medal is given (same criteria as before), they are the Judges' Choice and a silver medal will be awarded to the judges' 2nd choice.
If no gold medal is given, the judges' favourite act is given a silver medal (and this act is the Judges' Choice) [Ashley Harris].
Bronze awards may be awarded. One was awarded this year [Chris Noonan], I don't know if they were told to give exactly one; no more than one; or unconstrained.
I believe that physical medals now exist for the gold/silver/bronze awards. This may be related to why exactly one silver is awarded.
Cedric Lackpot - - Parent #
I'm readily prepared to believe that the panel might not choose to reward Mark's piece, but I thought it was daft to constrain them to just one silver. I was also incensed that the members of the double act were told that they could only receive individual votes, which was just a blunt instrument to stifle creativity.
To which their solution was placing one box atop the other box to prevent one of them from getting any votes.
I don't think this went down well. I also believe that this was the reason behind Ieuan's faux pas[1].
--
[1] - balls-up would probably be the correct phrase. I'm just glad that it was Luke who was the one who was wrongly told that he'd won - He seemed to deal with it rather well, and I don't think that everyone in BYJotY would have been able to deal with it.
mike.armstrong - - Parent #
The root cause of Ieuan's faux pas was the decision to consider the double act as individuals, not by them stacking of the voting boxes to beat that stupidity. He wrote his list like this:
Adam
Bill
Chris
Dave
Ethelbert & Frances
George
Harry
Ian
...and he knew that act number 7 had won. He counted down his list and get to number 7 and announced the winner, but because 5 and 6 were on one line he gave the name of act number 8 by mistake (actual numbers may vary).
Luke seemed to handle it remarkably well - good on him!
Ah, that makes more sense.
When he said that the double act had made him read out the wrong one, I'd figured that he meant that the double act were disqualified for box stacking, so his 1 2 3 became a 1 2 3' for example (where 3 != 3'), and he'd read out 3' 3 2 instead of 3' 2 1. When in fact he read out 3 2 A where ((&A) == (&1)+1).
Now I think about it, Ockham's Razor would suggest that I drew a rather bizarre conclusion[1].
--
[1] Can anyone confirm, have I indeed correctly-ish applied Ockham's Razor here? It's misunderstood most of the time, but I reckon I might have worked it out after an example I saw recently.
lukeburrage - - Parent #
When people asked me about double acts entering before, I said they could enter no problem, but they would only be up for judged awards (gold, silver, judges choice, convention awards) and not the audience vote. I did this specifically because the title of BYJOTY should (in my opinion) go to a single juggler, rather than a pair or group.
As it happened, nobody ever got round to doing a double act, so the problem never arose.
Tom Derrick - - Parent #
We were only allowed to designate one award at each level.
I can't speak for Ieuan, but the impression that I got was that he had wanted to simplify the awards, and had come up with this system. It may have seemed like a good idea on paper, but it didn't really work well on the judges table, as we felt that we were doing at least one act an injustice. I hope that it will revert back to awarding prizes based on reaching a particular standard, rather than trying to pick who were the better two out of three very different acts.
Brook Roberts - - Parent #
Certainly almost everyone I spoke to seemed to think the old system of having the awards represent a certain standard was preferable. But given the rarity of gold having bronze seems to make sense as a way of giving the judges more flexibility, but only if they aren't constrained to one of each.
Add me to the list of people that thinks constraining the awards to one each is less preferable. With a potentially wide variety of props and styles of act that can enter BYJOTY it makes sense to judge the awards (not prizes note) against individual criteria related to the style and purpose of each act.
The Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain and the Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival are hardly kiddies pass the parcel events now are they?
Cedric Lackpot - - Parent #
^ Indeedy.
Ieuan had a discussion with myself and husband and a few others about the BYJOTY prizes. Most of us thought it was weird that lots of people were given a silver award, no one gets a gold award and there wasn't a bronze award. BYJOTY didn't seem to be taken very seriously or get the standard that it should get (depsite efforts from those involved with it before and now). So it was suggested that we have one gold (if deemed suitable by the judges), one silver and one bronze. The other prizes as far as I knew were still valid.
The standard this year was very high and it is a competition - it's not a kiddie's pass the parcel where everyone should get a prize. Yes there were some acts that were very good but clearly they weren't quite as good as the ones that were awarded silver and bronze by the judges - for whatever reason.
By the way - I thought Mark's act was great but there were a few mistakes in it.
I think Ieuan has done a fab job and I personally liked the new format of prizes, but then I am biased.
mike.armstrong - - Parent #
I agree that this years show was the best that I've seen so far (I've only missed one, in Norwich, and was a judge in all of them before that one) - but I don't think that the prize structure was the cause of the improvement. Ieuan spent a lot of time making sure that acts signed up in advance and therefore had the opportunity to think about their performances properly and then he put his efforts into encouraging the competitors to use their time to plan and prepare.
It was that preparation that was missing in many previous entries and I don't think you can argue that changing the prize structure led to the improvements. I'm still unsure whether I like the new structure better or worse then the old one (my gut says worse, but I'm unsure if that's just a reactionary "change is bad") but Ieuan's efforts to get the competitors thinking about their performances is to be commended - I think it paid off in spades.
Little Paul - - Parent #
This.
From the couple of acts I've seen on youtube, they look a lot more like *acts* than previous years. I put this down to Ieuan's hard work over the year on the blog/facebook groups associated with this, encouraging forward planning and preparation, pointing people towards performance advice and tips, giving them things to think about in advance.
I didn't see much from him over that period which talked about the prize structure, so I think you could have given away toffees as prizes and the show would likely have been the same high standard.
Whoever takes it on for the next year needs to do as much promotion and active encouragement of the preparation/performance side of things next year - it clearly worked this year!
For those that don't know. One of the things Ieuan did was run a blog with lots of useful advice.
I think Ieuan deserves an enormous amount of credit for this year's #BYJOTY.
Little Paul - - Parent #
Does he have an edge account? He certainly deserves an award.
Tom Derrick - - Parent #
Ieuan did a great job in getting people to think about their acts, but the result is determined by how seriously people take their entry.
Last year, I sent regular emails to the participants, encouraging them to think about costume, props, music, character, etc. There were a number that took things on board, and there were some that flat out ignored everything that I said.
When I had entered in previous years, Luke had given a fair bit of encouragement to turn my tricks into an act.
This year's BYJotY is a great example of all the entrants pulling their collective fingers out, which is wonderful. I do think it's a little erroneous to say that the blog and Facebook were the reasons for this, as similar information has been dispensed almost every year.
Little Paul - - Parent #
Good to hear BYJOTY went so well. Also good to hear Luke has stuck with juggling. I think last time I saw him was at Crawley and he was asking us for suggestions of what trick he should try next.
"Can you do the one where you pull your trousers up properly?" still makes me chortle quietly to myself.
What a great few days. My first solo BJC since the mid-90s, which was a bit odd, although it was nice to just turn up with a rucsac containing a tent, sleeping bag, change of clothes and five clubs rather than the vast kit the family travels with to conventions.
I thought the organisers did a fantastic job - everything seemed to run well with a chance to juggle, sit, play, watch and party - especially the last given it was the 25th. Friday's Black and Silver party was a particular highlight with a kicking covers band, far too much Juggler's Ale (I'm not sure my liver will thank whoever organised the late bar license) and lots of dressed up (and undressed) people. The public show was excellent with the Gandinis being my favourite, although I loved Mattias as well. Hell, even the hooper was entertaining in a bendy camp kinda way.
Not a great deal of juggling on my part, although I had a few nostalgic passing sessions with old friends. I enjoyed learning about locks - nice one Pete! Definitely one to repeat. Looking forward to York next year - when I came back Alex was already talking about how we should take the family next time.
Well, if no-one else is going to use the tag, I will. #BJC2012
I had a great time, and a huge THANKS! to Amie, Steve and the team. The kendama day on Thursday was of course the highlight for me - good clickin' times. But I also enjoyed The Old Skool quite a bit (although Ben bored me senseless with his drug stories), Toby P was great. I'd like to see that happen again, with 1 comment taken from the crowd on each cue-card subject, and at least 1 woman on the panel too. Well done Jay for making it all happen.
Public show was very good (see other thread) - kudos to Donald and Luke for that. It was cool to see Don Robertson present the Special Achievement awards (or whatever they were called), and I approve of the recipients too.
The big gym was great - traders around one edge is good, and the walkway down the middle was a good viewing point, if lacking in seating. Having a "wheels side" also worked really well. Hot showers in the gym! Cold showers at the camp site! Well, it's good to have a choice, right?
Watching the Gandini show from the bar was top fun. Missing #BYJOTY 'cos I didn't fancy the overly long show that it invariably is, and then finding out it was only 9 acts, and the awards were stripped-down this year, and the acts were all at least a bit "act-ish". Sounds like Ieuan's doing a good job there. I'm more inclined to go next year now.
I inadvertently did no juggling apart from with stringed props - until I related a story to Jack on Saturday night, and then realised I'd done some cigar box tricks to do so. So then the clubs came out.
Cat's cradles in the ears. Kendashboard. Setting up yellow wood trades. Too hectic to win^H^H^Hplay the quiz properly this year.
"...and the young pretty one." - Pete
"Strawberry flavour is... weird" - Ceri-Ann
"How is this professional?!" - Eden
"Did you see the diabolo string race in the games? Did you like the kid who sped his up the wrong way?" - Ginger Tom.
Other thoughts vanish in the haze....
Meanwhile... York!! Good on yer, Sam & co, and good luck! You fools! ;-)
Cedric Lackpot - - Parent #
The at least one woman bit is a sore point that I should've addressed, but I caved in the end and chose blokes. Sorry about that.
magicalmarkwatson - - Parent #
Just a quick message to thank you, Barnesy, for your kind words about my act - I always appreciate feedback from people, helps me improve and refine what I'm doing.
I would just like to add, having seen all the acts from BYJOTY in the tech run, that my personal favourite was Jamie Maidment. He performed a good technical circus style routine which is just the sort of thing I enjoy! You can have a look at a video of his performance here - https://youtu.be/aYNlAny8JPk
Cedric Lackpot - - Parent #
A bit of digging in the source code reveals :-
https://youtu.be/aYNlAny8JPk#!
Will it work? Who knows?
RegularJugular - - Parent #
This makes me wish I hadn't missed the BJOTY :(
Ah, that's his name! Yeah, he was another of the strong candidates for my vote, though I think I remembered him less than other acts by the end, which doesn't seem a fair reflection.
I think the video may not be working because it's unlisted. Orin?
re BJYOTY, I think this was definately the best show I have seen, the acts are getting more profesional every year. I particularly likey the first 2 acts. I'd also like to mention the young comperes, Rosie and Charles who I thought did a fantastic job, they were funny and kept things moving well. I thought it was a mistake not to have let them do the awards, they were doing so well and I know had material prepared for the finale and could probably have handled it a bit better. Shame that the acts didnt get the feedback they usually do from the judges especially given the obvious effort they had all made to put on a good show. BYJOTY's first dropless act(Ashley) did get a worthy mention, overall an excellent show it was a great pity that it fell a little flat at the end.
Brook Roberts - - Parent #
Just wanted to say I also thought the comperes were very good.
Thought I'd drop the #BJC2012 Public Show order from last night here, for those who missed it!
MC: Donald Grant
Phil Os (diabolo)
Ian Marchant (comedy)
Matthias Romir (Pinball Paranoia)
Gunnar Erik (handstand)
Gandini Juggling (Gloclubs)
-INTERVAL-
Tony Pezzo (rings)
Rod Laver (Ping-pong balls)
Matthias Romir (clubs and balloon)
Tigris (hula-hoop)
Françoise Rochais (batons)
Stagehand without compare: Arron Sparks
THANK YOU ALL!
Luke
Little Paul - - Parent #
That looks like quite a lineup - how was the show?
Cedric Lackpot - - Parent #
The show was pretty good. But where the feck were you?!?
Ian Marchant was doing the wrong act; Matthias Romir was really rather good but must've irritated the just-throw-the-bloody-props brigade, and it's hard to justify giving him two spots; Gandinis were like toadally ossum dude, one half-drop in the entire routine by John Motherfucking Udry, which is his new name; Francoise Rochais was lovely, hardcore, and very sexy with it; the hand balancer was a macho hoot and looked like he was really enjoying himself; Rod Laver did the usual, which would be a shoo-in for any convention show but I think I've seen it four times now.
All in all a pretty good BJC show, I've seen better, I've seen quite a few that were worse.
Little Paul - - Parent #
I think when it comes down to it, I'm just a bit rubbish at doing all the little organisational bits required to get me to a convention these days :/
I'm intrigued though - which routine did Ian do, and which do you think he should have done?
Cedric Lackpot - - Parent #
He did what mini tells me is essentially his street act, in which there was far, far too much waffling and build up and very little action. I honestly can't remember what the big trick was since it took an age to go through his cheer-in-a-bag schtick. Fine for the street but it seemed completely out of place for a BJC show, and was also at odds with the rhythm of the other acts in the half.
I've no idea what he should have done, but the other act of his which I can recall seeing, the plate spinning number, would've been a better fit I think.
He did the act which he headlined Ballring with this year. Ends with the teatray flip. Unfortunately audience involvement just encouraged people to repeat non-funny "heckles" ad infinitum.
I wouldn't have thought so, there was no official filming and people were asked not to film during the show.
Why? his is really sad.
And it remembers me that nobody answered my Big Talk post about putting entire performs online.
Why? Presumably because the artists didn't give permission (which is entirely within their rights). You would have to ask each artist for their own reasoning (there are hundreds of reasons they could have, I would only be speculating). It's perfectly normal in other performing arts for permission not to be given for recording of live performances (theatre, dance, music, etc).
Also, while the venue has a license to play music in public, we don't have any right to redistribute the music from the acts on the internet. Even if all the acts agreed to filming (which it seems they didn't), we'd have to replace all their music with differently licensed music, which would spoil the point rather.
I agree that it's a right of who's performing, and the post on big talk is exactly about that.
Take a look there if you want to.
About the music.
Not always. Now youtube signed some kind of contract with ECAD, so you can put songs on youtube without strikes on your account (it depends of the song) , and the ad revenue goes to ECAD (ok, is not a great thing but it's something)
Changing the song of the act for another one it's not an option, it'd totally suck, for sure.
I did look into having a DVD made of the whole convention including the show and also just the show. But it was too costly and not only that we'd have only been able to include 90 secs of each act. So overall it wasn't worth doing. We'd never get enough money selling the dvds to cover the costs of getting the made - especially as the draw would be the full show, which we didn't have.
Very sad but we will all have the memories of the show which for one thought was amazing :o)
A very good show. My problem is I've seen so many shows, it's hard for me to be seriously wowwed by an act or a show any more. (And yes, I realise this is a reflection on me, and not on any acts themselves).
Donald did a great job, nicely paced, some good gags (and bad-good ones too), and never stayed on too long. Plus bonus kendama appearance! But Donald, why tease us with the jitter ring and then not use it? :)
Phil got the show off to a cracking, high-energy start. Very good stuff. (Apart from the minute of glow-diabolo, which to me smacked of "making my act up to the required length for a variety contract". :-) )
Ian was just too long. Cut in half, and it would have been fine. Sorry Ian, I know you were probably doing exactly what you were asked to, but although your skills and comedy were good, there was (as others have said) way too much of the "are you ready?!" schtick.
Matthias' first act just didn't get me. I've seen it twice now, and both times the crowd seemed to love it, so I guess it's just me here.
Gunnar rocked, with added rock. First trick, "BAM! Screw you, THIS is how good I am!". Oh yes.
The Gandini gloclubs act is uberlush.
2nd half kicked of with "BJC achievement awards" (or something). Awards to Charlie Holland, Max Oddball, Charlie Dancey, Haggis McLeod and Henry's. Yep.
Tony Pezzo also rocked. Finally someone has struck exactly the right balance between toss juggling and manipulation with a ring act. Bloody good.
I've seen Rod a few times now, and he was excellent again. (This was one of the several times that I was reminded of my jaded-old-fart status by the teenage/students in the crowd around me applauding wildly/laughing like drains.)
I really liked Matthias' 2nd act. Dammit, people, he's doing all that shit with a balloon in front of his face! Cool.
Tigris was very good, but I think I prefer his "Sailor" act.
Françoise was kick-ass rock solid. I vaguely wonder if this is the first time a female has headlined a BJC? Couldn't have asked for a better one if so.
Thank you Luke & Donald.
Just to complete for posterity.
"Awards to {Charlie Holland, Max Oddball, Charlie Dancey, Haggis McLeod*} and (Henry's **)."
And:*Sean Gandini**Michael Ferguson.
{} = for contribution() = for props
Just for accuracy:
The awards were -
5 for 'Outstanding Contribution to British Juggling' which went to:
Charlie Holland, Max Oddball, Charlie Dancey, Haggis McLeod and Sean Gandini.
2 for 'Innovative Prop Design' which went to:
Michael Ferguson aka 'FERGIE' for his Fergie bags (he's the reason we now have sportco, gballz and baglady. He designed and made that style ball first. The others only started when he stopped making them because of his arthritis in his hands.
Henrys for their clubs and fantastic after sales care.
I think this might be my first juggling-related post here...
I've had lots of fun passing slow vs. fast patterns this month.
As an into: two-count vs. three-count. Alice does two-count, catching only with her left and passing with her right, feeding Bob's hands. There are no hurries, Bob simply does more selves, throwing with alternating hands - but always at Alice's left. It was fun to do, but I like my patterns more symmetric.
Hence: PPS vs PSPSS. The first pass for both jugglers is thrown straight, starting simultaneously, the second pass in a set is diagonal. After the PP, take as much time holding onto that club before throwing the S. Also, make everything floaty, especially the second pass in PPS.
Once you've got that down, switch sides after every (other) set.
I didn't think of these myself. Surely, there are more. Does anyone know some I could try next?
Little Paul - - Parent #
I don't have any odd-count versions, but I have had a lot of fun trying to fit tricks into "4count vs 6count" and "2 count vs 4count" before now.
There's also something which is a mix of 3count and 4count, which repeats on both sides - but I can never think my way through it without doing it and don't have a good enough grasp of the notation to work it out from scratch. Bah! If I was at #BJC2012 I could just juggle it and ask someone else what the hell it is!
I'll see your "Bah! If I was at BJC, I could pass a pattern" and raise you "If I was at #BJC2012, I could pass that pattern with my girlfriend, whom I haven't seen in weeks"... Wrong continent.
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