A review of BJC 2014, Darton College, Yorkshire

charlieh - 2014-04-17 13:27:41 UTC #

A review of BJC 2014, Darton College, Yorkshire

Back in the mists of time there were regular long form reviews of conventions posted on Rec.RareWineRedMugenKendama (for the young people, this was on Usenet where we invented long pointless argument threads, before Facebook cornered the market in those). It seems to me this doesn't happen very often these days, so here's my small contribution in the hope others will follow.

I started going to BJCs in 1993 when single - then when Alex became my girlfriend (not at a BJC, as there were only three female jugglers in the UK those days and all of them had far better taste) she came along too, initially for the big shows but eventually to be grappled in acrobalance workshops by large German chaps - luckily I'm not the jealous type. Then we got all sensible, settled down and got married, a house and two kids, so the last few BJCs I've also attended on my own in a retro fashion, lugging a rucsac containing little more than a tent, sleeping bag, five clubs and some beer. Since in the meantime every other juggler has been practising more than me and can do more stuff (this includes the twelve year olds) I usually end up in the bar with the other grumpies, moaning about how we can't take the mickey out of poi spinners any more. This year, however, we were to attend as a family, with Libby ("I'm five AND THREE QUARTERS!") and Ben ("I am four.") - complete with superhero costumes. While dressed up, someone asked them who they were - Libby replied "We're Libby and Ben!!" - so much for secret identities. Fearing camping and the packing involved, we had a booked a cheap hotel a few miles away, situated in an industrial estate built on top of a closed pit and complete with a view of the roundabout (I do like to travel in style), but it did at least serve individual boxes of cereal for breakfast, which impressed the kids no end.

We turned up to site on Friday night, being extra keen and arriving only half an hour after the doors opened. Team Randall, Kat, Bryn, Lazyjuggler Ron and many others were rushing about giving out brown paper envelopes containing bits of paper a lot of people would forget to read and perspex passes that would
light up until the battery fell out later, and setting up a well stocked bar (it's always nice to have jugglers running a convention bar, as they have a realistic idea of how much and for how long we can drink - many's the time I've seen a bar frantically shifting in new barrels after the first night). We met Mandy & Gary's baby Freya, who is very sweet at six months but sadly cannot juggle anything yet, unlike her not much elder brother. She is however very good at gnawing anatomically improbable rubber giraffes and smiling. Libby and Ben dragged me off to explore the site, which was absolutely perfect - a huge central atrium for shows, games and generally mucking about in, surrounded by the cafe, bar, coffee & cake stalls and leading to halls for the traders, a theatre for shows and a reasonably sized gym. After a lot of catching up with friends we returned to the hotel, but I cycled in later for some more chat and beers, a nice downhill run....of course, later on I cycled home, which nearly killed me being mostly uphill. The next two nights I would take a taxi home - cycling in Cambridge is mostly flat, Yorkshire having taken all the slopey bits.

Saturday was the day for workshops, more arrivals and hugging, and watching Libby and Ben collect balloon animals (I'm particularly proud of my Deformed Rabbit and accompanying Mutant Carrots) and join with the juggling - Ben spotted a group of people with 2 and 3 diabolos and went off to join them, although all he can do is get his diabolo spinning. Luckily they've been going to conventions since they were literally weeks old so shyness amongst jugglers isn't an issue. Libby spent a lot of the day reading Dr Dolittle and a weird Australian book called Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (parents, check it out, it's bonkers). Their day finished watching a well-choreographed youth circus show and with the traditional Northern dish of chips and curry, but again I returned later to watch Fight Night (one-on-one club Gladiators, no it's not called Combat in my book) which was lots of fun. We cheered on the two Cambridge qualifiers including Brooke who wins many of our local bouts partly due to his juggling skill and partly due to having arms like Mr Tickle. The event was one by an unseeded Norwegian who sadly didn't resemble any of the Mr Men.

On Sunday morning Alex needed her fix of Art so I took her and the kids to the nearby Yorkshire Sculpture Park - a beautiful place, but I needed more coffee and chat, so returned to the site before picking her up and losing £20 to the parking machine, which needed 4 serious chaps with walkie talkies to retrieve. Back to site for lunch and then the Juggling Olympics, tightly organised by Luke Burrage and launched by Libby and Ben having a 'who can pull the funniest face' competition on the sidelines. We managed to retrieve them before Unicycle Gladiators and a possible trip to casualty. Afterwards it was time to leave for Sheffield and the Gala Show: the kids thought the usual balloon madness before the show started was wonderful. I'm not sure the theatre staff did, looking bemused at the huge modelling balloon chains, volleys of rocket balloons and remote control inflatable sharks getting stuck in the roof - I hope none of them have a latex allergy or are lacking a sense of humour. The show itself was quite long, and a few acts could have been pruned to improve the pace, as could some shorter links from the comperes: we had to bribe Ben with icecream to sit through the second half. His favourite act was the 'funny man who cut off the legs of his chair when he dropped' and Libby enjoyed the glow spinners with their BJC logos produced by a clever LED stick thingummy. I liked the last act although it made Alex sleepy and really enjoyed the Taiwanese diabolists, feeling sorry for one of them who was having a droppy evening but amazed by the skill level of what they were doing. After taking the family back to the hotel I returned for a few drinks and general Renegade avoidance, I'm sure it was all very funny.

We popped in briefly on Monday to collect all our stuff (books, props, part deflated balloon animals, jumpers, coats, a squashed veggie pasty and a bottle of water that Ben had put a grape into) and to say goodbye. The event continued until Thursday so you'll have to wait for other reviewers to describe BYJOTY, the ceilidh, Cabaret and any other shenanigans. We had an excellent time and will return for longer next time - thanks to all involved, you did us proud.