OK, so the preface to this entry is that I somehow have a myspace fanclub. I don’t know how this happened, other than that I think it’s really more of a fanclub for my brother Dan, (the people who started it are all friends of his) but they don’t want to admit that, so they’re diverting their attentions to me.
Anyway, they’ve asked me some questions about when I started to juggle and such, so here was my response:
I started juggling when I got the klutz book of juggling from my uncle when I was probably like 12. I learned to juggle three balls at that point, but no more. It wasn’t until 10th grade, (1992–I would have been 16) when I met someone else who juggled that I started to “get into it”. I think it was shortly thereafter that I taught my brother Dan to juggle. He and I were very competitive at first, but he learned things much faster. I did learn to juggle clubs before he did, but I think he was working on 5 balls at the time, and wasn’t interested in clubs.
So I’ve been juggling for 13 years, or maybe 17 if you count when I first learned.
And yes, I can unicycle too. I’m working toward level 5, and only have to get my wheel walk solid before I can probably pass it. My sister and I are competing to see who can pass their next level first… I have to get to level 5; she has to get to 9.
I can also juggle while standing on a slackrope, and like to work on various slackrope skills like turning around, standing perpendicular to the rope and walking while rocking from side to side.
Right now I’m also taking an aerial acrobatics class from xelias studio here in Minneapolis. (http://watchhumansfly.com/).
Also, after watching the new cirque du soleil show Corteo, I really want to learn German wheel. I have this whole cirque-like routine worked out in my head where I balance inside a huge ring suspended in the air… do a little juggling, maybe some trapeeze type tricks, and then the ring is lowered to the ground, released from the rope, and I roll around in it like a spinning coin. We’ll see if I ever even get as far as the first suspended part…