You need to take a (The) Shower (3) (Interview Part 1)
This week I
started to learn "The Shower", which is a new type of 3 ball
juggling. For those of you who are new to my blogs, I've mastered the regular 3
ball cascade and plan on learning two more 3 ball juggling patterns before
moving onto 4 ball juggling.
Click here to see a video that briefly explains the pattern!
Click here to see a video that briefly explains the pattern!
3 ball juggling wasn't too complicated to learn and I had a lot of fun doing so! It took me about a week to get the motions down. Here is a video of the longest I've juggled for:
I used the
Library of Juggling to learn the new juggling pattern. The website provides
animations and explanations on the patterns, which makes it easy to follow yet
hard to keep up with. I chose the "The Shower" pattern to learn
because the website listed a regular three ball cascade as a prerequisite, so I
thought it would be very fitting to learn.
libraryofjuggling.com
I began to
learn the pattern the same way I learned 3 ball cascade: plastic bags. Who knew
such lake-polluting, earth-destroying, global-warming-creating bags could prove
to be so helpful? I'm really happy about this discovery because of how much
improvement I've made because of this! I talk more about my use of plastic bags
in my juggling process in my last bonus post, so go check that out!! Learning
"The Shower" was definitely more difficult than learning a regular
cascade because it is a completely different and more complicated movement. In
a regular 3 ball cascade, your hands and arms are kinda just chillin' there
waiting to throw and catch the ball. But in "The Shower" it's a
constant movement of spazziness.
Needless to
say, I am not very good at "The Shower" thus far. I can't totally do
it regardless of hardworking attempts this week. I've used the Library of
Juggling and YouTube videos for learning guides, which have been very helpful,
but I still can't get it down!
Part of my plan in the beginning of the project was to learn two new 3 ball juggling patterns, but I believe it's in my best interest for future juggling skills to spend more time mastering "The Shower", rather than half mastering it and half mastering another skill. In the wise words of Ron Swanson…
Part of my plan in the beginning of the project was to learn two new 3 ball juggling patterns, but I believe it's in my best interest for future juggling skills to spend more time mastering "The Shower", rather than half mastering it and half mastering another skill. In the wise words of Ron Swanson…
https://www.tenor.co/view/ronswanson-nickofferman-wholeass-halfass-neverhalfass-gif-3565471
So, this
upcoming week I will be continuing my learning progress with "The
Shower". I plan to practice the skills more and improve my coordination,
since that seems to be my major problem.
In addition
to learning "The Shower" this week, I also heard back from some
jugglers that I reached out to a few weeks ago.
The first
juggler I heard back from was Dave Landowne from the International Jugglers
Association. He told me he was a juggler in addition to the webmaster of the
IJA site, and he emailed me as a representative juggler. I asked him about
why/how he learned to juggling and the skills needed and acquired from
juggling.
jugglers.org
David
Landowne explained that he was compelled to learn juggling after seeing an
impressive yet basic juggling act at his local community theater. He said he
taught himself under an apple tree in one afternoon, which I thought was a
really unique anecdote.
Besides from
the ability to throw and catch a ball, David says "The other skill is
patience with yourself". He explains that you, the juggler, are always in
control of the ball. When mistakes are made, jugglers get easily frustrated.
You have the power to change the direction or timing of a throw/catch, so
learning to be patient with yourself and your developing skill is very
important. David says learning patience is a skill that has contributed to his
everyday life, as well as being able to catch things that accidentally fall off
the table. Haha.
http://www.collegehumor.com/post/6987398/15-cats-knocking-things-off-of-tables-until-the-end-of-time
David also
advised me to show my skills to a juggler. This will
1. eliminate
any embarrassment or performance anxiety
and 2. allow
me to ask and receive advice on my specific juggle
David
Landowne's response was extremely helpful, valued, and greatly appreciated!! I
decided to reach out to an actual group of jugglers in Philly, called the
"Give and Take Jugglers"!
Stay tuned
for a bonus blog about what Alison Wattman and Dave Gilles from the "Give
and Take Jugglers" had to say about their experiences!
Thanks for
reading and I'll ttyl!!
Chao!!
Anna :)
3 comments
Awesome post!
ReplyDeleteHey Anna! I really loved this post!! In the end of it, you talked about how jugglers get easily frustrated. Do you find yourself learning things other than juggling? (life lessons?)
ReplyDeleteSolid 6/10
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, I like the idea that there is 'The Library of Juggling'. Like, I imagine two very serious men like, "Should we consult the Dark Web? The Vatican Archives? A Multitude of Government Intelligence Agencies?"
"Nah Dan, lets go to the Library of Juggling, we'll find the answer there"
Also, I found it horrific that you cut out stephen colbert's hair in one of your photos, which is probably his best quality, aside from his humor.
Lastly, the IJA (International Juggler's Agency) will be hosting its 70th juggling festival in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, from July 10-16th. I challenge you, that I can out juggle you by then, and we'll compete in front of multiple juggling professionals, and once I beat you, I'll go to a juggling college, get a degree in juggling, feel accomplished for three seconds, and go straight to the unemployment line.
Oh yeah, and once again, nice post.