The IJA is proud to present excerpts from the works of noted juggling historian Karl-Heinz Ziethen. This chapter is from the book Juggling–The Past and Future Juggling has long been a staple of variety entertainment, and as ocean liners evolved from mere transportation vessels into floating entertainment hubs, jugglers found new opportunities to perform at sea. In the early days, …
Top tips for starting to perform your own show
By Steve Rawlings So you’re thinking of making the big move and start performing, Here’s a few tips to help you along and avoid some of the mistakes I’ve made along the way 1/ Don’t wait for that one big trick that will make everyone sit up and pay attention, get out there and start doing shows. 2/ Do as …
Playing Cards – An Unexplored Juggling Prop
By David Solomon As a teenager, I received a giant, 545-page book for Christmas. On the cover, a man in a top hat balanced a ribbon of playing cards spread across his outstretched arm. The book – the Encyclopedia of Playing Card Flourishes by Jerry Cestkowski – excited me with its wealth of possibilities. I had no idea that one of those …
“The Big Lemniscate” Juggling Pattern
By Michael Newton On Sunday, January 18, 2026, 40 jugglers performed a “big lemniscate”[1] at the O’Keefe Middle School in Madison, as part of the 47th Annual Madfest juggling festival. Lemniscate is a funny math word referring to a figure-8 shape (see fig 1.), and “The Big Lemniscate” is a fun club-passing pattern involving a whole bunch of jugglers moving steadily …
A Juggling Mystery Solved After 43 Years (Finding Raymond Cloutier)
By Billy Prudhomme I always say that the pinball of life bounces in a LOT of unexpected directions. This story is a prime example of that. I learned how to juggle from a book that I bought in a mall bookstore during the week between Christmas and New Year’s in 1981. The book, Juggling For The Complete Klutz, came with …
Advice for working on cruise ships
By Steve Rawlings Hi Folks, Since cruise ships seem to be very much where the work is nowadays I thought it might be nice to share some basic information on what they’re looking for and what it’s like. They want family friendly shows. As a headliner artist with guest privileges they want at least a 45-50 minute main stage show …
Negotiating prices /How much should I charge?
By Steve Rawlings So you’ve got your act together and you’re ready to hit the road. Now I think it’s time to tackle one of the most important things you’ll ever need to know about in your career as a performer: MONEY!!!! What am I worth and how much should I charge? The straight answer to this is that you’re …
Thoughts on Putting a Routine Together
By Steve Rawlings There is no right or wrong way to write a new routine and put all the tricks together but I thought it would be good to share my process and get your thoughts and comments. I’ve recently put a new routine into my show and am working it into the act as I write this. First of …
Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Juggling
By Jesse Shavel 1. Less is more. If you do something with perfect form correctly, it is often beneficial to move on to something else. This allows your muscle memory to remember how it’s supposed to be done. I can’t tell you how many hours of my life I have spent trying to get a personal best when it …