 www.juggle.org |
IJA eNewsletter March 2025 Editors: Don Lewis & Martin Frost |
CONTENTS
- What does it mean to “connect” in our juggling community?
- 2025 IJA Festival, July 14-20, Evansville, Indiana
- FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
- IJA Board nominations open, will close on May 15
- Enter the IJA Juggling Championships
- Getting to Evansville
- Downtown Evansville Pub Crawl tickets available
- Call for chapters for upcoming book on juggling education
- Joe Murray 1959 – 2024
- Circadium Summer Juggling Intensive
- YJA Badge Book
- IJA Board meetings
- Upcoming juggling festivals
- Latest articles in eJuggle
What does it mean to “connect” in our juggling community? Benjamin Domask-Ruh
Hello IJA Community!
This was a long month. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes one month just feels longer than another, even though their measurable durations don’t actually fluctuate all that much.
I spent March finishing up a work trip in Puerto Rico, emceeing a juggling festival show (MONDO in St. Paul, Minnesota), having dozens upon dozens of meetings with arts organizations and artists, and leading yet another teaching residency for juggling with a rural school system in Northern Minnesota.
I listen to a lot of podcasts while traveling. (No, really, I listen to a TON of Podcasts. Including the official IJA Podcasts!) I also watch a large number of documentaries about performing. And teaching. And the economy and … you get it. What prompts me to tell you all this? It’s a verb. It’s a verb that keeps following me around. It’s a verb that I see daily:
To connect:
So, naturally, I started thinking about what it means to “be united physically” to the juggling community. First, we are physically connecting with our props. Our shared understanding of this connection is part of what makes us a community! But then I think about how there’s something funny about how when you’re passing, you’re not PHYSICALLY connected at all! We are connecting, but there’s a relationship to time and space that you need to understand in order to see that connection. But what about when we are not juggling?
One way this is happening for me is hearing from readers who reach out after the newsletter is delivered — it’s great knowing that these messages resonate. I always make time to have a chat and answer questions when new ideas come in from our members. But as the annual festival registration starts to ramp up, I am starting to think about the importance of connection this year. How do we approach one another with openness and support? How do we continue to encourage each other? What are ways we can ask ourselves “what would I like” or even “what wouldn’t I like” in an interaction?
For me, connection looks like this:
I’m going to keep showing up and listening to the needs of the community and supporting where I can. I’m going to continue creating a welcoming space wherever I show up — a space that takes interest in how we have grown and changed over the past year. I’m also going to encourage first-time festival attendees to try something new! I’m going to visit and hear stories from those members that have been coming to festivals since before I juggled!
I believe this is how I can render assistance to my fellow jugglers. By connecting with them with genuine interest, an openness to new ideas, and a commitment to learn from past ideas! What will connecting mean to you this year?
And on that note…. If you have any thoughts or ideas you’d like to share, please feel free to reach out to me at ija.chair@juggle.org. As a member, you are always welcome to attend our board meetings by sending me an email for a Zoom link. Or you can see what the board discussed each month by reading the minutes.
RA2FJ,
Benjamin Domask-Ruh
IJA Board Chair
2025 IJA Festival, July 14-20, Evansville, Indiana Martin Frost
Registration has opened for this year’s IJA Festival in Evansville, Indiana. Early bird pricing is available until Noon ET on May 16. Online registration, including vendor signups, ends at Noon ET on June 8.
The Festival website has info on the festival location, including how to get there by air, car and/or bus. Reservations at the IJA hotel — Doubletree by Hilton Evansville — should be available on April 1 via the fest website’s Lodging page. More fest information continues to be added as it becomes available.
For registration information, including pricing and deadlines, see the Register page.
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) Afton Benson
It is not unusual to encounter people who have not been to an IJA festival who say something like “Gee, I really should have gone to the festival.” Well, yes, they really should have! The festival is a great time, you make new friends and learn new things with a community. There truly is something for everybody, regardless of skill level. In fact, there is a lot of something for everybody from beginner to expert.
Last year, a first-time attendee expressed their amazement at the number of entry level workshops in different props through the week. When over 600 people get together who are passionate about the same thing, everyone wins! Maybe you’re outstanding at spinning poi, but you’ve never had a chance to learn club passing and don’t have the props to take the workshop — no problem, people who attend love to share. The IJA festival is a fantastic place where you can try anything in a supportive environment.
Don’t let your friends have IJA FOMO this year! Whether you have been to an IJA festival or this is your first time attending, reach out to a couple of friends and invite them to come along. Once they have been to one festival, they won’t be able to resist another one. When you consider the price, a week at the IJA is an incredibly good value. The IJA has locked in incredibly low hotel rates for the festival that are significantly below market value. Room sharing makes staying at the festival even more affordable and fun! The IJA community is outstanding because of people sharing; sometimes that’s an invitation to the IJA festival, and other times it’s volunteering to teach a workshop or work registration.
We can’t wait to meet you in Evansville, IN!
IJA Board nominations open, will close on May 15 Martin Frost
Nomination are open for members of the IJA Board of Directors. Board members will be elected during the annual IJA Festival in Evansville, Indiana, with all IJA members age 13 and over eligible to vote at the festival or online leading up to the festival.
The IJA Board of Directors manages this nonprofit corporation for the benefit of its members. The board is composed of seven people, with elected directors serving two-year terms. Approximately half of the seats are up for election each year at the IJA Festival.
The directors are asked to meet in person at the festival. Each board member is expected to communicate regularly by email, must have web access, and will attend online meetings once or twice a month. Directors should expect to spend some hours each week on behalf of the IJA.
In addition, all candidates should understand that the members of the Board of Directors are legally responsible as fiduciaries in setting the goals and policies of the IJA, managing its finances, overseeing its employees (if any), and administering its programs. At all times, the members of the Board of Directors must act in good faith and in the best interest of the corporation. The IJA maintains Directors and Officers Insurance to protect the board and officers.
This is a great opportunity for you “to render assistance to fellow jugglers.” Nominate someone, including maybe yourself. That’s right, it is perfectly acceptable to nominate yourself.
Information about the nomination process is available at www.juggle.org/business/nominations.
The nomination deadline is 11:59pm PDT on May 15, 2025. Participate!
Enter the IJA Juggling Championships Martin Frost
Now is your opportunity to enter the IJA Juggling Championships, the finals of which will be held on stage at the IJA Festival in Evansville, IN, on July 16, 2025. Total prize money for the competition is $4800.
There are three divisions: Individuals, Teams (two or more jugglers), and Juniors (individuals under 18 years old at the time of the finals).
To enter, polish up an act of five to eight minutes for Individuals or Teams, five to seven minutes for Juniors, and finish the entire entry process below by May 11, 2025 (in any timezone).
Potential entrants should read the IJA Juggling Championships Rules to understand the requirements for an act and how it will be judged.
Competitors who intend to use music in their act must read the IJA Music Policy to understand what music can be used.
Make a video for the preliminaries of one unedited single-camera shot of your complete routine, shot in landscape (horizontal) orientation, with live audio and your music (if any), making sure to satisfy the other requirements of the rules. Upload the video to youtube or vimeo using the settings listed in the rules.
You also need to pay the $25 entry fee and submit an entry form by the above deadline.
Finalists will be announced around June 10, 2025. Individuals and Juniors competitors who qualify for the finals of the IJA Juggling Championships will receive a FREE festival event package, and Teams will receive this benefit for up to four people per team. (Finalists who register for the festival with an event package before becoming finalists will be refunded the full price of their event package.)
If you have questions about the IJA Juggling Championships, please email ijachampionships@juggle.org.
Getting to Evansville Mike Sullivan, Senior Future Festival Site Coordinator
If you’ve never been to Evansville, Indiana, you might be wondering what the best way is to get there.
Well, with Evansville, you have choices! And not all of them may be obvious, so before you lock in any plans for your travels, check out these options.
Fly to EVV
You can fly to Evansville Regional Airport (EVV) on American Airlines or Delta Airlines. There are flights from Chicago/O’Hare (ORD), Charlotte Douglass International Airport (CLT), Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport (ATL), and Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW). Both carriers operate daily flights from their world hubs and connect to hundreds of cities on five continents. Check FlightsFrom.com to see the best route to EVV from your city.
Fly & Drive, or Fly & Ride
Some travelers may want to investigate options available by flying to either Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) or Nashville International Airport (BNA), then riding a bus or renting a car and driving to Evansville. Evansville is 127 miles from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport and 157 miles from Nashville International Airport.
Both Louisville and Nashville are served by every major US airline, including discount carriers Southwest and Frontier. You can likely save a bunch on airfare if you don’t mind driving or taking the bus to Evansville from BNA or SDF!
- From Louisville, take a taxi to downtown (7 miles, ~$25), then take Miller Transportation bus to Evansville. Total travel time is about three hours and typical fare is around $60.
- From Nashville, take the local city bus (WeGo Transit Route 18) to downtown Nashville, then take Greyhound bus to Evansville. Total travel time is around four hours and all-in fare is around $40.
Explore options, routes and fares on Rome2Rio.com.
More info on getting to Evansville is on the IJA Festival’s Location page.
See you in Evansville!
Downtown Evansville Pub Crawl tickets available Mike Sullivan
Don’t skip the best way to start your festival week: with a fun and easy walking tour and pub crawl of downtown Evansville! Along with a casual stroll through downtown, you’ll get familiar with a dozen or more of the best spots to eat and drink in your festival home for the week.
The tour is set for 2pm Monday afternoon, July 14, 2025, and tickets are available at just $25 each. But space is limited, so get your tickets today in the IJA Store.
We’ll step off from the lobby of the Doubletree Hotel downtown, then peek into our juggling spaces in the Old National Events Center. Next, we’ll pop into the gorgeous Victory Theater, site of the evening shows and championships. We will continue with a leisurely walk through downtown with stops at the best local places to dine and drink, stopping for three cold pints and pointing out how easy it will be to stay fed and hydrated all week!
Not all the best places in downtown Evansville are easy to find! Your tour guide for the afternoon has literally “been there, done that” during three prior visits, and knows every nook and cranny around our festival venues!
The tour is just $25 per person, and includes three local draft beer pints at stops along the way and check-ins in over a dozen other spots close to our IJA venues. We’ll wind up at a local dinner favorite for an OPTIONAL group dinner with your old and new IJA friends.
So make plans to be in Evansville in time to join us at 2pm on Monday, July 14. Sign in to your IJA member account at juggle.org, and then click here to buy your tickets! You’ll receive an email the week prior to the festival with full details on our tour.
See you then!
Call for chapters for upcoming book on juggling education Benjamin Domask-Ruh
Juggling Education in the 21st Century: Exploring the Art and Science of Juggling Pedagogy
The International Jugglers’ Association (IJA) and Modern Vaudeville Press (MVP) are seeking contributions for a publication on juggling education. This book will examine methodologies, techniques, and theories in juggling pedagogy and will feature long-form essays (3,000–5,000 words) and short-form essays (1,000–2,000 words).
To participate, submit a proposal no later than April 30, 2025. Click here for full details.
Joe Murray 1959 – 2024 Alan Howard
Juggler, comedian, and magician Joseph Murray died on December 11, 2024, at his home in Connecticut.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Joe’s family had no show business background, but his mother loved the theater and took Joe to Broadway shows as a child. One of Joe’s cherished memories was of having his hair tousled by Joel Grey when the star went into the audience during a performance of George M! This led to an unexpectedly emotional encounter when Murray happened to run into Grey in New York many years later.
While studying Photographic Sciences at RIT in Rochester, New York, to earn gym credit Joe signed up for a juggling class taught by Greg Moss. Joe had learned to juggle earlier, but when he saw Greg passing clubs with the other students Joe realized there was a whole world of juggling he knew nothing about. He became fascinated with the art and after college took up a career as a juggler. At the same time, he was practicing magic, studying with Bruce Teall and performing close-up with magicians Joe DeLion and Paul Kozak at the Arigato Steak House in Rochester; Murray’s routine with The Hanging Coins became an audience favorite. He performed juggling — balls, clubs, rings, cigar boxes, torches — and magic at the Storytown USA amusement park in Lake George, New York, all summer.
While Joe’s father, a Brooklyn police officer, had serious doubts about Joe’s choice of career, his opinion changed when he saw how successful Joe was at Storytown; once he saw how much money Joe was making, he was able to respect a career in entertainment and knew that Joe would be able to survive just fine.
Joe also began performing at resorts in the Catskills. With his natural flair for comedy, he was pressed into service as an emcee and entertainment director. While he always thought of himself as a juggler, it was his innate knack for comedy that carried him even further in show business. Joe had the ability to create something funny out of nowhere. It was often goofy comedy, but people liked him, so they liked what he was saying and doing. He enjoyed making people laugh wherever he was, not writing down routines but improvising and gradually honing the bits onstage.
He began producing Joe Murray’s Comedy Concerts at a club called Bicycle Annie’s in Albany, New York in 1984. A visit to Tom Mullica’s Tom-Foolery club in Atlanta inspired Joe to open his own magic bar with a magician friend. The Magic Sanctum in Lake George became a venue for Joe to perform each night, as well as bring in stand-up comedians from New York City, many of whom went on to great success in the industry. Throughout the 1980s, Joe produced comedy shows in several cities, but when the comics (such as future Late Night with David Letterman head writer Bill Scheft) convinced him that he could become a stand-up himself, Joe took his act on the road, working the burgeoning comedy club circuit and frequently appearing at Catch a Rising Star in New York City. Comedienne Adrianne Tolsch became a mentor to Joe, making sure he got a lot of stage time. Realizing Joe had a keen eye for spotting talent, she pushed him to become the talent booker for Catch, but Joe declined, as he wanted to be onstage and not stuck behind a desk in an office. Still, Joe was able to help other talented comics along, such as Colin Quinn, Gilbert Gottfried, and Bill Hicks. Hicks’s style of humor was rather obscure and offensive in the US at the time and it was Joe who recommended that Bill go to England, where he would be better appreciated. Hicks gained acclaim and recognition in the UK before returning to wider success in the States.
Joe married juggler Susan Kirby in 1989. They first met at the RIT Spring Juggle-In in 1982, then reconnected at the 1987 IJA Convention in Akron, Ohio; Susan joined Joe on the road soon afterward. They worked comedy clubs together across the US and performed in Japan in the early ’90s. In 1997 they settled into a two-year run with their own magic and variety show at the Atlantis resort in Nassau, Bahamas. Joe performed his improvisational style of comedy along with juggling, magic, a comedy straitjacket escape, and fire eating. One of the comedy highlights was Joe’s performance of a variation on Cards Across that he learned from Tom Mullica’s book. A true variety artist, Murray even performed hypnosis shows. Typical of Joe’s style, he simply read a book on hypnosis acts, figured he could do it, and charmed the theater owners into booking the show.
Joe and Susan presented both solo and duo routines. Their show in the Bahamas was titled “Joe Murray’s Magic and Variety Show with special guest Susan Kirby,” with most of the serious juggling being done by Susan. As Susan did the more technical juggling in the act, Joe would, in their words, “mock” her routines, comically trying to duplicate her feats and keep up with her.
The first routine they created together was with cigar boxes. They later considered this to be a “trademark” routine that truly displayed who they were onstage. The sequence of alternating serious tricks with silly shtick made their characters clear to the audience, as the people applauded Susan’s skill and laughed at Joe’s antics. They also performed a tightly choreographed hat routine, inspired by videos they had seen of Homer Stack and Bob Brock recreating two-person hat moves that Homer had likely learned while in vaudeville. Despite Joe’s casual and fun-oriented demeanor, he was — as is Susan — a dedicated researcher into juggling history, collecting and preserving the art in various ways.
After leaving the Bahamas, the duo began working under the name The Airborne Jugglers. Joe always wanted to be onstage and never wanted to retire, but he and Susan did tire of traveling. Simply wanting to “have a house with our stuff in it,” they remained busy with performing and other show business pursuits while staying closer to home. Joe was always willing to assist in the careers of other acts that he believed in. He was an enthusiastic participant in show business, on and off the stage, happily laughing and applauding other performers as much as audiences did for him. As quick as he was to make everyone else laugh, he was just as quick to laugh at others’ jokes. Joe’s laugh was hearty and natural, and was so distinctive that comics onstage would immediately know where he was in the audience, and know that their material was working.
One of Joe’s dreams was to be a music producer, and he is the executive producer of an upcoming album by singer/songwriter Hannah Winkler. He was also a skilled photographer, specializing in 3-D photography and proud that his photos were included in a book, Queen in 3-D, about the rock group Queen; the chapter on Paul Rodgers is comprised entirely of Joe’s photography. Murray was personally invited by Sir Brian May to attend a gallery opening in London that included Joe’s work on display.
While Joe’s death at age 65 was due to a sudden heart attack, Susan believes the actual cause was Joe being heartbroken, having never recovered from the death of his older brother a few months earlier.
For more on Joe Murray and Susan Kirby, see “The Airborne Jugglers: Laughing Matters,” originally published in the Jan/Feb 2005 issue of JUGGLE magazine.
Circadium’s Summer Juggling Intensive Shana Kennedy
June 9-13, 2025
Are you looking to:
- expand your technical skills
- build stage presence
- explore dynamic movement qualities
- and find your own style as a juggling performer?
Circadium’s Summer Juggling Intensive is a time to immerse yourself in all of these things. You will dive into Circadium’s model of creative teaching with some of the top circus educators in the United States. And the week culminates with a group performance at the Philadelphia Juggling Festival.
Whether you are considering full-time training to become a professional circus artist, or you just want to spend a week pushing your limits – Join us!
Prerequisites:
Ages 16 & up
Video demonstration of intermediate / advanced juggling level
Cost: $575 / week
2025 Instructors:
Greg Kennedy & Luther Bangert – juggling
Jacinta Yelland – theatre
L Feldman – dramaturgy
Annie Wilson – dance
Shana Kennedy – circus history
For more info, or to register: circadium.edu/summer-intensive
YJA Badge Book
Did you know that the IJA’s Youth Juggling Academy has a book? It does!
The Juggler’s Badge Book is the ultimate companion for aspiring jugglers of any age! Track your progress, unlock achievements, and earn badges as you learn the art of juggling. With its engaging format and rewarding sticker system, The Juggler’s Badge Book makes learning to juggle an exciting and fulfilling adventure. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned juggler, let The Juggler’s Badge Book be your guide to skillful juggling and a collection of well-earned accomplishments. Start achieving your juggling journey today!
The Juggler’s Badge Book is $25 and makes a great gift! Purchase yours today! Proceeds go to supporting further YJA initiatives and advancing the IJA’s mission to render assistance to fellow jugglers.
Published by the International Jugglers’ Association in collaboration with Modern Vaudeville Press.
IJA Board meetings
IJA Board meetings are open to all IJA members and are hosted on Zoom. To find out the times of this month’s vision and business meetings, or to attend, please email ija.chair@juggle.org and say which meeting you’re interested in.
Upcoming juggling festivals
For a list of upcoming juggling festivals, please visit our friends over at The Juggling Edge.
While you’re there, visit their list of juggling clubs.
Latest articles in eJuggle
- March 28, 2025 – Obituary: Joe Murray
- March 27, 2025 – Three audiovisual materials of juggling in the Historical Archive of Luce
- March 26, 2025 – Juggling clubs by “Pana Malabar” from Venezuela | IJA Tricks of the Month
- March 25, 2025 – Mejora tu malabarismo – Plan de entrenamiento para un rendimiento óptimo
- March 25, 2025 – Two Old School Newspaper Balancing Tricks
- March 22, 2025 – Drop Everything Episode 137: Henrik Bothe
- March 20, 2025 – Alexander Turabov – Juggler, Tightrope Walker, and Musician
- March 19, 2025 – Poi spinning by Nomedigancris from Colombia | IJA Tricks of the Month
- March 18, 2025 – Tux The Juggling Chef
- March 11, 2025 – The Diabolo Collection of The Museum of Juggling History
- March 08, 2025 – International Women’s Day collaboration video 2025
- March 05, 2025 – John McPeak Obituary
- March 04, 2025 – Obituary for Henrico (Björn Gammals)
- March 02, 2025 – Juggling Interviews Episode 12: Spencer Androli