IJA Festival 2024 Review

Note: All photos and captions courtesy of Emory Kimbrough, except where noted.

Celebrating the 77th Annual IJA Festival in Green Bay, Wisconsin, July 8-14, jugglers trickled into the KI Convention Center on Monday to reacquaint themselves with friends old and new, construct bits of lumber into a formidable obstacle course, and embark on a tour of Lambeau Field, all while vendors set up their tables at the perimeter of the main gym to sell props, books, art, collectibles and memorabilia.

To listen to the eclectic soundtrack of IJA 2024, visit the Spotify playlist here. Note: some tracks contain explicit lyrics.

Planting the Juggling Seed

To get the festival performances started in an engaging and educational fashion, jugglers performed at the Brown County Central Library as part of Planting the Juggling Seed. Casandra Tanenbaum (Florida) emceed the show, describing the production as a way to intrigue, delight and inspire an audience of mostly youth.

Keara Scannell (Michigan), known on stage as Tumbleweed, played Casandra’s comedically talented assistant, flexing her combined skills of trick roping and roller skating while rocking a pair of red- and white-striped overalls.

Meghan McClure of Portland got the show off to a solid start, juggling patterns with one to five balls that incorporated gymnastic movement and lithe arm extensions to the electronic beats of the song Foam Feathers. McClure’s kneepads – adorned with giraffes – were put to good use during her acrobatic act.

Rebecca Rehm from St. Paul, Minnesota, followed, spinning shiny planetary orbs – poi by another name, but the dazzled audience required no such distinction. Rehm’s effortless movement across the stage shined in between overhead spins and five-beat weaves.

Next up was Thom Wall from Philadelphia. To some viewers’ great surprise, Thom’s historical juggling tricks – including a traditional Japanese Edo Daikagura prop balanced on Thom’s teeth, on a string and in a ‘twisty balance’ – were a big hit with the middle schoolers in the audience.

Kaj Fjelstad (Minnesota) appeared on the stage with a humble broomstick that very soon became a devil stick. He also flexed an under-the-leg helicopter throw with flower sticks and some unique handstick releases. Fjelstad finished his routine by spinning two flower sticks atop a rola bola.

The lights then dimmed as Thayer Slichter (Minnesota) presented a smooth routine with LED balls, with well-honed Peruvian mess patterns, boxes, showers and a calm presence that populated the stage with dynamic visuals. Slichter, who was the illustrator behind the Youth Juggling Academy’s badge book, describes himself as “an artist among jugglers and a juggler among artists.”

Next up, Rebecca Rehm returned with partner John Guss to perform an entertaining, daring and comedic routine with club takeouts. At one point, Rehm came from underneath Guss’s pattern to squeeze two clubs together and create a multiplex throw from Guss’s hand. As Rehm appeared to play ‘keep-away’ with the clubs, Generation X’s Dancing With Myself played in the background.

After the show, kids ages 5-13 participated in hands-on workshops to learn feather balancing, juggling and other skills from the show’s performers.

On the same day, jugglers also visited the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Green Bay to present a benefit show and workshops.

XJuggling

The first big event to appear in the convention hall was XJuggling, a fun competition organized by Jack Kalvan challenging participants to throw their most difficult (and ridiculous) tricks in front of a hyped-up audience.

Categories ranged from balls, circular props and clubs to an ‘anything goes’ section, which treated the crowd to inventive maneuvers with spatulas, clown noses, diabolos, kendama, poi, devil sticks and slinkies.

Winners included Delaney Bayles (Salt Lake City), who during a five-ring cascade caught a single pancaked throw between the legs, not missing a beat. Bayles also thrilled the audience with a run of four-club overheads into a flash of five-club overheads (the fifth club was previously balanced on her forehead).

Jonathan Leal Romero of Chile executed an amazing through-the-legs, three-club multiplex that echoed the style of Sean Mckinney, particularly Romero’s thrilling lunge forward to successfully regather the multiplex into a cascade. Judge Arthur Lewbel referred to Romero’s wizardry as “sleight of club.”

Noah Schmeissner (Las Vegas) – fresh from a trip to Paris for the World Juggling Federation – flaunted raw technique in a seven-ball db97531 straight into a one high, four low 360, winning him the numbers ball category.

Stefan Brancel (Michigan) was a standout in the 4-5 circular props category, running a five-hoop cascade with his toddler (safely) strapped to his chest.

From a three-hoop cascade, Amy Wieliczka (Oakland. California) transitioned seamlessly between a forearm and an elbow balance, even pulling off a 180-degree turn mid-balance at the perfect moment of Applause by Lady Gaga.

Jesse Patterson (Philadelphia), who in May performed as a featured act in the Young Stage International Circus Festival in Basel, Switzerland, won the three-circle category with a mind-bending variation of Bramson rolls, keeping three hoops in motion while her back and shoulders gradually rotated to change the pattern’s visual.

Luther Bangert (Philadelphia) performed a backwards kick-up of three balls squeezed between his feet straight into a tricky dots pattern, earning the medal in the three-ball category.

Zak McAllister (Philadelphia) successfully landed a flash of seven-ring pancakes, delighting himself, the crowd and the judges.

In the chaotic beauty of ‘anything goes,’ Liam Halstead (Tucson, Arizona) showcased a faultless five-object cascade combining clubs, balls and rings. Keenan Lampe (Milwuakee) successfully launched, swung, bounced and spiked his giant kendama to the roars of audience approval, while Jared Athias (Portland) completed a blind, behind-the-head two-club exchange in stylish fashion. Ultimately, Francisco Contreras won the title by hopping over the diabolo on his string during a three-diabolo feed the sun sequence.

Welcome Show

The ‘531 Blastoff!’ show got the festival’s main stage performances off to a thrilling beginning in the Meyer Theater.

Fresh off his XJuggling win, Francisco Contreras (Santiago, Chile) launched into view with pizzazz and sparkle, boasting a glittery costume and jaw-dropping diabolo skills. His buttery smooth technique took the diabolos on frequent orbits of his neck and legs, in addition to infinite loops where the handsticks spun in different planes. Contreras also did a two-diabolo fan in vertax, followed by multi-tiered three-diabolo suns that demanded remarkably quick reflexes.

Valerie Solstix (Oakland, California) took the stage next, swapping a traditional staff for a ‘sailor’ model designed with oars on each end. The visual effect was lovely, as was the unflappable way Valerie rolled the staff around her arms, back and atop her feet – a trick only made possible by dramatically flinging her red high heels into the wings. In clear defiance of physics, Valerie spun the staff in a furious upright loop using solely her inner arm.

Tana Karo (Las Vegas) appeared next in an eye-catching blue dress that complemented her shock of red hair and commanding stage presence. In a non-traditional move for antipodists, Karo moved her platform during the act to create different viewing angles of her floaty parasol manipulation, carpet spinning, and a memorable finish with four parasols balanced strategically on one foot.

While the waters of the Fox River ran through Green Bay just a block from the theater, Yushi Yahata (Tokyo, Japan) brought his incredibly fluid style of hat manipulation to the stage next, rolling hats across his back, astride his elbows, and in quick, expressive flashes beneath high tosses. Yahata’s embrace of stillness in between his gorgeous hat sequences curated an indelible feast for the eyes. Video

In a rhetorical shift for the show (and this review), emcee Tony Steinbach (Columbus, Ohio) introduced the audience to Tubey, a ‘wacky, waving, inflatable, arm-flailing tubeman,’ who would bravely stand before Steinbach’s knife-throwing board. 

“There is a chance this goes very poorly,” Steinbach noted, trying not to break character as Tubey flailed hopelessly.

While the first few knives struck the board uneventfully, Steinbach’s final throw served a direct hit to his (non-human) inflatable assistant, requiring a quick strike of the wacky guy from audience view. Video

The shocking moment spurred deep analysis and tributes from jugglers for the rest of the week, and even inspired a 72-page book of fan fiction published by Modern Vaudeville Press, available at this link (Yes, this complete book far outpaced the publication date of this review. No, your review author does not want to talk about it).

To help the crowd regroup from Tubey’s misfortune, Lisa Ellipse and Callum Baker (London) brought a high-energy hoop routine to the stage, moving gleefully about to the driving rhythms of Uptown Funk. Baker juggled a three hoop cascade underneath Ellipse’s outstretched arms, each of which spun two hoops. The pair finished with a solid run of seven-hoop ultimates.

With Steinbach’s begrudging acceptance, Jasper Murphy (Philadelphia) arrived before the crowd to perform a one-man-band routine with an accordion, drum kit, slide whistle, and a myriad of other instruments that created a rousing rendition of the song Tequila. Perhaps not since Michael Lauziére brought his inventive orchestrations to the 2000 IJA Festival in Montreal has someone displayed such musical dexterity for a juggling audience.

To round out the evening, Cyril Rabbath (Las Vegas) entered in silence, traipsing across the proscenium several times in an unhurried and unbothered fashion. Seemingly with the help of a banana snack, Rabbath flung a cloth full of stage balls across the space, which he proceeded to pick up and manipulate in everything from one-ball contact to an incomprehensibly tall five-ball cascade. Rabbath’s routine crescendoed into eight-ball color-coded multiplex patterns that resembled a fireworks display, culminating in an eight-up multiplex pirouette, leaving the audience justifiably enthralled.

Individual Prop Competition

On Wednesday, the Individual Prop Competition highlighted jugglers specializing in balls, clubs, and an open prop category.

Taking on the sometimes unenviable position of judging were Dominique Rabideau, Taylor Glenn, Kaylin Meyers and Mike Moore, while Matan Presberg played a good-natured and talented host.

“We don’t have a strict rubric,” explained Presberg about the judges’ inclinations. “It’s about whatever they choose is important to them.”

In the open prop category, Zak McAllister got things going with three rings, showcasing rolls off of his ears, head and elbows, and throwing in a cross-armed shoulder roll cascade for good measure. The routine garnered him first place.

Yum Yum Yamhari (Atlanta) took center stage next, combining musically grounded footwork and movement with his well-trained staff technique, including rolls across his shoulders and neck, directional changes and physical accents that extended the prop’s inertia from toes to fingertips, earning him second place.

Delaney Bayles brought expert ring technique to the competition, flexing pancake backcrosses to flat overheads, an effortless 3-up 540, and the ability to slide a ring underneath another one balanced on her forehead, rounding out the podium in third place.

In the ball juggling category, Zak McAllister took another title with a mellow yet brilliant string of moves set to Mister Rogers music. Elements included three-in-one-hand blind behind the back, double arm wraps, and consecutive under-the-leg penguin catches.

Luther Bangert took second place with weightless and floaty arm extensions, a forward windmill pattern, and an exceptional variety of levels that cleverly utilized his lanky stature.

Alex Rozanov (Rochester, New York) earned third place with his signature behind-the-head shower pattern, three-in-one-hand no higher than head height, and charismatic catches on the side of his head set to the bubbly sounds of Dare by Gorillaz.

The club category was stacked with talent, but Tim Air-Walker (North Texas) distinguished himself as the champion with well-honed curvy aesthetics, under-the-leg flat freezes, and forward/reverse under-arm spins.

Jared Athias followed close behind in second place with unique multiplexes, freezes, a horizontal flat that shot across his elegant wingspan, and deft snatches of helicopter throws from behind his head.

Keeping his name in the hat for each category, Zak McAllister earned third place, opening with a club dropped from a balance into a chest placement cascade. With the photos from McAllister’s routine, you might win a game of juggling Set, as he frequently presented all three clubs in clean vertical and horizontal arrangements.

Honorable mentions included Nick Thomas (Michigan), who had the crowd spiraling out of control with his unique and technical slinky moves, letting the slinky flip mid-air and rebound off his ankle, among other fast-paced and visually spellbinding maneuvers. 

In the three-ball competition, Josiah Smith (New York) expertly cycled through box variations, dots, and a 531 with the ‘3’ carried across the pattern. Nick Bosken (Vail, Colorado) performed 423 head stalls into blind behind the back as well as some crafty penguin variations.

Flow Show

The Galaxy Flow Show started with Marcus Monroe (New York City) center stage spinning a three-beat weave with LED poi that flashed images of the IJA logo. While few might choose Monroe as a poster boy of flow, he kept the audience in good humor with jokes about visiting the Great Wolf Lodge as a single adult and growing up a Wisconsinite. “If you put us all in an escape room, we would just live there,” he said of the local population.

The opening act was Meast (Paris), whose dedication to honing his craft with long white sticks was palpable. He rolled them gracefully along his shoulders and across his back, in addition to throwing wall plane patterns and hitting forearm balances. Meast’s commitment shone through in the exquisite architecture of his patterns – visible in sketches he has made on the subject – including a particularly mesmerizing sequence in which he created a triangular shape that dismantled and restructured itself around his frame.

Taylor Flows (Milwaukee) took the stage next, winding up a small toy carousel to music that brought home the theme. Her pink and black hoops whizzed around in vertical neck rotations, seamless changes in direction, an effortless hoop kickup into a neck swing, and nimble wrist articulation throughout.

Valerie Solstix (Berlin) appeared next with a contact juggling ball balanced atop her head, exhibiting excellent rolls, isolations, elbow stalls and a nice series with two balls rolling in parallel – even lip syncing with the music as she executed her routine.

Ehrlich Ocampo (Las Vegas), in a Spiderman-esque costume, lit up the stage with an ecstatic straddle jump introducing his leviwand maneuvers. Whether he kept the leviwands vertical or threw them in mind-boggling diagonal spins around his body, the audience was along for the ride. Adding a hoop to the mix for his leviwands to glide through brought things to another level.

Abi Lindsey (Tampa, Florida) entered the picture next, with a smooth and technical hoop routine starting with a confident chest roll and ramping up to a captivating balance transfer from forearm to elbow to head. She also performed a continuous shoulder roll cascade, a neck swing toss into lazies, and a magnificent shower with overhand exchanges underneath. Finishing with a six-hoop combination featuring a knee spin, two hoops spun around each hand, and another balanced on her forehead, Abi had the crowd amped.

Felix Feldmann (Essen, Germany) closed the show with his entrancingly engineered clubs with cupheads to catch red balls. While the prop design is special, what distinguishes Felix’s performance is his ability to conjure up a compelling perpetual motion machine that rises above the properties of each individual object. Felix’s juggling often resembled a waterfall, with the balls and clubs shifting downward, flinging sideways, swinging around an axis, and occasionally stalling in a balance. Each new pattern was a pleasant surprise, even to the many trained eyes beholding his feats.

Open Stage

In an exciting new addition to this year’s festival programming, Ross Berenson organized the Interstellar Open Stage for jugglers to showcase their acts in front of a live audience and receive feedback. The format proved very popular, packing the convention ballroom with folks excited to see the show, which was emceed by popular performer and ‘cup guy’ Brian Koenig (Ohio).

Josef Haskins and Nora Phillips of Madison, Wisconsin, stepped onto the stage first, presenting a calm, confident and sweet routine of club takeouts, dropbacks and passing to the aptly titled song Radiate.

Ty Zwisler (Colorado) appeared next with a large burgundy bag, which he opened to reveal a series of smaller bags that sometimes held props for him to manipulate. Working without music, the audience’s enthused reactions were audible to Zwisler’s penchant for inventive tricks with a yo-yo, diabolo, flair bottle, stage ball, cigar box and badminton paddle.

Playing a bindlestiff character, Sean Kirkpatrick (Colorado) brought foot juggling front and center, helicoptering a cylinder through his legs, spinning carpets and manipulating green soccer balls with his hands and feet.

Ben Brown (Florida) flexed his skills with magnetic clubs, starting with one-club fishtails on his foot and hand (magnets not required) and moving into a series in which his clubs would swing in one connected line, then break, then reattach to create eye-catching shapes and patterns (magnets very much required).

Entering from the audience, Donnell Griffith (New York City) engaged the crowd with a three-ball cross-arm freeze trick, box patterns that perfectly matched his bouncy music, backcrosses, and an intentionally dropped 3-up 360 that accurately spotlighted Griffith’s humor and charm.

Jonathan Leal Romero (Chile) appeared next, taking his well-practiced, rapid fire club juggling routine from stoplights in Chile to a juggling festival stage for the very first time. His footwork alone enthralled the crowd — doing half and full flips back to a foot balance, changing feet, and kicking the balance up to his face, where he has trained to find 16 usable balance points. Between that and his high-level five-club multiplexes, the crowd rose to their feet in a roaring ovation.

The Fine Folk Jugglers from Michigan followed. Their five-person troupe – featuring Anna Krueger, Steven Clipson, Cody Langer, Nora Phillips and Josef Haskins – performed a visually pleasing array of club and hoop juggling, including interlocking feeds with both props and a passing line with synchronous backdrops.

Jared Athias (Portland) came out with a satisfyingly smooth two-club spin with one hand, later launching into zippy flat freezes, helicopter catches under the leg and behind the back, and a hypnotic, puppet-like snake movement with three clubs in one line.

Dan Danielle appeared next, going from wrapped up in her poi to flexing one-handed butterflies, a three-poi juggle, and deft multiplane work. Danielle’s personality shone through as she headbanged while spinning poi in front and behind her during a particularly hype moment of the song V.A.N. by Bad Omens.

As the penultimate act, Philadelphia-based Jasper Murphy – who according to Koenig took up juggling because he was “bored with how effortless and easy performing music was” – kept the crowd energy high with a behind-the-back club multiplex, scorpion kick from a head balance, and high-level patterns including five clubs with a balance.

Claire Bindoff, who had traveled the furthest (from Tasmania) to perform at the festival, closed the show with an acrobatic display of hooping. She backed up her poised, confident demeanor and sassy presence with a front handspring that launched a hoop over her head, behind-the-head elbow transfers during a high toss, and a four-hoop forward/reverse arm spin with another hoop balanced on her head.

Championships

The championships this year were emceed by Bindlestiff Family Cirkus co-founder Keith Nelson (New York City), who spent time in between acts spinning ropes, balancing glasses on a mouthstick, and occasionally setting up elaborate tricks that were comedically interrupted by the judges’ readiness to move forward.

In accordance with Nelson’s Coney Island sideshow roots, he encouraged audience members “to simply throw a hundred dollar bill on stage. I’ll tell the performers about that.”

In the Juniors division, Teo Winger of Minnesota fashioned the stage as a school environment with juggling twists like ‘History Section 744.’ Winger, who spent a few years of his early childhood living in China, acted out a Han dynasty battle story as he performed five-ball siteswaps and a clean three-up 360. He also showcased four-ring pancakes and five rings on a rola bola.

Atticus Abraham of Tennessee earned the bronze medal with an affable presence and well-executed routine including a five-ring breakdown, three clubs with a balance, five-club doubles into singles, and a qualify of seven balls.

Chu-Huan Wang, who learned diabolo in his native Taiwan but moved to Texas more than a year ago, received the silver medal for a commanding performance of one through three diabolos. He flaunted clean integral sequences, a duicide release, as well as excellent string and stick manipulation in vertax with one diabolo, finishing with a whirlwind 1080 spin during a  vertax stick release.

This year’s Juniors championships trophy went to Stefan Hart from Vancouver. Hart’s act told a story familiar to most jugglers – the vacillation between feelings of enchantment and betrayal that arise in our relationship to our props. Moving around the stage with a calm, grounded energy that befit his choice of music, Hart executed a brilliant four-club series mixing flats with tap-backs, then finished with a run of five-club triples.

In the teams category, Harry Charles and Harrison Kendree (Rock Hill, South Carolina) presented a crowd-pleasing duo act as Harry & Harrison, taking turns providing piano accompaniment to each other’s solo juggling, including a nice bounce routine. Discussing the time constraints, they kept their routine light and comedic. “This one goes out to all the haters who said we couldn’t do nine clubs in Green Bay,” Kendree said, after which they unsuccessfully passed nine clubs. “Those haters, man, they may have been onto something,” they added. Video

Smile Group Canada, a youth performing arts program in Ontario, brought four of its members to the stage with an orchestra-inspired juggling act. Starting with synchronized three-ball patterns out of violin cases, they then segued into a juggling trick ‘call and response’ format with their conductor, including a stint of eating apples mid-juggle. Their routine earned them the silver medal. Video

Julius Preu and Daniel Ledel (Steyr-Land, Austria) took the teams championships trophy and gold medal with a tightly choreographed, technically magnificent and mesmerizingly programmed LED club passing routine titled King’s Gambit. Highlights included back-to-back nine club triples, clean side-by-side synchronized patterns, 7531 popcorn with seven clubs, and a beautiful run of 11-club triples to finish. Video

In the Individuals category, Jacob D’Eustachio (New York City) rose to the occasion of opening the night of performances with a charismatic ball bounce and hat manipulation act. D’Eustachio balanced difficulty – three-ball reverse backcrosses into force bounced treblas and a five-up double bounce 360 – with style and humor. As an audience volunteer helped D’Eustachio’s on-stage character handle a (planned) wardrobe malfunction, helping him into his trousers while he juggled a five-ball cascade, D’Eustachio joked, “We only have eight minutes,” in reference to the competition’s strict time limit.

Vinny Carter (Indianapolis) took the stage to the bubbly electronic tune girlfriend by hemlock springs, utilizing inventive three- and four-ball juggling elbow hits, sideways multiplex throws, and mess patterns with penguin catches. Switching the soundtrack to Sound and Color by Alabama Shakes, Carter showcased a six-ball half shower that changed sides, a B97531, and a successful four-ball multiplex within a seven-ball cascade.

Jasper Fleer of Tasmania presented an intriguing ball-juggling act, featuring plenty of dense four- and five-ball work with unexpected forearm and knee bounces, reminiscent of the juggling of Domenyk LaTerra. Flexing a nice cross-arm 534, a six-ball multiplex sequence with behind-the-back catches and foot kicks, and a kick-up from a six-ball fountain into a seven-ball cascade, Fleer’s uniquely technical routine had ambition and heart.

Masahiro Takarada (Kanagawa, Japan) appeared on stage with sunglasses and a stylish long black coat, an homage to the Japanese rock band Kishidan, whose song One Night Carnival had Masahiro matching the band’s choreography with his diabolo handsticks. Masahiro’s routine included handstick face balances, a magic knot assembled with his forearms and mouth, and his signature top-of-head diabolo balance. He cycled through a remarkably smooth series of tricks, including multi-axis patterns and vertax stick releases, during which the string would pass underneath the diabolo on his head. It is evident that Masahiro has spent an immense amount of time developing this extraordinary technique. Video

Gideon Elson (Oakland, California) arrived in an Adidas tracksuit to the mellow rhythm and vocals of Waitin’ on Ya by Genesis Owusu. With his flair for clean and complex ball juggling, Elson calmly cycled through vertical multiplex lifts and color-coded patterns including sprung shower and inverted sprung cascade. Revealing a shoulder bag underneath his jacket holding three white beanbags, Elson finished with a solid three-ball sequence including continuous factory with a backcross, behind-the-head catches, and 423 claw patterns. The routine earned Elson the bronze medal. Video

Galen Harp (Fayetteville, Arkansas) brought his props filled with sand to the stage to create a three-dimensional array of objects that sent colorful granules flying through the air, accenting the path of his clubs, balls and rings. While he began with manipulation of a tea cup and balls made of ice, his patterns throughout the rest of the routine helped populate a flat canvas with a beautiful depiction of the act in static form, which he tilted upwards for the audience to enjoy before the sand slid from the canvas – subject to the same gravity that affects all object manipulation. Harp’s act earned him the silver medal.

Delaney Bayles (Salt Lake City, Utah) began her routine as a one-club warrior, but very soon had a seven club flash in the air, priming the audience for a stellar, gold-medal-winning performance. Bayles’s stoic presence backed up a brilliant line-up of tricks including a three-club backcross shower with club swinging, a three-up 540 into overheads, five clubs with a balance, a behind-the-head kick-up into five clubs, and eight catches of six-club synchronous fountain. 

Set to the striking tones of Fratres for Violin and Piano, Bayles’s exceptional juggling, captivating movement and crisp performance earned her the Lucas Cup, completing her ‘triple crown’ of titles in the Juniors (2015), Teams (with Zak McAllister, 2019) and Individuals (2024). For David Cain’s recent interview with Bayles about this grand accomplishment, click here.

Cascade of Stars

Matt Morgan and Heidi Brucker Morgan (Las Vegas) welcomed the audience back to the Meyer Theater for the final show of the week, the Cascade of Stars. The comedic duo created a challenge for Heidi to learn to juggle by the end of the show, and later performed an outrageous physical theater dance mimicking a lion tamer act.

Keeping the outer space theme alive throughout the week, Marvin Ong and Melanie Webstar (Phoenix, Arizona) showed up in reflective astronaut outfits with glowing white clubs. To a driving electronic remix of Frou Frou’s Let Go, the duo flaunted smooth synchronized wall-plane patterns, Shiva passing with club spin accents, a rotating canon of forearm balances, and playful manipulations that took them across the entire stage.

Appearing as some sort of faux government agency fresh from a trip to Home Depot, the Pot Squad – made up of Jack and Jeri Habberstad Kalvan and their two children – unfolded their ‘suitcases’ into platforms for a creative display of flower pot manipulation. Performing sideways multiplex throws of two, three and four pots caught by their fellow ranks, the group also embraced the rhythmic and ‘cup stacking’ qualities of their props, finishing with a lovely domino effect of stacked pots neatly nesting into one another across the platforms.

Book Kennison (New York City) took the stage next, his juggling balls emerging from an orange Pelican case in conversation with the swinging crescendo of Jai Paul’s Do You Love Her Now. Kennison embraced his lengthy figure to accentuate lifted box patterns, a five-ball contortion flash, and even some expressive shoe untying to prepare for a dramatic one-ball foot catch/throw from a seven-ball pattern. If the act’s segue from R&B to Ethiopian jazz by Mulatu Astatke piqued your interest, consider checking out Kennison’s own musical compositions at this link.

Jonathan Leal Romero (Chile) returned to the festival stage to the driving electronic beats of Perfect (Exceeder). The booming soundtrack was fitting to complement Romero’s semaforo (stoplight) style with maximal tricks-per-minute including five-club multiplexes and siteswaps, rapid fire behind-the-head cascade, foot balance flips and transfers to face balances, and a casual scorpion kick to finish. The crowd once again roared for Romero’s spectacular feats, which he packed into a span of less than three minutes.

Cody Carter (Phoenix, Arizona) brought a fresh take on baton twirling to the IJA stage, stringing together elbow and knee hits with hip-hop and breakdance-style choreography, sprinkling in ‘conventional’ juggling club-type patterns with twirls around his neck and body, contact rolls, and some very surprising baton bounces that he performed with exceptional consistency. Finishing with an LED baton sequence including ambidextrous fishtails and complex twirls and catches underneath high tosses, Carter had the crowd hyped. Video

Danil Lysenko (Ukraine) entered the picture next, with an angled, rotating ring stand that held his clear prop of choice. Starting off with a stylish nine-ring cascade into an intentional drop, Lysenko then began showcasing his expert technique with a five-ring three-up 540, 97531s with the ‘one’ behind the back, and an impressive bouncing ring save into a stretch of wall plane patterns. After thirteen catches of nine rings, Lysenko wowed the audience by successfully completing a ten-ring flash.

Toby Walker (Wales) enthralled the crowd with his exceptional juggling, including five clubs with a ball balanced – then bounced – on his head and an extraordinary cycle of patterns with one ball and four clubs, during which Walker performed backcrosses into a head bounce, then later a ‘five-up’ 360 including four clubs and a head bounce. Walker’s consistency with such high-risk elements truly distinguishes his juggling style.

Helen Wonjila (San Diego, California) was a wonderful choice to close the show. Ethiopian born, Wonjila honed her stunning foot juggling skills at the Wuqiao acrobatic and art school in China. Starting with spinning cloths on her hands and feet as well as a circular ‘candy’ prop she spun in multiple planes, Wonjila progressed to a breathtaking sequence with a table spinning on its side and end-over-end. She also balanced the table on one foot, spun a cloth on the other, and kept two hoops spinning with each hand all at once. 

 

As the audience tried to process the incredible feats they had just witnessed, everyone rose to their feet for the curtain call to celebrate the stellar line-up of artists.

Awards

Throughout the week, the IJA called several notable individuals to the stage to receive various honorary awards.

Vladik Miagkostoupov (Las Vegas) received the IJA award of excellence for his achievements in the world of professional juggling performance. Traveling around the USSR with the Moscow Circus with his Ukrainian parents as a kid, Miagkostoupov took inspiration from his father’s juggling act and his mother’s ‘ragdoll’ contortion act to create his own juggling routines, working at a young age professionally in Las Vegas after his parents’ defection. His IJA competition routines earned him gold in Juniors (1995) and Individuals (1997), and he has since toured the world with his graceful acrobatic style and brilliant technique.

The Historical Achievement Award went to Dan Menendez (Raleigh, North Carolina), most well known as ‘the piano juggler’ for his routine combining an electronic keyboard and bounce juggling balls. Eric Shibuya presented Menendez with the award. “Juggling is such a visual medium,” Shibuya said as he noted Menedez’s accomplishment in the field. “We spend our lives developing our own aesthetic.” Apart from his appearances on The Tonight Show and on international television shows, Menendez competed on the IJA stage several times. Reflecting on the award on Facebook, he made the relatable statement that “nothing prepares you for juggling in front of hundreds of jugglers.”

Viveca Gardiner (New York City) and NeilFred Picciotto (Santa Clara, California) received the IJA Extraordinary Service Award for their co-direction of the IJA Championships over the last decade. The duo annually provides support and coordination to entrants and judges for the event – Gardiner taking the communication/production role and Picciotto handling the computer programming to streamline the competition’s scoring system. Gardiner commented that she originally thought it was odd to receive an award “just for doing a ton of work,” but realized that she and Picciotto’s efforts were emblematic of the IJA’s mission to render assistance to fellow jugglers and expand the world of juggling.

The Excellence in Education Award went to a group of jugglers responsible for the development of siteswap as we know it today. This group includes Paul Klimek, Don Hatch, Mike Day, Adam Chalcraft, Colin Wright, Bruce Tiemann and Bengt Magnusson. Thom Wall, who presented the award, talked about the significance of siteswap in establishing the juggling community’s shared language. In an acceptance speech, Chalcraft noted that “It’s you guys who have made [siteswap notation] what it is,” while Day thanked jugglers for “elevating juggling to levels of artistry and athleticism that no one thought possible.”

IJA videographer Jay Ko (Philadelphia) received the Sky King Award, which honors the dedication to growing the diversity of the juggling community shown by DJ, musician, roller skater and Harlem legend Sky King during her lifetime. Presenters Shivella Sparkle and Noel Yee explained that most jugglers have met Ko, whether they needed to charge their phone at his videography table or received performance video from him after the festival. Ko said that it was Sky King herself who convinced him to go to an RIT Juggle-In one year, and it was there that he noticed a lack of quality videography in the community. “What you guys do on this stage deserves respect,” Ko said. “Jugglers deserve respect, and that’s my way of showing you respect.” Ko has for years filmed thousands of hours of performances and festival events, assisted for a long time by the late Henry Benton. The crowd gave Ko a well-deserved standing ovation.

Logan Pearce (Georgia) earned the Flamingo Award, which honors the exceptional promotion, outstanding support, or inspirational skill of a female or non-binary identifying juggler. Pearce runs Juggling Gym, a YouTube channel dedicated to juggling instruction. “If you said hi to me in the gym because you recognized me, that makes my day,” she said, encouraging folks to follow her page. “The more people who watch the videos, the more people YouTube sends them to. That way, we can have more and more jugglers become part of this community and come to festivals like this.”

Jonathan Leal Romero garnered the People’s Choice Award with his bombastic juggling performances and humble personality throughout the week. It was a wonderful way to offer the audience one more opportunity to rise to their feet for the accomplished Chilean. Although some were upset that Romero did not have a moment to address the crowd, this particular award is traditionally awarded last-minute, giving the awardee no time to prepare remarks. Romero did post later on social media, saying “Thanks to all the people who trusted me. It was a very nice experience to participate in IJA 2024.”

Additional Events

Kayla Malmgren of Minnesota ran the Youth Juggling Academy (YJA) for children attending the festival to have morning activities and workshops, ranging in topics from claymotion juggling to partner poi. Malmgren is the director of REACH Youth Juggling in Edina, Minnesota.

In the numbers competition, Danil Lysenko notably made several earnest attempts at qualifying ten rings, finishing with a gold-medal-winning number of 27 catches of nine rings. Delaney Bayles took the clubs category with a run of seven clubs for 64 catches, while Matan Presberg won the solo ball juggling category with 46 catches of nine balls.

Josef Komissar stepped up to organize a Fight Night Combat tournament, with the final rounds taking place in the convention center hallway on Friday night. The last two competitors to face off were Noah Schmeissner (Las Vegas) and Vašek Peca (Czechia). Peca took an early 2-1 lead, but Schmeissner fought back with quick-jab attacks and rapid recoveries. Despite a leaping snag by Peca to snatch one of Schmeissner’s clubs to stave off a championship point, Schmeissner took the title 5-3 with a jumping steal of his own. Watch the highlights at this link.

The Gauntlet juggling course was impossible to miss this year, as its imposing wedge of cheese, coded door frame, and mission-impossible style ropes obstacle — among ten total course features — were prominently displayed in the convention hall. 

In the final competition on Saturday, Stefan Brancel took first place with a time of 1 minute, 50 seconds, while Chris Hodge came in second at 2 minutes, 46 seconds. The course was designed and built by Mark Hayward, John Jessmon (and children), Andy Peterson, Viveca Gardiner, Peter Kaseman, Andrea Noel, NeilFred Picciotto, and Nathan and Jessica Peterson.

During the annual Joggling Championships held at St. Norbert College, joggling competitors set twelve IJA world records in categories such as three-ball 1500 meters, three-basketball 100-meter ‘drubbling,’ and five-ball 200 meters. The 1500-meter race was renamed the Giduz 1500 in honor of Bill Giduz, who pioneered the sport and helped establish the annual competition. Read about his life in this obituary by David Cain.

A Fire Jam organized by ChaBuku Bakke on Friday night brought folks across the river from the convention center to play with poi, dragon staff, torches, hoops and other props to the delight of onlookers, including Green Bay locals. Later in the evening, the Flow/Glow Party took flight in a smaller room attached to the main convention hall. On multiple nights, an entertaining, mixed-prop cypher broke out among artists in the glow room, moderated by Casandra Tanenbaum and Jonathan Taylor.

Throughout the week, jugglers entering the gym were treated to a hilarious variety of posters advertising imaginary events and media, from a 6 a.m. workshop with Jay Gilligan to questionable propaganda leaning into a potential takeover of the IJA by a ‘shady pickleball organization.’

Baseless rumors aside, a big thank you goes out to the core festival team of Afton Benson, Noel Yee, Shivella Sparkle and Ross Berenson, as well as technical show guru Andréanne Lafleur Caouette and all of the volunteers who made this festival possible.

When it was time to say goodbye, the most prominent thing on everyone’s mind was how to plot even more shenanigans for next year’s IJA Festival in Evansville, Indiana. Bring yourself – and your nonsensical, dreamy plans – to a week you won’t soon forget!