The IJA Regional Competition – IRC Eurasia 2018 took place at the Russian Juggling Convention (RJC) in Saint Petersburg on the 29th of June. This was the first IRC to be held in this region of the world.
The convention was 5 days long and was attended by over 300 people – the most well attended RJC to date. This was the third RJC, which is a national convention that relocates to different hosting cities each year.
An interesting thing to note is that, while the Russian circus juggling scene has been incredibly strong and well known throughout the world of juggling for generations, juggling conventions and the concept of juggling as a hobby or a career outside of the realm of circus, is relatively new in Russia. Often the “circus jugglers” and the “other jugglers” have been very separate scenes with little crossover. This year, in part thanks to the IJA Regional Competition being held by the RJC, there was a larger attendance by professional circus jugglers than there has been any other year previously.
Ten performance individuals and groups entered the preliminary round of the IRC Eurasia. All 10 were accepted into the finals. Check out the full list of IRC Eurasia 2018 Finalists.
Competitors traveled by train up to 32 hours to attend the convention and participate in the first IJA competition in Russia – which was widely observed as an historic and honorable event.
The organizing team was professional to work with, assisting with the Russian translation of the lengthy IRC rules, as well as all website text and graphics that required translation. The theatre was a large stage with gorgeous lighting options and a good sized backstage. Technical rehearsal was efficient and effective, though a few competitors complained that their lights during the finals were not what they had asked for during rehearsal.
The line-up of judges for the IRC included Luke Burrage of England, Rudolf Levitskiy, an admired Russian juggler from The Great Moscow Circus, and a special guest performer for the RJC from Finland. The show was highly diverse and entertaining, with an excellent emcee carrying the show from beginning to end. It was Luke’s first time being present for an IRC, and he gave a great review of the event in his Youtube Vlog.
IRC Eurasia 2018 Highlights Video
The RJC partnered with a professional video company to create a beautiful highlights video of the IRC Eurasia 2018. Check it out!
IRC Eurasia 2018 Medalists
Congratulations to the medalists of the first ever IRC Eurasia!
Gold Medal: Bar Story Show – Olga Sabanina & Ivan Usov of Russia
Silver Medal: Amal Basalama of Ukraine
Bronze Medal: Bogdan Samarov of Russia
A big thank you to Ilya Polyakov for working with the IJA to make this event possible. The plan for the 2019 IRC is to once again hold it in partnership with the Russian Juggling Convention, which will be held in Saratov, Russia.
Erin Stephens
Erin Stephens currently lives in Burkina Faso, Africa and is performing with Yennega Circus. She has been an active organizer within the IJA for over 10 years, having been a founding member of the IJA Regional Competitions, Tricks of the Month video series, eJuggle, and has spearheaded the IJA social media platforms since 2012.