Jugglers have a very long history of juggling on top of moving objects. Juggling on a unicycle, rolling globe, or rola bola are obviously extremely common. Juggling on horseback dates back at least as far as the late 1700s, when John Bill Rickets performed equestrian juggling in the first American circus, which he presented. Juggling on horseback is still performed today. Juggling on ice skates and roller skates also has a long history, which was detailed in the recent ejuggle article by Scott Cain. However, there are much more novel modes of transportation that people have juggled on. Let’s take a look at some of these.
Swiss juggler Charles Knie was famous for circling the ring while juggling on top of both rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses in the 1970’s and 80’s. He never fell in all his time standing on the huge animals and juggling clubs, but injured himself after losing his footing while performing the feat atop a cow!
Animals aren’t the only moving things on which you can juggle. Eric Berg is well known for being the first person to juggle while surfing and snow skiing as you can see in the photos and video below.
Eric Berg and Jahnathon Whitfield
Jonathan Root is an expert juggler and flow boarder, and has combined the two skills together.
Sean Silveira does an impressive trick of juggling while standing on top of a stool on a flow board.
Water skiing while juggling is a fairly recent phenomenon, as far as I know. Check out the videos of Bob and Trish Evans and Doug Sayers “water skuggling!”
A number of people have juggled while riding a skateboard. Check out Dan Menendez doing 6 and 7 balls on one.
Juggling on a bicycle isn’t too uncommon. Check out the unique way that Carey Pickford Jr. combines juggling and cycling.
Juggling on a pogo stick is a fairly common trick done by jugglers. Perhaps the most famous juggler to perform on a pogo stick is Larry Vee. Click here to see Larry juggle two basketballs and four small balls on a pogo stick.
Perhaps the strangest example of juggling on a mode of transportation was done by Studley Foster in the mid 1960s. He performed an entire juggling act while standing on the roof of a moving car at car races and other events. Check out the following photos of Studley.
One last example of juggling on moving objects is the act of the Four Afanasjews from Russia. Check out the photo and videos below to see this amazing act.
David Cain
David Cain is a professional juggler, juggling historian, and the owner of the world's only juggling museum, the Museum of Juggling History. He is a Guinness world record holder and 15 time IJA gold medalist. In addition to his juggling pursuits, David is a successful composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and singer as well as the author of twenty-four books. He and his children live in Middletown, OH (USA).