This Week — 7 May 2021

I’m not gonna lie, there’s a lot of juggling content in this week’s update. But as a shameless juggler for the last 27 years, I make zero apologies. As Dave Finnegan would say, ‘Keep your eyes on the sky!’

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This week’s Artists of Note column features Françoise Rochais, an accomplished French juggler who keeps a stunning number of batons aloft in her graceful and stylish routines. Read more about this inspiring juggler (and how you can learn a baton trick) at this link.

WATCH

May 7

Battle Night USA returns with a fresh slate of 32 competitors going head-to-head in stylish, funky and outrageously fun club juggling battles every Friday in the month of May. Tune into tonight’s battle at 8:30 EDT at this link. The top two finalists of each battle will advance to the final USA competition at Club Fest 2 (see ‘Attend’ below). This event is organized by Club Motion Juggling and Unicirclo Laguna.

May 16

Urban Evolution in Alexandria will present an online showcase performed by their aerial silks students. Watch for free when the video link goes live at 6 p.m. EDT on their social media platforms. Visit their website to see their upcoming class offerings for kids and adults.

May 29

The Zoom Circus Show that Goes Wrong This is a cinematic, musical, cirque-tastic celebration of all the inevitable follies of Internet circus productions. Featuring a wide range of talented circus performers filming acts to an original soundtrack, this show will have you laughing and awe-inspired at just how spectacular our virtual mishaps can be. This is a pre-recorded show with a live emcee, starting at 8 p.m. EDT. Get tickets at this link.

BUY

The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus weekly online variety show may be over, but you can relive the wonderful memories they created with Cirkus in Quarantine, clown and visual artist Rich Potter’s extraordinary collection of 46 watercolor paintings depicting the performers in each week’s virtual production. Pre-order the book at this link.

ATTEND

May 8

The International Jugglers’ Association is hosting another virtual juggling hangout jam from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Visit the public Facebook event page for the Zoom link.

May 11

American Circus Educators presents Discussing Mental Health, an online talk at 12 p.m. EDT facilitated by Vanessa Furlong, a professional circus and physical theatre artist, and Anne Boock Miller, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist and the founder of Suspend, a circus arts studio in Louisville, KY. This talk is free for ACE/AYCO members and pay-what-you-can (suggested $5-20) for non-members. Sign up at this link.

May 22-23

Triforce Flow Online is a collaboration of three major flow festivals to create a one-of-a-kind virtual event. Create an avatar and roam the online map to take workshops, watch the showcase, and catch up with friends in groups or one-on-one. Get tickets at this link.

June 4-6

Club Fest 2 is bringing you another virtual festival jam-packed with workshops, shows, panels and head-to-head club juggling battles. All are welcome to join this event, organized by Club Motion Juggling, which has cultivated a truly worldwide community of club jugglers. RSVP at the Facebook event page, where you will see an updated schedule and show line-up soon.

LEARN

May 8

Fearless Fire founder Thomas Santiago will be running three fire-eating workshops, from beginner to advanced, in Baltimore. These workshops will be run according to the latest CDC guidelines and Covid-19 statistics in the area. Get more information and register at the Facebook event page.

SUBMIT

Why do you love circus?

This is the question we’re answering in our upcoming video compilation to celebrate World Circus Day and the First of May, when many traditional circuses used to start their touring seasons. Use your phone to film a 30-second video telling us why you love circus so we can include it in the compilation, which will appear on our Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. All the tools for submission are in this Google form.