Brussels bristles with buskers
A summit of sorts as jugglers from East and West meet

(Charlie Holland received this misdirected letter from a Brussels resident and thought it best explained the strange happenings in Louvain la Neuve, Belgium, last fall.)

 

Dear Astrid,
As you may remember, I recently started working as a waitress in the big sports complex at Louvain-Ia-Neuve, Belgium. I've got to tell you about the incredible events of the last four days! A couple of weeks ago I was told that the whole hall had been booked for the 8th European Juggling Convention Sept. 5-8.

 

I thought the manager was pulling my leg. I mean, there aren't enough jugglers in Europe to fill a squash court, or so I thought! Then I met members of L'Ecole Sans Filet (School without a safety net) who were organizing the convention and they seemed really serious if a little crazy too. They told me the cafe area would probably need to be open from 9:30-3:30. It never entered my mind they meant 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m!

 

The convention started on Thursday, although the Balls-Up Jugglers from Cardiff, England, arrived on Wednesday living up - to their name, I guess.

 

By 11 a.m. Thursday there were people queuing to register, others juggling and unicycling in the main hall and equipment sellers had their stands up.

A big round of applause came from the hall and everyone rushed to the window to see what was happening. I had to follow and saw a guy standing on top of a freestanding ladder juggling so many rings I couldn't count them. I was told his name was Popovitch - from the Moscow State Circus - and that I'd missed seeing him juggle with five clubs and doing a halfdozen other tricks.