Kitting around In Europe

By Kit Summers

 

Europe was fantastic! After the IJA Festival in Montreal, I ventured off to Europe to present my "Juggling with Finesse" workshop. My plane landed at London's Heathrow Airport and I stayed that night in a quaint English bed and breakfast. The owner bought a copy of my book, Juggling with Finesse, for his son, who juggles. A delightful beginning to my trip!

 

I stayed two nights with Laurie Lea, who owns Butterfingers Juggling. His company sells American as well as European products. Lea, a very friendly and helpful man, runs his small but successful company well.

 

I discovered that juggling is extremely popular in England and Germany, and is growing in other European countries as well. Many American magic stores have a small section to sell juggling items, but in England and Germany, they have whole stores selling mainly juggling paraphernalia. Also, one night I went to a festival and there was a booth selling only juggling props - I thought it was amazing.

 

After three days in England I flew to Barcelona, Spain, then took a train to attend the European Juggling Convention in Banyoles. Having lived most of my life in San Diego, which is adjacent to Mexico, I thought the culture might be somewhat similar. Boy was I wrong! Only the language was the same. For the three days before the convention I did one of my workshops for 11 jugglers with skill levels ranging from a beginning three ball juggler to two five club jugglers. The three days went well as participants advanced in their juggling and performing.

 

There were about 1,500 jugglers in Banyoles. Convention organizer Sue Hunt was a student of mine when I was a juggling instructor at Ringling Brothers Clown College, and many of you might know her from her juggling and teaching over here. With several Olympics events having been held in Banyoles, the Olympic Committee had promised the local Olympic Village and Sports Center for juggling convention use at no charge. Then, one week before the juggling convention, they wanted to charge rental for the buildings. Portable showers and toilets arrived late. Hunts last-minute panic was understandable.

 

Banyoles is a beautiful town surrounding a lake. The convention took place in an outdoor soccer stadium. In front of the stadium was a tree-shaded street where some of the juggling and prop sales took place. Most jugglers at the convention camped out nearby in a somewhat noisy campground. Other people were camping everywhere. At one point, there was a juggler sleeping in the center of an outdoor basketball court while unicyclists were trying to play a game of basketball. People also wanted to swim in the lake, but their requests were denied.