http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1214960,00.html
Here’s an interesting article about Juggling, it poses some of the same sport versus clowning questions unicyclists sometimes have only in the context of Juggling!
Interesting…I really wish I could see the video
I think Garfield is cool, and I wish Gatto would go to his comps.
Re: Vova - Bummer that he has to go back to Russia. I read a bunch about his plight on rec.juggling.
Wow… I totally agree with Garfields “side”. Juggling as a fun sport is better than juggling to entertain with the whole “clown” thing…
Did you see this link, or does it not work for you? http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1214940,00.html
it’s the computer, not the link…virus protection and stuff, and just a crappy computer…it’s lame
I like to call Jason Garfield, the Accidental Clown. Watch any of his routines spoofing the performances of others for whom he has contempt. What is that if not the very definition of clowning?
And while Vova has my sympathies regarding his financial plight, what does it say that one of the finest technical jugglers in the world can’t make a living at it?
Technical juggling and juggling as entertainment can coexist quite comfortably, I think. There’s really no need for all the fuss. Though to paraphrase the title of a book I mentioned in the War thread, “Fuss is a thing that gives us meaning.”
But that’s not his “side.” Garfield juggles for a living. He’s an entertainer. He just believes there are more ways to promote juggling and have fun with it than the IJA model. We don’t see as much of a parallel in unicycling, because few of us are making a living at it so there’s less of a conflict.
Much of the conflict in the juggling world is about publicity and getting noticed as well. There’s nothing like a little controversy to get press, and Garfield has done it very well. More power to the WJF! Not to dominate the IJA, but to stand alongside it.
He’s a very funny entertainer. He knows how to make people laugh. He also knows how to get publicity, such as by tagging along behind Chris Bliss with a “followup” video, gaining tons of publicity for himself!
Something we unicyclists are quite familiar with. Technical unicycling is not a show. No matter how good your skills are, you can’t make a living at it unless one of two conditiions is true:
- You can learn to be an entertainer and do shows for a living
- Your sport is big enough for you to generate income from that
So Vova may get to the point where the sport side of juggling can pay some bills, but it’s not going to happen overnight, and he needs to figure out an alternative until then, like many of the top unicylcists.
I was surprised to learn of Olga and Vova’s background as school/hobbyist jugglers. Being Russian, I had just assumed they had an entertainment foundation, and a specialty in juggling on top of that.
I think it says he’s a kid that hasn’t had the experience or guidance to figure out how yet. But he’s getting better at it, and believe has been doing some cruise ship gigs with a partner (not his sister). That’s another step toward being self-sustained as a juggler.
In the US, Anthony Gatto is probably the most successful technical juggler in terms of making a living at it. Technically, he may be the best ever, and almost certainly the best alive now. His shows are also very technical, don’t rely on any sort of clowning or even extraneous props, unless you count his attractive, provocatively-attired wife. I think he’s shown you can make a living based on technical juggling, as long as you’re willing to do enough work to create a performance with polish.