Trying to Keep Their Balls in the Air

With fixed looks of concentration, a small contingent of apprentice jugglers struggled to keep their balls in the air in New London today. Although there wasn’t a big turnout for the juggling workshop offered by Nimble Arts Circus juggler Tony Duncan, some people had come from as far away as New Haven and Massachusetts to attend the event.

After all, it’s not every day you have the chance to study with someone who actually majored in juggling!

Duncan, who performs with the Brattleboro, Vermont, based Nimble Arts Circus, has been juggling professionally for 33 years. He got into it professionally at 19, he says, after dropping out of college four times--although he did major in juggling for one semester at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. “I was the only one with that major,” Duncan says.

Duncan can juggle up to seven balls and as many as five clubs--although he’s quick to clarify that he doesn’t juggle that many balls and clubs at the same time. His specialty is contact juggling, which involves rolling balls around his body, hands, face, and feet. And while his students weren’t quite ready to tackle that many items today, most of them seemed to be getting the hang of the basics.

The easiest items to start off with, Duncan says, are scarves but it was too windy by New London’s Parade Plaza to try that today. The second simplest thing to master is the diobolo, or Chinese yoyo, which is spun on string tied to two sticks. The trick to that is to get it spinning before you start, Duncan explains, then you keep it going by moving just one of the sticks.  

The biggest mistake people make when they try juggling for the first time, Duncan says, is they try to do too many things at once. The key is to keep it simple. “Really break it down into the simplest steps,” he says.  

Today was the first time Jono Dryden-Jaffe, 11, of New London, had ever tried juggling but it seemed to come pretty naturally to him. “I liked it,” he says. He’s already planning to hone his skills further when he gets home. Of course, he doesn’t have any juggling balls or bats to toss around at home, but he’s thinking eggs might work!

Meanwhile, you’ve got one more chance to watch Duncan in action. He'll bring his blend of comedy and juggling to the Parade Plaza for the second and final performance of the Nimble Arts Circus today at 6:30 p.m. Catch it if you can!