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THE ART OF JUGGLING – AN AMERICAN REVOLUTION?
”That’s so American.”
“European jugglers are pretentious posers who perform in their underwear…” Discussion about the differences in the aesthetics of juggling around the world runs unfortunately often on this level.
A recent issue of the French circus magazine Arts de la Piste had a 25 page special devoted to the art of juggling. With articles titled as “L’art de la jongle, une révolution francaise?” (Art of juggling, a French revolution?), and introductions of various French artists (Moschen and Airjazz crammed up to one single page together with Gatto) one could have easily come to the conclusion that the “revolution” of artistic juggling really began and still takes place only in France.
Fair enough, the movement of Cirque Nouveau (New circus) had its beginning and glory in France, and Chalon and other schools have played a big role bringing artists together in the 90’s, but when discussing the birth and development of artistic vision and new approaches in juggling, we must really go back to early 80’s USA. Without the efforts of Michael Moschen and Airjazz the field of juggling would be very different to what it is now.
Michael Moschen could easily be called the single most influential figure in contemporary juggling. His invention of new techniques (like his unique form of ball manipulation that is now extensively ripped off around the world and called contact juggling…), research with new forms, objects and methods, and also his whole approach to staging a juggling show: showing that juggling doesn’t necessarily need anything extra (theatre, comedy etc.) for it to deserve a place on a theatre stage and to reach a level of a genuine art form.
Airjazz’s experiments with combining juggling with other art forms: physical theatre, character work, movement and dance (both classical and modern) led to an amazing body of work that is still today an inspiration to many contemporary juggling artists. And not many people in Europe know (or care?) that John Held and Peter Davison still actively continue their creative careers, producing shows and helping younger artists.
These American artists, with their groundbreaking work, created the base for future artists all over the world to build their work on.
While some European jugglers see juggling in America to be too much of a sport, and some American jugglers view the European style as too “arty”, it would be good for all who take their art (or craft) seriously to place their influences in their correct historical place on the great continuum of juggling. (It’s extremely fascinating to watch works of for example Jérôme Thomas from different periods in their chronological order, and to see how his influences have changed and his artistic vision evolved.)
So, if they had such revolutionary artists as Moschen and Airjazz people, what happened? Why was there never a wider movement of artistic juggling in the USA? Was it due to lack of funding? Lack of circus education? Lack of audience interested in juggling? I think IJA should take part of the blame (or shame at least) for: reception and lack of support for Jay Gilligan’s experimental work, for not commissioning creative work from artists, for denying Sean McKinney’s participation due to a lack of costume etc. etc.
But actually, there is things happening in the States all the time. Just to name some of the people who work seriously with the art of juggling there: Michael Menes, John Held, Peter Davison, Matt Tardy, Fusion, Blink, Jay Gilligan, Pat McGuire, Sean McKinney. Sure, the list is not as long as the French listing in Arts de la Piste, but ignoring the American scene doesn’t do any good for European juggling either. For example I think that many European artists working with choreographed juggling should seriously go home and study their Airjazz classics first…
A great chance to open the communication, to compere the aesthetics and to make some historic sense about the evolution of artistic juggling, will be in Malakoff, Paris 14th – 17th June, when the great crazy father Jérôme Thomas will present his festival with Michael Moschen, Sergei Ignatov, himself and many other talents in the same programme.
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