Another year has come and gone, and it is time to take a look back at some of the good, the bad, and the interesting happenings in the world of object manipulation this past year.
2011 continued the trend of juggling branching out more online. Not just in the form of new jugglers and hobbyists to gain exposure, but in the realm of online video competitions. Jugglingstore.com had their first ever video contest, as did Gravitas juggling. The IJA had their second annual video tutorial contest, which not only added many great tutorials to the world of juggling videos, but also offered many great prizes to its winners.
Records were set in 2011 as well. Numbers juggling beast Alex Barron became quite possibly the first person in documented history to flash 13 balls, and he also set a new record in 12 balls with 16 catches. Anthony Gatto dusted off his competitive spirit and set a stunning new record in 7 balls with a time of 11 minutes and 37 seconds.
The year saw the usual big juggling conventions. In its first time implemented, the IJA was able to use money from its anonymous iiWii donor in the form a festival fun fund which was spent on the 2011 festival in Rochester, MN. This funding added elements like an obstacle course, a jugglers’ lounge, and aided in sprucing up some of its additional functions, such as the joggling, and the extreme juggling competitions. On the sport juggling side of conventions, 2011 saw the WJF continue to evolve and shift from pure sport juggling towards a more diverse realm of manipulation, as their WJF 7 convention featured a ring isolation specialist headliner and a festival invasion of kendamaists. Unfortunately, not all festivals were well received, as some problems with the EJC 2011 in Munich, Germany led to a number of complaints from festival goers.
What does 2012 hold for the world of juggling? Surely there are many interesting developments to come. For instance, the IJA has announced a discontinuation of Juggle magazine in favor of a new eZine for 2012. There will no doubt be many exiting happenings on the horizons. Now, let’s juggle our way into a new year!
