New Zealand Juggling Convention

IMPORTANT NOTE: Get your A into G and send in your pre-registrations now! We have arranged for the truly magnificent and fabulously famous Raspyni Bros to appear at our convention - they'll be doing several workshops as well as being the highlight of the public show (The Juggler's Other Ball).

However Air New Zealand wants evidence of registrations before they will book the discounted tickets for our fabulous guest stars.

There'll be the normal sort of things; Workshops, parades, international visitors, special guests, renegade parties, public show, sleeping space...

Tentative Workshop List:

• The Raspyni Bros will do three workshops, probably on:
  • Comedy Writing and Performance.
  • Putting Together a Routine.
  • Advanced Club Passing (demo type thing with discussion, I think).
• Beginners 3-ball, 4-ball, 5-ball, classic 3-ball tricks, Mills' Mess, advanced 3-ball, contact and multiplexing.
• Beginners clubs, improving club technique, 3-club tricks, beginners and advanced club swinging and club flourishes.
• Beginners passing, passing tricks and Oddgod, and advanced passing as above.
• Beginners and advanced devil stick and staff.
• Beginners and advanced diabolo (looking for someone to teach "numbers").
• Mime, Performance, Movement and developing routines as above.
• Unicycle, acrobatics, tumbling and stunt, stilt walking (limited numbers), fire and boomerang.
• And more......

The schedule looks this way at the moment:

Friday, 3 February

• Registration on site from 4:00 pm. Registrations open at Wellington College, just off the Basin Reserve. Parking is available on-site. A carpeted sleeping hall with kitchen and showers etc is available and there is also a hostel nearby in Ellice St. Security guards will be on duty at the site throughout the weekend. A caterer will be selling food on-site and there are takeaway bars nearby. We have over 70 registrations at this stage and are planning for 150-200 participants, who will all be encouraged to volunteer an hour of their time to keep things running smoothly.
• Practice Hall
• Renegade Cabaret at the college. Your chance to do your favourite thing on-stage (alright maybe just your second favourite thing, family show until 10pm).

Saturday, 4th

• Registration on site from 10:00 am
• Workshops in the morning. 3 sessions before lunch in 4 streams. Over 35 workshops are to be offered during the weekend by some fantastically skilled jugglers. If you want to teach or help out with a particular workshop please let me know by Tuesday (phone Julie on 4-475 9262 or send detailed email to daniellj@haku.itd.maffish.govt.nz).
• Parade and "Olympics" in the afternoon. For the parade: Bus to Cuba st and walking via Manners Mall to arrive at Civic Square around 2pm. Then there'll be juggling oriented games and record attempts at the Square. A bus will return to the college at 4:30pm or you may wish to stay in town until...
• Public show. The Jugglers' Other Ball, held at 8.00pm at the grand old St James, featuring...
  • The Raspyni Brothers - top talent brought over at great expense from the USA, these guys are not to be missed. Barry Friedman and Dan Holzman have won both team and individual prizes at IJA competitions and have most recently been seen on TV here touring a knife passing act with John Wayne Bobbitt... They will be teaching three workshops while at the convention. Barry has arrived in NZ and is currently walking the Abel Tasman track.
  • Mr Moon - a popular NZ performer based in Christchurch will be performing his visually stunning blacklight act.
  • Lee Hayes (maybe) - an internationally acclaimed street performer seen here in Wellington at a previous Arts Festival mounting a 9-foot unicycle from a 6-foot uni. President of the European Juggling Association. Currently performing in the World Buskers Festival in Christchurch.
  • Mr Fungus - a Wellington based actor, juggler and mime artist will be compering the show in his own inimitable fashion.
  • Plus... heaps of way cool people who keep walking up to us and saying things like "Are you interested in seeing me escape from a strait-jacket while on a 5-foot uni?" (Yes.)
  Admission is included in the registration price. Additional tickets are $15 each, concessions $12, families $35.

Sunday, 5th

A day of workshops and general juggling mayhem. Planned to provide something for everyone we have topics from beginners' everything to mime, stilt-walking and site-swap. An opportunity to soak up the vast amounts of juggling experience around you or to relax and enjoy the antics of a couple of hundred people with fewer than average inhibitions.

• Workshops
• Competitions
• from 7.00pm: Junior competition and Renegade Cabaret at the New Antipodes bar in Cuba St. This function will not be open to the general public, though guests of jugglers will be admitted by koha if space permits. Jugglers under 18 years old are encouraged to participate in the junior competition, a chance to polish their performance skills by preparing and presenting a routine. Senior competitions may be offered at future conventions if the idea is supported.
• Senior/Open Renegade. The second renegade evening will develop the themes presented on Friday and give those unprepared for the first one a chance to get up and show off. Entertainment, variety and brevity are the keywords for renegade - juggling is not a prerequisite though it is encouraged.

Monday, 6th

Workshops in the morning followed by lunch and the NZJA AGM. Please support this organisation - it is there to help foster juggling throughout New Zealand and most importantly it carries the legal responsibility for the convention. Without it they will not continue to happen. Please also give a thought to the location of the next convention. This will need to be decided at the meeting to give the hosts the benefit of a full year to plan. A location cannot be decided without people prepared to take it on there - if you think your town or another is appropriate please try to arrange some people who'll get involved - we'd love to see it go somewhere new. The great Toss-up (and photo opportunity), unicycle hockey and volleyjuggle round off the afternoon.

For an idea of what happened last year, see last years info.Or have a look at these photos (and yes, that is a real baby!):