Hands are the human appendages most commonly associated with juggling. However, as the above snapshot shows, jugglers depend heavily on their feet as well!
Consider the role of feet in this issue of Juggler's World. The story of Albert Lucas and his Guinness record-setting marathon joggle is a blatant example. Lucas couldn't have made the first step along the 26 miles 285 yards of the Los Angeles marathon without his feet. But even jugglers who are non-jogglers can attest to the importance of feet in moving their bodies and props around.
The members of Airjazz talk about their reliance on dance as a means of artistic expression in an interview with Joel Fink. Audiences pay much more attention to a juggling pattern when it moves across the stage, rather than remains in one spot. Likewise, Ginette Groome explains that body movement plays a critical role in baton twirling competitions. Groome's article focuses on three baton twirling, an art form that shares many characteristics with juggling.
Feet moved some of the performers at Buskerfest in Key West along slack wires, adding an exciting degree of difficulty to their performances. The Chinese performer Fu Xiu Yu used foot-power to keep herself balanced on a unicycle as she performed some incredible juggling "feats" at the 12th International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo.
Those of you planning to attend the IJA's 40th Anniversary convention can anticipate a treat for your feet. Convention chairman Kevin Delagrange details plans for the Cleveland Force professional indoor soccer team to show some fancy ball and footwork to jugglers during the convention IJA/Pepsi Field Day.
Loosely related to the subject "at hand" are Robin Brisker's feet on the Barcelona ramblas. The heavy flow of foot traffic there proved too alluring for him to resist. Therein his street show, his troubles and his tale began.
Well, you may ask by now, how about the "real" foot jugglers? Those talented antipodists who directly involve their feet in their act by manipulating objects with their feet as they lie on their back. Well... you have to wait for the back page. In our "Yesterdays" section there's a story from ancient China of a foot juggler who turns an urn with a small child inside. The child shows appropriate courtesy to the emperor as he twirls past him. We trust you don't feel that our short focus on feet has failed you. Even if that theme doesn't strike your fancy as you turn the following pages, there's plenty of other juggling news that will do the trick.