Getting back in the swing

Just a quick note before I head out to work.

I biked from my home to YuGongYiShan last night for the juggling club, and it took about 50 minutes. With a bike ride that long I am glad that I have my iPod, because I can listen to university lectures or podcasts or audiobooks or music on my way there and back. I got a bit of juggling practice in, did a few cartwheels, and even tried a couple of headsprings. Gus continued to help me and talk me through a "Machine w/ hand switch" (I really have no idea how to describe that move). It was nice to chat with Lao Zhou, and I taught him how to begin learning the Machine. It was a fairly small turn-out, with a high of six people at one point. This week there was a Canadian, three U.S. citizens (including me), Lao Zhou (who is Chinese) and a German-Chinese girl who is studying at Beijing Normal University.

I am continuing to use the childrens' juggling balls at the preschool at which I work when there is downtime. Sometimes when the kids are drinking water, or in the morning before many kids show up I will practice some moves with the beanbag-like balls. They are very easy to grip, so it is nice to practice with those.

Time, Practice, and Advancement

...or lack thereof. Here is a bunch of things which I dislike: I only practice juggling on Mondays. I haven't learned any new tricks in the past few months. I haven't even spent time looking at cool juggling videos online.

Since I haven't been practicing, rather than improving, my skills have been stagnating, and I fear that if I don't get back into the groove of things soon they will begin degrading. 20 minutes a day should not be that difficult for me to find.

Juggling: Alive Again

As an opening post for the revitalization of Kinetic Kalamazoo, here is an items that I came across online recently that I want to share. I found Genki Sudo's dance from a blog that I have enjoyed long before I started to use Twitter.

Some incredible movement and music created by Genki Sudo, who just came out with an electro-pop album.

Some new moves

The stress and exhaustion have been running high lately, due in great part to the fact that the circus club at my college in putting on a show (and also because of my comprehensive exams and two papers that I have due, plus the stress of planning for the future). I would prefer a different show, but I am a part of it so it is a big time drain. I finally juggled this morning, and it felt really nice, since it has been so long since I have gotten a good practice in. I practiced a bunch of new moves, mostly taken from Bill Berry's 3 ball routine. I am also starting to get takeouts, which is really nice because I have wanted to know those for a long time. I am sure that I am at the point where I can get a bunch of new moves, but I need the time to practice. In a week when this show is done and my comps are done and my papers are turned in I will have the free time to juggle for my own pleasure more often. I am really looking forward to that.

Under the legs, streamlining

I saw a great video of a award winning juggling routine yesterday. It is encouraging to know that I can do a lot of what is in it (not all of it by any means), so for those moves that I know I just need to get smooth and more fluid. Perhaps I will eventually learn this routine as well, although the arm-balancing might be a challenge to learn.

Thinking about the list of moves I have written down in my notebook, I also am thinking about practicing fewer moves each time I practice. I am reviewing a lot of things that I already have down fairly comfortable, like Machine/Robot, and Columns. I definitely want to add in the under-leg tosses as well. Watching Bill Berry do them made me realize how cool it is, and it wouldn't take much work for me to get either.