circus juggling programs are just based
on one expectation—learning to do
a cascade. A lot of youth circuses
don’t even have a juggling coach.
But we certainly wouldn’t have a
circus school without an aerial coach
and we wouldn’t have such minimal
expectations of an aerialist. One of
my missions with AYCO is to help
change the perception of the role and
abilities of jugglers. We have to treat
the jugglers the same, and push them
to do five balls and more. We also have
to make sure they know juggling is a
legitimate circus art just like aerial or
tumbling, not just a side thing. I think
clowning also sometimes gets pushed
to the side like that.
KC: Right, because it seems like people
just think of it juggling and clowning as
the general skills.
RK: Yeah. because traditionally in circus
families—all the kids could juggle to fill
the space. But if we are able to make it
a known legitimate circus art in youth
circus that’s where some people, and
girls included, will figure out, “Oh, I
can express myself through this too.”
Juggling is such a wonderful vehicle
for expressing yourself and using
dance elements and folding in other
themes, so you can really make it your
own.
KC: Do you teach the elements of an
act or mostly technical skills?
RK: I do both for juggling specifically.
I teach technical skills, but I have
a background in theater, and I’m a
big act guy. So juggling for me is a
spectacle, it’s a display, and it can be
boring—until you add a beginning, a
middle, an end, a theme, a storyline,
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and even with all that, you still need
yourself. As an audience member, I
need to feel like I’m meeting you and
I know something about you, and you
care so much about these objects
in the air that I care, because I care
about you. Also, if you have all those
elements, then it’s not solely judged
on dropping. If all you’re going to do
is a display of juggling, an Olympic-
kind of presentation, then you can’t
afford to drop because although the
audience members are not experts
at aerial, they are experts at juggling
(because when you drop, you drop).
As a coach, I have an expectation that
we’re going to have a very low drop
ratio in our acts. We’re going to be so
well practiced, and rehearsed (those
are two different things, by the way)
that dropping will be low. Our skill
set will be so high and our theme or
storyline and putting our own soul
out there will make the drop not as
important as if all we were doing was
juggling in front of an audience.
KC: What qualities would you say makes
for a good student in the circus arts?
RK: I say this all the time, I’d rather
take a person who is willing to be
coached, and who listens, and tries,
than a super-talented person who
doesn’t think they need those things.
I’ll take aptitude over attitude all
day. The ability to listen and try and
not think you know everything, and
just during that one hour coaching
session, to try to do what I say is so
important. Do I think I’m the ultimate
juggling coaching? I do not. But I’m
the one there for you that day, and
I’m going to tell you what I think, and
we’re going to try to do what I say, and
even when you get better—be humble.
The best jugglers I know are the most
humble people I’ve ever met, and it’s
the people that have a lower skill set
and are a little nervous about their
own self-esteem—they’re the ones
who have big egos, and lots of excuses
why things went wrong on stage. So
being present, being coachable, and
being respectful goes a long way in this
world.
KC: Are the skills or the qualities that
make a good student the same ones
that make a good performer?
RK: That’s a funny thing. Lots of
performers are shy in real life. My
son Book Kennison is a tremendous
performer, and as a young person
he was extremely shy. You have to be
coached and grow into the ability to
share yourself on stage, to open up
your guts and really say ‘Here I am.’
That’s what makes a special performer
and that takes time and effort. But
that’s also the very thing that helps
some young people grow into adults.
If you’re willing to learn and willing to
work and you’re excited about sharing,
that'd make you a great performer.
KC: What is challenging about your
job and the work you do, and what is
rewarding?
RK: I coach five to nine-year-olds.
They’re not there to become circus
performers, and sometimes as a
coach I have to remember that I’m
just teaching them the beginning stuff,
and they’re having fun. It should be
fun. If you’re not having fun learning
circus, that’s a bad thing. I’m lucky
because I love teaching beginners,
and I have intermediates and then I
have advanced, and then I have super
professionals. So, my needs are met
across that spectrum in a very fulfilling
way.
I don’t really teach people how to
juggle. I’m a guide and I give you hints
and skill sets, but you yourself have
to put it together, to figure out your
hands, your brain and your space,
and that’s why when you finally get
it—it’s real self-esteem. It’s earned
and empowering, not a certificate
for participation. You have to put the
balls in the air and learn how to do it.
And seeing the ‘ah-ha’ moment where
people actually start doing it, that’s
the greatest drug of all time, to be
there to see that is really great.
You know one of my favorite students
was eighty-nine-years old when she
first contacted me. She said, ‘I have
this secret. I’ve always wanted to learn
to juggle.' And I said 'Why did you
wait this long?' She learned to juggle
three and four, and she went to a
couple of IJA festivals with us. She’s
now deceased, but she loved juggling
in a way that I love juggling, and only
a small number of people are just so
captivated by, and she was one of
those people.
KC: Why do you love it so much?
RK: Jessica Hentoff says this
sometimes, circus is like a super
power. You know, if you’re an aerialist
you get to fly through the air. When
we’re kids we love superheroes.
With juggling, you’re manipulating
props and you’re in control and
they’re defying gravity literally, you’re
keeping them off the ground. There’s
something very satisfying about that.
So your brain and your hands are
having this conversation and it’s really
powerful. Also juggling uses the two
hemispheres in your brain. Most
activities are one-sided, that’s why
we have a hand we write with. But
juggling has been proven (in a ten-year
German study), to use both sides. In
other words, we are on full alert when
we’re juggling. Juggling also allows our
brains to continue to grow grey matter
past the age of twenty-five as long as
we’re learning new tricks. I believe
when both hemispheres are humming,
you’re getting adrenaline and fun and
this feeling of flow that people speak
of. So juggling is meditative, exciting
and fun.
Many people use it as a metaphor for
life; to juggle our home lives, our work
lives, our spiritual lives. It’s really a
powerful metaphor because people
really intuitively understand that
that’s what you do when you juggle. So
juggling is a mile deep and a mile wide.
Young architects and young engineers
can be attracted to the math aspects
of it, and then the artist can be
attracted to the flow or curviness of it.
It just satisfies so many needs.
KC: What advice would you give to a
professional educator who is teaching
juggling?
RK: You don’t have to be a great juggler
to coach juggling. You don’t have to
be able to do five balls to help people
get to five balls. Circus educators
should get a little background and
take a class and understand how to
teach a juggling class, but they should
not just be satisfied and stop teaching
when a student can juggle three balls.
They should be upping that bar. Find
a juggler who can help. Many times
performers also supplement their
income by teaching. They may not
be career circus teachers, but find
a teacher who really cares that each
of these kids learn to juggle well and
always challenges them to move to
the next level because juggling in the
beginning can be frustrating, and a
coach has to help people past the
challenge of that.
One of my missions for AYCO and
ACE is “Five is the new three.”
Everybody should be encouraged in
their program to get all of their kids
juggling five balls. I was just given a
great compliment by a famous older
performer who saw some of my kids in
Sarasota, and he was amazed because
there were five kids each juggling five
balls, and they didn’t drop at all.
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