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     Future of the Juggling Craze

I tried to write something for each issue of Kaskade when it first came out, both to help the editors, and to practice doing writing and photography. When you are a freelance you never know where your next paid work will come from - but I was aware that teaching juggling was flooding the market with people who could take away my income eventually. This was an attempt at a funny piece (I got bored with news, history, opinion and rumours...), from 1991, that the editors called:

Back to the Future 

If I write about the past, I'm indulging in nostalgia; if I w rite about the present, it's politics; if I talk about the future, am I predicting, guessing or manipulating? 

1994 Sport Juggling established as continuous touring circuit. At the convention there is some controversy about the maximum size of manufacturers' logos, designs and symbols on props and costumes used in the public show - similarly, there is much discussion about the placement of advertising slogans around the practice hall (concentrated in the workshop area, where video cameras are much in evidence)

 1996 Sport Juggling accepted as an Olympic event. There are dis­cussions about the true status of so-called "amateur" jugglers who are simply having large sums put in trust for after their retirement (in order to be eligible for the Olympics). They claim that sponsorship is the only way the amateur can compete internationally. Rumours of drug abuse centre around the use of steroids and amphetamines in various competi­tions (particularly Numbers and Marathons), as well as widespread use of beta-blockers to steady the heart-rate.

 1998 Juggling goes out of fashion. You can't even give props away. It is so uncool that only extremely obsessive people even talk about it, and very, very few practise. A major review of the long-term effects of juggling, as well as a study on juggling-related injuries (and their effect on lost working days) leads to a ban on juggling in public, so if you wish to watch, or even ( ! ) participate, you find yourself following mysterious guides down darkened alleys to sleazy little rooms where a few people are juggling, in spite of low ceilings and bad lighting. 

2020 After these Dark Ages, there is a breakthrough, as small groups of joyful jugglers are discovered, scattered over the Pacific Islands, some as much as 60 or 70 years old. Bypassed by the fashion, the hype and subsequent disillusion­ment with juggling as a cure-all, they are still enthusiastically playing, and there is renewed interest. Soon there are professional combat teams, with their coaches and players bought and sold for high prices ... a combination of research and nostalgia for the late 20th Century.

 2039 A mini-convention is held on the moon. There are complaints about its elitist inaccessibility. All the numbers records are broken in one-sixth gravity, and there is an uproar until the rules are changed. Meanwhile the European Convention hires Venice as a location, juggling over water on the 50th Anniversary of the Renegade Stage at Maastricht. 

Toby Philpott, London 

                                                                 © toby philpott 1991