BJC 2009 Naarch HLCGB

[pozorvlak]

I've just got back from the 2009 British Juggling Convention in Norwich.

High: the German Wheel workshop. Real feel-the-fear-and-do-it-anyway stuff, but really good fun once I got going.
Runners-up: Komei's Public Show act (a mix of ball juggling, contact juggling, ring manipulation and body popping); the "girl standing on another's shoulders while they both did flaming hula hoops" bit of the fire show; teaching someone in three minutes to read siteswap who'd given up on ever understanding it; seeing my Norwich friends (and their new dog, and their lawn sofa).

Low: my Renegade¹ "act" on Thursday. The joke would have worked if I'd pulled all the tricks off quickly and got off stage, but the amount I was dropping meant the whole thing became a drawn-out embarrassment for all concerned. I do this every year: come up with a joke act, rehearse it a bit, decide it won't work, have a couple of drinks and then do it anyway. So, my goal for next year is to perform a Renegade act that is (a) properly rehearsed, (b) set to music, (c) performed sober, and (d) enjoyable for the audience.

Runner up: the first day-and-a-half, when I wandered around going "aaargh, why is everyone so much better than me?" That would be because they practice more. D'oh.

Crush: Rob Woolley, for being both cool and ubiquitous. Lovely BYJOTY² routine, some nice Renegade acts, and generally being around doing cool stuff. As I understand it, he successfully started a convention from scratch (which, speaking as someone who once ran an established convention, impresses the hell out of me). And major props to him for finding Sarah Bizkup's lost kit on the last day. What the hell were those guys thinking?

Runner up: Mark (?), with his motorized chaise longue, the preferred conveyance of the sophisticatedly relaxed. There were a lot of weird modes of transport in evidence (as well as the usual unicycles and snakeboards, there were also vigorboards, German wheels, a bike made out of two unicycles welded together, and Sophie's amazing telescopic wheelchair), but the chaise longue was easily the best.

Goal: Inward-facing kickups (managed it a couple of times, but nowhere near reliably), nail in nose (got three inches in once, and it almost got stuck on the way out - I haven't felt up to trying again since! So, fail).

Bane: The field on which we were camped was bone dry, and dried grass got into everything. Bleh. And the noise from the big top when I was trying to sleep, but I guess that's my fault for not camping further away.

I'm looking forward to Huddersfield next year :-)

¹ A Renegade is an open stage, usually starting at midnight. Anyone can get up and try out new material, or simply do daft stuff on stage in the hope of getting a laugh. I tend to the latter option.
² British Young Juggler of the Year. He only entered after he discovered that he qualified through a never-to-be-repeated loophole :-)

Comments

[elvum.livejournal.com]

There's a rule, I think, that goes along the lines of "never challenge someone really obsessive or indeed someone who simply has too much free time to an arse-kicking contest". Or something.

[necaris.livejournal.com]

Sorry... HLCGB?

[pozorvlak.livejournal.com]

High, Low, Crush, Goal, Bane. The best bits, the worst bits, the people who inspired you most, what you intended to achieve (and did you succeed?), and the biggest ongoing annoyance. It's a standard format for reviewing juggling conventions. I also like to use it for other going-away type events such as mathematics conferences.