Juggling Club defies gravity and expectations in upcoming show

I just can't help it. I try not to judge, I try to expand my mind. But it just happens. Whenever I see, hear or read the word "juggling," I can't think about anything but clowns. Yes, white painted faces, colorful bushy wigs and big fat red noses. So as I walked into the Film and Performance Theater in Frist Campus Center last Sunday afternoon to watch the Princeton Juggling Club rehearse, I couldn't help but start humming the circus theme song we all know so well.

However, I had to dismiss my fanciful ideas about juggling and clowns—I quickly realized this juggling club means business.

The title of this year's show is "Juggle Club," a takeoff on "Fight Club," the 1999 movie starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. The club has been preparing a number of hysterical skits based on other familiar movies, too. Club members click across the stage to the music of "Singing in the Rain" and combine juggling with what is, perhaps, not so able tapping. Yo-yos, plates, unicycles, boxes and a robot nicknamed "NBOT 9000" also make appearances in the skits.

Though the club didn't gain many new members this year, Eddie Burgess '07 and Lev Reyzin '05 enact a hilarious and complicated skit in which coolness is measured in terms of juggling ability. Burgess and Reyzin attempt to out maneuver one another in what can only be described as a juggle-off.

But don't think that you will idly watch feats of object acrobatics if you attend this performance. The Juggling Club, as in previous performances, loves to interact with its audience.

Coordination and dexterity are essential to be a member of the Juggling Club. As many as six people may be on stage juggling together at one time. They move into different formations, standing up, sitting down, placing balls on their heads or throwing the balls into the air and then catching them on the back of their necks.

With all these objects flying around, anxiety must be high on stage. What happens if—gasp—someone drops a ball?

"You are going to drop a ball. The audience understands and most of the time they don't even care," Darren Geist '05, Co-president of the club, said.

Even if the performers themselves aren't worried, audience members may find themselves biting their nails and wondering what is going to happen next.

"[The Juggling Club's show] really is one of the best shows on campus. We have really talented people who want to create a quality show with a high degree of professionalism," Geist said.

To see some professional antics, attend one of the Juggle Club's performances — Feb. 19 and 20 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.— at the Film and Performance Theater in Frist Campus Center. Tickets are $2 at the Frist box office and free with a Passport to the Arts.