From: vogelges@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (Ralf Vogelgesang)
Newsgroups: rec.juggling
Subject: RollaFest 92 (first annual)
Date: 30 Aug 92 01:38:08 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Physics Department

Co-editors are hard to find these days!  I needed them and want to
say thanks to all of them.  Nevertheless it took longer than
expected to write this...
But here we go.  Let me share some of my observations with you.
The inclined readers among you will (still) be able to recognize
my linguistic roots.  The other ones have to guess it from my
(very personal, very brief) summary of this first RollaFest:

        + no fees, free accomodation
        + lots of familiar faces, many new ones
        + a nice gym
        +++ lots of free juggling; passing, numbering, sticking,
	    diaboling, combatting, etc +++
        + Ed Carstens siteswap program 'JugglePro'
        - not too many workshops
        - almost no opportunities to buy props
        + a picnic, very recreative
        +++ a marvelous show +++
        + a party, in almost private atmosphere

-- Ralf

___________________________________________________________________
In a last minute re-orchestration of her mind, Lisa, our renown 
president, decided to join Phil and me in a journey to ROLLA, 
Missouri.  So there were three representatives of the Purdue 
Juggling Club (PUJC) getting on the fairly long tour early on 
Friday morning -- heading for an entire weekend of juggling.  
Fortunately we had to make only two stops: one for food (for 
both humans and vehicle) and another because a friendly Illinois 
police officer queried the customary modes of using turn signals 
in Indiana - Phil, being an everyday practitioner, was able to 
provide a sufficient answer.  Finally, after only eight hours of 
almost continuous driving, we arrived at our destination.

For a moment, the anxious question arose whether this 
convention was charging any fee or not.  Soon all doubt was 
blown away at the entrance of the so-called 'Miner Rec'- there 
was none! In terms of costs this was going to be a pleasant 
convention.  We would explore other aspects soon.

At the actual place of event we were then pleased to meet Purdue 
juggler Tom Cronin (who volunteered to be our host for this 
weekend; thank you, Tom!) and to see veteran Arn Ward again 
(who graduated from Purdue this spring).  Many people from 
around Indiana where attending, as well -- one gets to know 
each other after a number of conventions, you know.  Some we 
didn't recognize; did they come from further west? Probably.  
Then a fully costumed clown trio showed up; catching the eye of 
everybody immediately.  To me it was most impressive to meet 
some people who were 'talking' in sign language.  One of them, 
Wayne Jones, is hearing impaired but nobody made any silly 
comments, and, indeed, this guy is an excellent juggler!

Tom did a good job in perfecting the setup for the next day's 
show that was going to take place at this very gym.  It was large 
enough to offer comfortable space to everyone for doing free 
juggling; yet one did not feel lost.  Soon a number of 'combat 
juggling' freaks gathered to play their game.  The fans of this 
were the only ones to suffer -- not too hard, though.  The 
SoftClubs frequently hit the suspended steel bars and flew off in 
unexpected directions.

Another drawback would be the lack of air conditioning, so it 
seemed at first.  However, with outside temperatures in the 
nineties it turned out to be much more satisfactory than we 
thought.  Curiously enough it was warmer outside than inside 
the gym.  A remarkable feature of this well-chosen room was its 
carpeted floor.  Many jugglers felt free to walk around 
barefooted; all in all this gym contributed a lot to a very relaxed 
and friendly atmosphere.

Some commented that they found it much easier to walk over to 
strangers and make new friends when compared to previous 
juggling conventions.  For us PUJC-members the first day 
concluded with an extensive sit-in...with the last talks dying 
down during the sunrise.

After a very, very early wake up (around 10 AM) all gathered 
again at the Miner Rec.  Not unexpectedly, more jugglers had 
come for the Saturday events.  Traditionally this is the day when 
the highlights of a convention like workshops, show, raffle, and 
party take place.

Ed Carstens, who organized the Rollafest, is also well-known 
for his program 'JugglePro', that animates 'siteswap' patterns.  
Siteswaps are a generic, yet surprisingly simple notation for 
juggling patterns.  He brought a computer for running this 
program, but there was little interest in this workshop.  Every 
now and then somebody played around with it a little; often only 
to quit after having realized that it is too hard for one to imitate 
these 5-,7-, or even 9-ball patterns...  It is to Ed's credit that he 
indeed IS able to do many of them; he proved this with his act in 
the show.  Some people tried to attribute an aura to him of being 
a 'wizard', yes, a 'genius'.

Other workshops apparently had been planned.  However, I do 
remember only one announcement of a three-ball learning 
workshop, which turned out to have a very small attendance.  
The idea of workshops was simply dropped after a while; 
people's interest did not warrant the offer.

They felt much more like passing clubs or doing numbers 
juggling with balls.  There was quite a number of 'devil-
stickers', to my pleasure as well as Lisa's, Arn enjoyed passing 
on some of the diabolo tricks he had learned at other 
conventions, Tom was still engaged in providing good lighting 
for the show, and Phil entertained himself with discussions 
about siteswaps and the annual convention of the International 
Jugglers Association last month.

Unlike at other conventions not many prop vendors had come.  
Especially Michael Furgeson -- maker of 'Fergie Bags' -- did 
not show up.  Too bad that he is living so far away from Rolla 
(more than 12 hrs).  The props actually made available were 
rather disappointing in both assortment and individuality -- to be 
summarized as 'only a couple of balls.'

A very well received feature of the Rollafest was the picnic that 
took place at a nice recreational area around 5 PM.  A little lake, 
a defunct steam locomotive and a large lawn surrounded the 
pavillion.  When they saw the pizzas, chicken pieces, and 
cookies some people regretted having grabbed more than just a 
bite to eat for lunch...  Again, Ed had organized everything very 
well.

We had to wait until 8 PM for the show to start.  The pause was 
long but easily filled up with chatting and relaxing.  By the time 
we got back to the gym, everything was ready to start.  This was 
going to be a public show.  The audience would not be a pure 
agglomeration of jugglers who would only have an eye on the 
more technical quality of amazing tricks.  No, we came to expect 
a good deal of giggling and laughing.

The 'master of ceremonies,' Jim Coughlin, immediately 
confirmed our expectations as he welcomed us and guided us 
through the program very eloquently.  As the first act, he 
introduced Jim Ellison, who showed some hat manipulations, 
not an unusual act at juggling conventions.

The second part was more extraordinary; 'Toodle the Poodle' 
(or 'la Poodle' as this French dog prefers to be called) showed a 
number of little tricks and made the baffled crowd guess about 
how she learned to add the numbers 9 and 6 (given by members 
of the audience!) - She answered that question by barking 
correctly 15 times.

Then Arn Ward demonstrated parts of his rich diablo repertoire.  
The modest ex-PUJC-member explained later his intention to 
show only a couple of basic tricks to the inclined non-specialist.  
Indeed he amazed the audience with confident technique and 
tricks that were certainly non-trivial.

Joe Welling was next on the program.  He is an amazingly nice 
guy; during the show he was translating all announcements into 
sign language.  Sometimes his gestures were funnier to watch 
than the actual words.  In his act he did, besides other fire eating 
routines, a part of the opening ceremonies of the Olympic 
games.  It was natural to choose the lighting of the Olympic 
flame.  Two members of the audience helped him carry out the 
'dangerous' shot of a flaming arrow that ignited three 'Olympic' 
torches.

Ed Carstens did the following act at not quite so hot 
temperatures; but his siteswap ball juggling routines were hot in 
terms of difficulty.  He obviously benefits a lot from using his 
own program in finding astounding patterns with up to seven 
balls.  After this he demonstrated his ability to juggle clubs as 
well.  Together with Chris LaReau they did a neat little 5-club 
act --each doing 5-clubs side-by-side.

Second to last was Mike Thomason, 'The Ninja Juggler'.  The 
lights were turned off and you barely could see a shadow 
jumping on stage.  He was convincingly dressed in an all-black 
suit and used highly glowing balls (glo-balls).  He restricted 
himself to 'only' three balls.  But doing this he succeeded in 
creating the illusion of three individual objects, each moving 
with its own 'will'.  Temporarily, the notion of someone in the 
background manipulating them was lost.

The final actor was 'Toby Twist', the clown that showed up 
already on Friday.  He takes the fairly huge appearance of his 
body to its limit by walking on stilts.  His sonorous voice fits 
this idea perfectly and when he is juggling three bowling balls 
the image is perfect.  His performance was the most professional 
of all -- a result of his 20 years of experience in the business.  
He danced on his rather heavy stilts with ease, featuring various 
costumes and specifically compiled music -- his act was a very 
good finale!

The show lasted for a bit more than one hour; we saw a great 
variety of acts, and none was taken to lengthy boredom.  This 
part of the convention was a piece of very fine entertainment.

In the following raffle we saw only some props and an 
overwhelming number of T-shirts being given away.  The 
official part of the day was concluded with an opportunity to 
juggle 'til midnight, which hardly anybody used.  Most people 
left, some helped packing the seats away.  After midnight Ed 
invited the jugglers to a party at his place; this time it was 
'BYOB' and nobody got smashed.  About twenty people came.  
Even Toby Twist joined for a while; bringing along his show 
diary.  He really is a very talkative guy, who tends to make 
conversations a little one-sided (a euphemism for his sovereign 
attitude).  But on the other hand this unique person really had 
quite some stories to tell and it was not too bad to 'just listen.' 
After he left (having another show somewhere else the next day) 
we stayed for some more talking, snacking, and trying sign 
language until around 3 AM.

Sunday was mainly for free juggling.  Hardly anybody was 
really enthusiastic any more.  Some of the, compared to 
Saturday, few jugglers still around preferred discussing various 
topics of their hobby, even fewer still wanted to practice.  With 
some eight hours of more driving to be done, Phil wanted to 
leave around noon.  Gradually, this convention was ending for 
us.

It had a pleasant atmosphere, like making the participating 
jugglers feel like members of a big family.  There was not so 
much competition and showing-off; the much more dominant 
factors were shared learning and mutual profit, and -- not to 
forget -- lots of fun.

The eight hours back turned out to be nine -- this time a simple, 
nevertheless miraculous traffic jam was the cause.  For no 
obvious reason, we made literally five miles in one hour.  One 
thing I learned this weekend; take more to read with you than 
just one magazine! On a long trip like that, with not much more 
to do but to listen to the radio, even the deepest-rooted lover of 
classic rock can get a surfeit.

			Ralf
Newsgroups: rec.juggling