Tag Archives: circus skills

January’s Juggling Workshops

Burnaby Now Picture

Picture courtesy of The Burnaby Now

UNFORTUNATELY, THE WORKSHOPS HAVE HAD TO BE INDEFINITELY POSTPONED. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LEARNING TO JUGGLE, PLEASE CONTACT ME BY EMAIL AT dtrasler3@gmail.com

On January the 24th I’m starting a new series of Circus Skills workshops. After the success of the kids workshops in November, I asked the Community Office at Stoney Creek to help me set up workshops for the local community.

There’ll be six sessions, each an hour long and beginning at Seven pm. I’m able to accommodate a maximum of fourteen students, and will be teaching a range of skills.

Juggling

For absolute beginners, I’ll be teaching basic three ball juggling. This can take as little as ten minutes From there it’s a short hop to more three ball tricks – there are THOUSANDS of those – or on to four or five ball patterns.

If you’ve got some experience with ball juggling, we can move on to club juggling. It takes a little more practice and technique but is very visually appealing. There’s also the opportunity to learn to pass clubs between two, three or four people.

Spinning Plates

Exactly what you think they are – plates that spin! Easy to master, but getting them spinning is just the beginning. There are a number of tricks to get to grips with, as well as the challenge of balance and carrying multiple plates.

Devil Sticks

Also known by the more appealing name of Flower Sticks, almost everyone has seen these props in action but few remember the name. A centre stick is kept aloft by two handsticks, appearing to defy gravity as it spins. It can be tricky to master, but is well worth the effort

Diablo

These also have another name – Chinese Yo-yo. Unlike yo-yos, they aren’t attached to the string, which is good as the most popular trick with a diablo is throwing it high into the air. Since the library ceiling isn’t too high, we won’t be throwing them up much, but there are dozens of other tricks to learn on the way to diablo mastery.

Poi

Developed by the Maori in New Zealand, poi are decorative and entrancing to watch. Two weights on lengths of string, they are swung in intersecting patterns but never tangle…Well, they SHOULD never tangle.

Unicycle

Another perennial circus prop that many people wonder about, the unicycle isn’t as difficult as it looks. Once you’re in possession of the basic rules, all it takes is a little regular practice and you’ll be as comfortable on one wheel as you are on two. Just remember that freewheeling isn’t an option!

For more information about booking places on the course or arranging private lessons, contact me through dtrasler3@gmail.com

Heading into Fall…

Getting to grips with Autumn…

Autumn is typically a time of looking back, of hunching shoulders and preparing to draw down for the Winter. But this year, I’m feeling unusually optimistic about the coming months. The Appraisal Service has been busier than ever, and I beta read the fun “A Mystic Romance” and the challenging “Jump Drive“. Both of these last were projects I picked up through the social network G+, an invaluable source of advice and interesting information.

As you can see from the drop down menus at the top of the page, I have also dived back into Circus Skills workshops, reaching out to local school and the Parks and Recreation programmes in my local area. Circus Skills are easier to pick up than you might think, and there’s quite a range of things to learn. I have a trunk full of kit from my days as a semi-professional juggler, and I spent several years in the UK running workshops and Adult Education classes in juggling and circus skills.

One of my early workshops at Winchester, UK. See anyone you know?

If you have any questions about my proofreading services, or about Circus Skills, or you just want to learn more about G+, then drop me a line at dtrasler@shaw.ca, or leave a message in the comments.

Now I have to go and rake up the leaves. What have YOU got going on this Autumn?