The Justice

Media Credit: Emily Berk Caitlin Dichter '09 practices her unique skills.

Media Credit: Emily Berk Kanchana Ravichandran '10 practices using devil sticks.

Media Credit: Emily Berk Daniel Weisz '09 practices his juggling skills.

As I walk into the Winer Lounge, where the Juggling Club meets at 8 p.m. on Thursdays, I see a group of students gathering around a table, cutting a carrot cake. The group is surrounded by toys that could have come straight from the circus, a unicycle and a pogo stick included. The club's vice president, Michelle Faits '10, explains it is club member Kanchana Ravichandran's '10 20th birthday. Thus, a homemade carrot cake and a delightful rendition of "Happy Birthday" marks the occasion.

The tight-knit organization usually celebrates each member's birthday with some sort of baked good. There is a familial atmosphere in the room in the Usdan Student Center as the group jokes around and enjoys the dessert.

Slowly but surely, everyone picks up various gadgets and begins to practice. The Juggling Club is a deceptive name because there is so much more to do than just juggle. Every member finds his or her own activity.

Juggling Club president Daniel Weisz '09 explains that the club owns everything from "juggling clubs to poi to pogo sticks to magic boxes to devil sticks and unicycles."

The mission of the club, he says, "was to have fun and enjoy life in a juggling atmosphere." He picks up three multicolored juggling balls and begins to throw and catch them. He emphasizes that the "club had grown from three people two years ago to 15 to 20 [regular] members."

Though they do not actively seek out members throughout the year, the club always has a table at the activities fair.

Faits explains that the club loves seeing new faces and that at the activities fair "most people are intrigued by the idea of a juggling club. Even [juggling] three balls is a cool trick."

Weisz admits that it's not a very serious organization. It meets on a weekly basis, but the club itself is not a very formal one. "There's very little organization; some people just come to hang out," he explains.

Another member, Andrew Vorsanger '09, begins to play with the juggling balls. While Weisz and Vorsanger juggle, they talk about the loose structure of the club, saying people learn their activity of choice through "impromptu learning," according to Weisz.

Most members of the club have a circus-like specialty that they happily teach when asked. Weisz specializes in juggling, while Faits has a knack for poi, a form of juggling in which a ball is attached to a rope and swung around in special patterns to create different illusions. While I speak to Weisz, I watch Faits teaching some of the other members a poi trick called the "water fountain."

This officially chartered club usually gets funding from the Finance Board "to buy toys" explains Caitlin Dichter '09, a two-year member of the club. The organization was started in 1999 by a few sophomores who lived in the Castle and liked to juggle. The tradition was carried on, and the club will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary next semester.

The club holds several events to get the campus involved, to recruit new members and to entertain students. Members participate in about five coffeehouses at Cholmondeley's every semester and take part in the Senior Silent Auction, where, this year, Weisz auctioned off a free juggling lesson.

They also take part in the Bernstein Festival of the Arts, where some members of the club usually give a performance. Additionally, the club is involved in Communiversity, a Brandeis-sponsored annual student tutorial, in which students sign up to teach different skills. Every year, one of the members, usually the president, teaches a class on juggling.

The members all attend events off campus together. Every year in April, the club pilgrimages to see Le Grand Daniel, a magic show in Beverly, Mass. Le Grand Daniel was started by Brandeis alumni and is the longest-running magic show in the country.

Faits says that "it's a fun activity that also has a Brandeis connection." The magic show has not only typical magic tricks but also an interesting variety show which includes singing and dancing. Aside from this, the members have seen the Cirque du Soleil show, Kooza, which featured a prominent world juggler. "It was a great experience," says Faits. "It helped bring everyone closer."

She says it was a great motivational tool because everyone wanted to be a great juggler after seeing the show.

Most of the members that belong to the club were drawn in by a juggler they knew. Dichter got her boyfriend, Vorsanger, to join, and Faits brought both her roommates to a meeting. Since their introduction, they've all remained involved in the club. According to Vorsanger, "It's more about the community than juggling."

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools