Masterclass: The Juggling Launch Pad with Jay Gilligan

a two-day masterclass with Jay Gilligan

As part of the residency program Juggling and object manipulation supported by the Danish Arts Foundation DYNAMO Workspace are happy to offer a juggling Masterclass with professional juggler and object manipulator Jay Gilligan.

The workshop will cover the 3 parts of juggling: objects, body, and rhythm. A traditional technique base will be supplemented with cutting edge Scandinavian juggling style.

Participants will learn several systems for creating and analyzing technique, including current trends and with an eye to uncovering future possibilities. These lessons will be taught by using simple, accessible tricks that jugglers of any and all skill levels can instantly learn. The concepts will translate to any personal methodology and will examine the very core of the meaning of juggling.

About Jay Gilligan

Jay Gilligan was born in Arcadia, Ohio, and has since performed in 33 different countries.

He has created and fostered many projects to evolve the art of juggling beyond the stage, including a regular guest column in JUGGLE Magazine, the workshop Manipulation Research Laboratory, new juggling prop boutique RenegadesignLab, and the outreach program Shoebox Tour.

He recently published a book about juggling of the future titled “5 Catches. Jay is besides being a well renowned juggler and object manipulator a great teacher and we are looking very much forward to hosting this masterclass.

Participation

The Masterclass extends over two days from Thursday the 3rd of October – 14.00- 21.00 to Friday the 4th of October – 10.00-16.00. Price: 800 kr.

Sign up no later than Friday the 27th of September

Included in the price is dinner Thursday, lunch Friday and a ticket to the show Melodic Objects by Jay Gilligan on Friday the 4th of October at 20.00 at DYNAMO Workspace.

To participate: Contact DYNAMO Workspace/Gry Lambertsen, mail: gry@dynamoworkspace.dk, tlf +45 22665367.

About the show Melodic Objects

Back 100 years ago jugglers used to first think of a trick and then build a unique prop to accomplish that goal or image. But in modern times, juggling props are mass produced and the game then becomes a matter of what different tricks you can do with the exact same prop that everyone else in the world has.

When a new prop is finally introduced into the community, the challenge becomes finding the things to do with that shape that can’t be done with anything else in the world.

Its equally easy to juggle with an apple and an orange, but quite another matter to find tricks that specifically need one over the other!

Its harder to justify a certain design using traditional older juggling techniques because almost anything can be thrown into the air and caught, the same as anything else. This is why a lot of new techniques end up using minimal throws, where the objects are more in contact with each other and physically interact. This physicality in the manipulation then starts to blur the border between what is juggling and a lot of the other time-based art forms of puppetry, dance, mime, storytelling, and even music.

The show is closely related to all of these other arts, and yet remains uniquely juggling, though a form of juggling you may not have seen before.