Jose Forget's History

I started contact juggling about a year ago, at the end of my Sophomore year of high school. My gifted instructor showed me this magazine article in Smithsonian Magazine about a man named Micheal Moschen. I read the article with great interest, glad to hear anything about juggling in any media. (at this time, I didn't know what contact juggling was, but I had been an avid toss juggler for about four years.) The article changed the way I viewed juggling. I had read about a man who "rolled a crystal ball over his arms, across his chest, and back and forth over his hands, all without it ever leaving his body" and thought, "I must learn how to do that."

At this point, I had never seen this form of juggling before, either performed live or on tape, but luckily, they gave a pretty good description of the butterfly. So, using only tennis balls (that was all I had), I tought myself how to do a decent butterfly in both hands. I had already known how to do an armroll at this time, it was a pretty big part of my toss juggling act, so I began to fool around with the idea of going from a butterfly into an armroll. By this time, one of my friends saw me CJ'ing, and said that it looked like "that thing that guy does in the Labryinth". I had never heard of the movie, but went out to rent it, to see what they were talking about. When I got to that infamous first Contact juggling scene, I was in awe. It looked soooo much better with a crystal ball, and it introduced something completely new -- passing.

Again, I practiced with the tennis ball, until I could do a decent back-back pass, and all the while searching for more information on this strange, beautiful new art. I found Dube.com, and ordered a 2.75 acrylic from them, and was extatic when I got it (3/3/00). I now practice most every day, and am making good progress on an integration of toss and contact juggling, using tennis balls (since I only own one acrylic).

I have had that acrylic for about four months (at the time of this writing 7/7/00), and brought it into school on the last day. People were really impressed, and I was very happy that I have found a new way to get that reaction out of people. I feel kind of slighted though, since I have spent years working on my three and four ball moves, only to have people adore this new art form, done horribly (by me) that I have just learned, even more than toss juggling. Either way, I enjoy both forms equally, and have made some money off both of them, so there is no real complaining here.

I have not yet taught anyone to CJ (I don't think I am good enough yet), but I have taught a few how to toss juggle. My friend is going to buy an acrylic, and he says that when he gets it, he would like me to teach him how. I will use Ferrets suggestions, and a bit of what I know from what little experience I have.

Happy manipulation!